Death of an Ad Man

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Ken Wheaton in Ad Age (AdAges) asks interesting questions. Why the ad man is a dead species. My take.

The ad man is a dying breed because what companies once did with their brains they now do with brawn. Take an article out of this week's Advertising Age Magazine for example.
Procter & Gamble wants to sue Kimberly-Clark over its ads that show bricks in purported Pampers. Why is Procter & Gamble "Thick as a brick?"

The marketers and management no longer know how to turn lemons into lemonade. Or to poke fun at themselves and have a good time. In essence, they've become the creative morlocks (the race of sub-humanoid creatures that moved underground in that H.G. Wells classic The Time Machine).

Why not just run with the joke started by Kimberly-Clark? Produce a rebuttal ad that replaces the brick with a baby. In the background you hear New York City construction sounds...maybe a few of those famous cat calls too. Then the voice over cuts in on a close up of the baby and says something seemingly apologetic like "Pardon our appearance while under construction." "Pampers." Cute. Cut.

Thinking further, the decline in business creativity also coincides with A.G. Lafley's tenure as Procture & Gamble's Chairman. On his watch retailers (the tail) wagged the dog for the first time in history. Costco so much as told P&G that unless P&G made a special formula Tide for exclusive Costco distribution Costco would not sell P&G detergents in their stores.
An that's the consequence of not being able to create highly differentiated products and product positioning strategies. And there's nothing the linear-thinking, straight-forward problem-solving quant-jocks can do about it until one of them morlocks decides to poke his or her head back into the creative sunlight founded by the earliest "qualitative pioneers". Do a Google search on that term!

There is something else that gets in the way of today's companies use of creativity in business. It's called "Search Satisfaction." People in companies, such as Procter & Gamble's legal/brand marketing brick layers stop looking for better answers once they've found a solution they like. (Hey, let's sue them!) So they don't look any further. Search Satisfaction also afflicts doctors who stop looking for a diagnosis once they've found an answer that fits the symptoms patients present. What's wrong with that? Well....doctors misdiagnose their patients a much higher percentage of the time than anyone wants to admit.

Calle Creativity Summit - New York, New York - November, 9-11, 2007 - Host Cat Deeley

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American Idol presenter Cat Deeley will host Calle & Company's 10th Annual Creativity Summit in New York November 9-11, 2007. Director of Differentiation Strategy Martin Calle says attendance has grown every year. Invitations closed August 29 and the event is sold out.

This year the conference will focus on product differentiation and why CEOs are more likely to jettison a brand or ad agency than look in-depth at the product to find brand boosting product-based marketing solutions to take the business to the next level.

CEOs chase consumer ears and eyeballs, they promote lavishly, but the anchors, the product's features and benefits can only take the business so far. The goal of the conference will be to present attendees with solution strategies. To illustrate, Martin said that M&Ms started out as a hard shelled candy. Nobody wanted it until Rooser Reeves found a more abstract under pinning; "they melt in your mouth, not in your hand." Martin says answers like this are so obvious, they're not obvious. Advertisers no longer think that way, substituting a product's reason-for-being with :30 seconds of buzz du jour dialogue. And advertising has taken a tumble. Martin says, "My grandfather had a farm. My dad had a garden. I have a can opener."

Breakouts will cover Multi-Dimensional Creativity® - a linking process that creates the conversation of creativity in consumer minds, Abstract Dimensioning® - the critical mass of connected thought that becomes available when stimulated into existance through the use of custom-created proactive materials. Question-based or Quantitative Marketing - pitfalls and poor traditions of gathering and measuring data, establishing Perceptual Monolpolies® - the lost ad process and more. A complete calendar of events is available from Calle & Company. future@callecompany.com

Multi-Dimensional Creativity®

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Through the years marketers have told me their advertising agencies provide Multi-Dimensional Creativity without asking what it really is. And you know what they say about making assumptions. When you assume you make an ass of u and me.

Multi-Dimensional Creativity ® is a linking process that creates the conversation of creativity in consumer minds, the critical mass of connected thought that is not available until stimulated into existance through the use of custom-created product potentials creative materials. This proven consumer-creative processes sees possibilities before they become obvious.

Disruptive Data Technology

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Disruptive Data Technology ®
How to succeed without asking consumers any questions.

Disruptive Data Technology ® is a proprietary data-creation tool exclusive to Calle & Company. www.callecompany.com The revolutionary data-creation process stimulates consumer minds with over 10,000 Product Potentials®, eliminating the pitfalls and poor traditions of question-based marketing. This proven system of invention, innovation, and information makes companies more valuable by generating proprietary marketing intelligence that can help you launch more successful new products and brands and get a foothold in new markets when tackling and toppling market leaders. Project owners charged with creating sustaining innovations profit from new not commoditized data, a distinct advantage over a company’s normal diet of day-old data-salad. Do you like to feel the thrill of insight when a solution that had eluded you, or straightforward problem solving suddenly becomes obvious? Here are many other good reasons why top companies employ exclusive Disruptive Data Technology.

· Jump Start! The process exposes target audience consumers to over 10,000 Product Potentials®. It gives everyone so much more to talk about than what they already know.
· Confidence! More CEOs are satisfied with their innovation ROI.
· Proven! By 100 companies including P&G, J&J, Pepsi and Frito-Lay.
· Experience! It takes less time to learn everything for the first time.
· Effective! Pound for pound marketing solutions deliver more-bang for the buck.
· Excitement! The process releases right-brain top-line creative and strategic endorphins.
· Collaborate! The process quickly builds conviction and consensus with everyone on the same page.
· Enthusiasm! We reveal deeply hidden, never before seen product features, functions, benefits and category attributes.
· Resurrection! DDT® turns poor concepts, bad ideas and line extensions into mega-marvels.
· Clean Sweep! DDT® is a proven clutter buster and differentiator for advertising and positioning strategists.
· Communicate! Americans fear public speaking. Exclusive Consumer-Creative® materials ensure everyone’s 100% participation.
· Work Out! The process exercises creative muscles that otherwise get flabby.
· Accountability! By asking consumers no questions they can tell you no lies.
· Level the Playing Field! The process eliminates focus group leaders who try to impress by pretending to be smart.
· Culturally-Influential® Insights! Reach far beyond linear trend, brand map, laddering, needs segmentation and agency reviews.
· Integrity! Consumers create. Someone else does not do the work or thinking for them.
· Awe! Answers are so obvious they’re not obvious. Solutions are abstract and more engaging, not forced or contrived.
· Freshness! DDT puts you a day ahead of consumers, not a day behind. In-Market solutions stay fresher longer.
· Allegiance! Consumers will not surf past ads as if they were 10 years old before they were new.
· Smart! The process won’t waste money reconfirming or reinventing the things you already know.
· Forward Thinking! Gathering and measuring data about things that have already happened is reactive. This process is proactive.
· Inquisitive! We all ask questions. We all ask the same questions. We rarely ask new questions. Afraid of looking dumb younger marketers won’t ask questions. Are we asking the right questions? When you ask questions you don’t get the voice of the consumer you get the voice of the inquirer through the question being asked, a form of bias that will lead you astray.
· Time Saving! A career’s worth of experience can be had in six weeks - much less than a lifetime.
· Patents! Deliverables are proprietary, not syndicated. There are no contracts. No retainers. No obligations for free proposals.
· Pragmatic! We don’t believe the words “SELL” and “SUIT” are 4-letter words.
· Work Ethic! DDT® proven faster and less expensive than any other business development activity. It gets things done.
· Commitment! Few people are pragmatic top line right brain creative thinkers. They need the help of our proven Abstract Dimensioning® and Multi-Dimensional Creativity® stimuli materials to jump start innovation.
· EASY TO REACH! 714.244.9511 24/7

Email: future@callecompany.com Web Site: www.callecompany.com

Stengel Exhorts 4A's: 'It's Not About Telling and Selling'

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P&G's CMO lifts a page from Zig Ziglar's sales 101 course on building relationships - people buy things if they like you. Why don't more of P&G's ads get you to like them? Because the ads are long on features functions and benefits wrapped in engaging creativity - and very short on Selling Dimensions ® and Product Potentials ® - Special User Effects ® - that give a product or brand real personality and character. Anticipation is not a feature or a benefit, but it is a hidden selling dimension unlocked by Calle & Company that led to Heinz's famous "Anticipation" ads with Leo Burnett - a strategy later lifted by Jeff Goodby to author, "Got Milk?" Ya gotta love those hidden Selling Dimensions ® and Special User Effects ® ! All by products of Calle & Company's proprietary Abstract Creativity ® and Multi - Dimensional Creativity ® Systems of Invention that increase a mature product or brand's Viability Envelop ®.