If you listen to only one thing I ever say on this blog – listen to this!  The 7 seven word rule is the most important thing in Out of Home Advertising.  Especially when you are targeting an audience that is moving or the media you are posting the ad on is moving i.e. vehicle wraps or bus ads.

The “7 word rule” is so simple, but often broken.  It’s “only use 7 words in your advertisement.”  I can’t tell you how many ads I have seen and sold where the impact of the ad was diminished because the creative was so poor.  They used 18 words when 7 would have worked. They didn’t have a clear message, or had mixed messages.  Why spend the money if you can’t convey the message?

So here’s the simple facts for those companies that are sitting in the cheap seats:

7 words or less!

1 image

1 logo

1 “Call to action”

if it can be edited or cut, then cut it!

We will touch on “Call to action” later!

Now that we have gone over the basics.  I wanted to give everyone some insight on great ads….now I know I will get email left and right disagreeing with me, but these are just my opinions, not cold hard facts.  Granted my opinion should be set in stone, at least that’s what I tell my wife – yeah right!  If you have been married longer than 5 seconds you know that’s a lot of smoke!

great use of text integrated with artwork

Best Print Ad

This piece of artwork really captured me because of the use of text with an image.  It really give a since of 3D and I like the use use of color.  Te The best part of this design is the ability to use it across the board – magazine, billboards, motion graphics for digital elements.  It would be great to see in front of a store front.  The artwork really has a wide spectrum of uses.  I only one caveat!   It’s the logo, you shouldn’t have to search for the brand.  Now, i know the Nike swish is also on the shirt, but would it killed them to the swish on the side 20 percent bigger……bigger is better!  Yes, I’m from Texas!

Select link to watch the commercial

Best TV Commercial

Truly, my favorite TV commercial is the new 4G commercial by Sprint.  I don’t know what agency created it but, by far the greatest of this year, so far!   The motion graphic along with the statistics are the best….not to mention the  twitter comment made me laugh.  I am willing to bet a fat Texas steak diner, you will see follow up commercial along these lines.  If we don’t Tim Kelly, CMO for Sprint, needs to be flogged!

Dude, great use of 3D!

Best Billboard

Would this not totally catch your attention?  I just have one question can i ride the slingshot….wouldn’t that be fun? ENOUGH SAID!

Best Building Wrap

Best Wall Scape/Building Wrap

Ok- this is a selfless plug, but you have to agree with me its really cool.  Our parent company Premier Media Group did this a couple years ago.  It was printed on Window Screen which you can find at the link.  It was install in Dallas adjacent to the American Airline Stadium where the Dallas Mavericks play.  The cool part, is the Mavs didn’t pay for this ad.  The owner of the Crescent building did!  Very Cool!  Go Mavs!

P.S.  Premier printed this in 2 days and worked with the install company to have it up before the first home game.  Total size was 180′ tall by 80′ wide.

Let’s forget all of the nay-sayers and proverbial nonsense.  If for one second you believe that Point of Purchase signage is not one of the leading marketing medium out there, you need to stop reading, turn off your computer, and throw it through your store front.  What I can’t fathom is why businesses don’t maximize this marketing medium.  Don’t take my word, the Point-of-Purchase Advertising Institute claims:

• 3 to 4 times greater sales lift when advertising is part of the promotion program.
• 31% of the brands study experienced over 20% sales lift
• At-retail advertising drove additional sales 70% of the time

So what does this all mean? Well, if you don’t market your business, where your customers are….look for another line of work, because you will be out of business very soon!  The best way I can break it down is to look at the cost of traditional advertising and marketing (TV, Print, Radio). Each one of these cost a huge amount: in the tens of thousands just to shoot the production.  Past that, you are looking at spending up to 10 times that for the media buy just in one market.  Here’s a prime example: not too long ago I had a client requesting for TV in the Dallas market (top 10 market) production would have cost around $50,000 to $1,000,000 for a good 60/30 second spot depending on the talent, creative, and quality of the production.  The media buy for 2 months was over $75,000. And that rate wasn’t for prime time, just average day-time spots.  In total, you could spend a butt load of money with no guarantees of the viewership or ROI.

Now, let’s talk POP advertising.  You can buy most of the production right off our PrintFX sites like PrintShipNow or Cheaprints, pay less than 1/10 of the cost and since the location is your own store it doesn’t cost you anything to have the advertisement up.  You save money and guarantee a sales increase for a fraction of the money.  That’s a win – win in my book.

Don’t get me wrong, there is a time and place for TV. If you have the budget and great creative work, then do both!

Now, I want to be honest as some of you are already firing me a hundred emails barking back, there are some negatives to POP signage, but (and that’s a big but) the advantages outweigh the disadvantage.  Here’s some things to think about.

Disadvantages

1. Your reach is limited to the people in and around your store front.
2. a good portion of the people in your stores come there for a purpose and don’t bother to read the promotions.

Advantages

1. It’s cost effective, and provides a quicker return on your dollar.
2. POP advertising is known to increase the ascetics in your store.
3. Easy-to-change promotions.
4. Proven increase in sales.
   

I would say this is an open and closed book.  You should always look for more ways to promote your brand within your own store front.  Think wallpaper, POP Displays, outside banners, and, my favorite, floor graphics.  The biggest catch is creativity.  Take the time to think out of the box and come up with something unique. Don’t send diluted messages…get to the point, drive your customers.

Print to Create…Create to Inspire. If Taco Bell, McDonalds, Dillards, HP, Sonic, etc are doing it don’t you think you should give it a shot.

Great POP products at our PrintFX module stores:

Banners

Floor Graphic

Displays

Wallpaper

So this is the first of many “Marketing Maddness” blogs for PrintFX. This blog section will be a little different than the rest of the blogs on our site as this blog is geared towards marketing,  primarily the maddness of marketing.  Just think about it for 2 seconds – did you know the American public is subjected to thousands of marketing promotions, commercials, images, billboards every single day.  Now, I’m not going off on how we are over marketed and should be regulated, blah blah blah…. In fact, I believe marketing and advertising is why our country works and how small companies get big and big company stay big.  My purpose is to support great marketing and bash poor marketing.  I have been in marketing in some small part almost all of my short life.  Professionally, I own an Out-of-Home Advertising and Event Marketing Agency called National Transit Media.  We specialize in connecting consumers to brands through the “WoW” factor.  More on that in another post.

So here’s what you’re going to get out of me!

• First and foremost, we are going to point out what you should NOT do in marketing and make a little fun of the people, brands, agencies, that do it…all in good humor!
• Next, we will take a look at good marketing rules that you should consider in your overall marketing, especially when it comes to designing graphics using the PrintFX module.
• Last, I always like to watch, listen, and review great marketing concepts….so we will always point out a good spot when we see one.

So, I leave you with this:

Print to inspire….inspire to create!