After sitting down at his desk the tone turned serious.
“I’m getting traffic,” Clyde said, perplexed.
“Considering the amount of money you must be spending on advertising you darn well better be getting traffic,” I replied.
“But…"
“It’s your ads, Clyde. Your ads. They sound like they were made in your basement on a cassette recorder.”
“Well, they are.”
I detected a subtle sense of pride in his voice. I told him that his radio spots sounded like he was selling discount, low-quality merchandise, not the nice stuff that was out on the showroom floor. Sure, people were coming in. The tenor of the spots along with the low-quality production made it sound like he was having a weekly fire sale. Customers came in expecting a really low price, but even at the 20 to 30 percent discount he was promising, it was still higher than they were expecting to pay.
The perception of this brand was way out of whack with the reality: low-end, low-price merchandise is what the brand represented in the mind of the consumer. Unfortunately, the reality was that the store was selling decent quality products at a medium to high price point — a stark disconnect. The culprit? Surely the sad radio spots Clyde was running played a role.
As far as I was concerned he had two choices, either improve the quality of his advertising or start selling lower-end merchandise.
After an hour or so of spirited discussion he decided to give us a shot at the radio production. Our plan? To keep his voice on the spots — in a minor role — simply stating his name and his very recognizable slogan.
The balance of the spot was carried by a professional announcer backed by a contemporary music track.
We ran the same budget, same time slots, and the same radio stations. The results? Over the period of a couple of weeks, he was getting a whole new customer in the door and he/she was not turning around after seeing the prices and quality of merchandise.
Clyde was happy. I was happy. Brand perception and brand reality started to come into sync. And that should be the goal of any business.
A quick sidebar: During this same period a competing retailer of Clyde’s also was running extremely poor ads, poor to the point of embarrassing. The difference was that this competitor actually was selling crap merchandise — and selling a lot of it. If I wanted low-end goods, that’s where I was going to go. As terrible as their TV spots were, they are still some of the most effective I’ve seen.
Not A Face for Radio – Part Deux
Not A Face for Radio – Part One
Here is a classic story I have probably told a hundred times. It’s a case of the quality of one’s advertising, whether radio, TV or print, speaking louder than the words or pictures contained therein. And not in a good way. This is what I call ‘Brand Busting,’ where brand perception and brand reality are diametrically opposed.
The names, by the way, have been changed to protect the guilty.
A number of years ago I was referred to a client by a local radio rep. This individual was a big advertiser on both radio and in print. He spent a boatload of money, however the quality of his advertising was extremely low end. Naturally, I assumed the merchandise he sold was of the same quality.
The problem stemmed from the fact that he wrote, produced and served as the announcer on his radio spots. The only apparent positive was the fact that he had a memorable positioning statement that he stuck with year after year. I had never met the man, but I knew exactly what he looked like ...
Height: 5’4”
Weight: 240
Hair: minimal
Sartorial attributes: Leisure suit (lime green), white shoes, white belt, open-collared shirt — probably orange in color — revealing a gold chain or two, black transparent hosiery.
Distinguishing characteristics: mole just above left eye; wears soda-bottle-thick glasses with black frames; cheeks sporting a perpetual red hue; sideburns to die for.
Well, at least that’s what he sounded like on the radio.
The station rep told me that this store’s problem wasn’t traffic — people were coming in the door. The problem was they just weren’t buying. Customers would walk in, look around, and then head to Valu-Mart. Sales were abysmal. The sense of panic amongst the staff, palpable.
The radio rep pleaded, “Could you talk to him and see if there was anything you could do?” As much out of curiosity as for the quest for new business, I agreed to place the call.
Five days later I walked in the store’s door, ready to finally meet the embodied Voice of Mahoning Valley Retail. After a few minutes of roaming through some pretty nice looking, definitely-not-cheap merchandise, the receptionist showed me into the legend’s office. He stood up from his beautiful mahogany desk.
Gulp! Who the hell was this guy?
In his early 50s, his salt-and-pepper hair was, well — perfect. And not only was he an obvious graduate of the George Hamilton School of Tanning, he sported the whitest teeth east of the Mississippi. His right hand extended, walking toward me was an obviously fit man sartorially resplendent in a navy blue blazer, light blue dress shirt, red and navy striped tie, khaki slacks, and burgundy penny loafers (beyond that, I was guessing boxers).
“Hi. I’m Clyde Summerfield,” he beamed.
I froze in my tracks. “Ahh, no your not,” I responded, my voice dripping with equal amounts of disappointment and shock.
“I beg your pardon.”
“Well, the Clyde Summerfield I know is short, fat, bald, thick glasses, wears a leisure suit, white shoes, white belt…”
“What ...?”
I felt myself sinking deeper and deeper into the office’s rich, shag carpeting. “Sorry, Clyde,” I apologized, “but that’s how you sound on the radio."
Dazed, he shuffled back behind his desk. He gestured toward the wing back chair across from him. I settled in and the ensuing conversation took on a rather serious tone.
Drop in next week for Part 2. Does Clyde see the light or is it business as usual?
Clients Know Best?
After 30 years in marketing, I am still amazed at some of the things I hear from business owners:
- “I have a concern. You know nothing about my products. How can you possibly market them?”
- “Marketing. Advertising. What’s the difference?”
- “You want me to pay what for that slogan? It’s only four words.”
- “I need to make the phone ring today. Let’s do an ad.”
- “Radio? It doesn’t work. I ran a spot for a whole two weeks one time and got nothing, nothing I tell ya.”
- “We’ve been in business for 50 years. Everybody knows who we are.”
- “PR? We don’t need no stinkin’ PR.”
- “Why should I pay you to produce a radio spot? The station does all mine for free!”
- “My TV rep handles all my advertising.”
- “Let me run that logo idea past my wife.”
- “Let me run that logo idea past a few of my employees.”
- “Cable? You bet. I run on the Weather Channel exclusively.”
- “I have a vision...”
- “My radio rep writes all my copy. He’s a genius.”
- “I was a marketing major in college.”
- “I was a graphic design major in college.”
- “I went to college.”
- “Demographics? Hell, I’m a Republican.”
- “My new sign? Designed it myself.”
- “Customer retention? Free coffee in the waiting room always works for us.”
- “My nephew did our website. Pretty good, huh?”
- “Sure, I've got a marketing plan... Wrote it up in 1982...”
