A book written about advertising, and by an adman, would invariably talk about truth and lies, and how advertising is somewhere in between. However, this book says nothing about such issues, and maybe that's why, talks a lot of sense.
An interesting read by any measure, 'Truth Lies and Advertising' takes the reader into the fascinating world of account planning, and how it is not the next fad in the advertising world. It explores the depths of the job and how!
Some interesting statements made in the book, attributed to the original quoters:
On research: The average American has one testicle and one breast.
When you prepare a mousetrap, leave enough room for the mouse.
On enthusiastic clients who focus on product features: "It's just a f*cking chocolate cookie."
You don't have a good strategy till you have a good ad.
(Don't have the book with me now, so not verbatim)
In addition to all the information and 'insight' into the world of account planning, this book also helped me understand why 'got milk?' is such a great campaign.
It turned out that the campaign was not what I thought it was. All the print ads that you must have seen, showing celebrities with a milk moustache, are Phase 2, or maybe Phase 3 of the campaign. The original idea leaves you spellbound with its creativity and simplicity.
2 comments:
seems like an interesting read.
why don't you post about the strategy of Got milk.
infact, u can start a blog on Ad Strategies, what say? now that the other blog is shut
@neo
Right now, I am in the process of fulfilling a promise I made to myself - Read more books. So do expect more book reviews on this blog.
The 'got milk?' story goes thus:
The campaign was started by the California Fluid Milk Processers' Advisory Board (CFMPAB). Milk consumption was falling consistently over the years, despite advertising which said, 'Milk is good for you'. Research showed that everyone agreed to this message, and even admitted that "I should drink more milk that I do", but this still couldn't bring about a change in behaviour.
Further research gave 3 interesting pointers:
1) Most milk consumption was as an accompaniment with food items like cookies, cereals, etc.
2) When you eat this stuff, milk is a must. Nothing can replace milk as an accompaniment to these items.
3) The respondents said that they would get very unhappy and irritated if they found no milk at home, when they wanted to eat these items. (One of the studies asked respondents to go for a week without milk before coming for the interviews).
So the thinking changed from promoting the goodness of milk, to promoting milk as the companion for some of the best indulgent foods.
Ads showed chocolate cookies, cup cakes, and similar other tempting food items and asked "got milk?".
Result: The foods were so tempting that people started eating them more, and as an extension, having more milk. Additionally, they started stocking more milk at home 'just in case'.
Read the book for the ads described. They are just amazing!
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