A CLIMBER'S GUIDE

“Did You Say Fickle?”
02/06/2008

Why is advertising so fickle? Do we love it or hate it? What makes it work? Where should we put it? How often should we do it? and Why? These are the questions that most businesses haven't the slightest idea of how to answer and therefore fall prey to the greedy nature of the industry. Why do so many allow this to happen? To execute such a significant aspect of a business without a sound strategy, and with one instead that is many times based on guesswork, is mystifying to say the least.

To say that advertising is fickle is an understatement. Let's look at why.

Start with the fact that effective advertising involves the arts,
- style, color, personality, symbols, fonts, creativity, comedy, drama, emotion, instincts, ability, experience, envelope pushing, trend setting, a deep respect for the 60's, filmmakers, directors, graphic designers, negative space, abstract thought, photographers, painters, animators, musicians, and a real distaste for (or ability to laugh at) the 80's -
as well as business and marketing,
- profitability, experience, expensing, budgeting, forecasting, managing, a deep respect for the stock market, risk, courage, instincts, legal issues, investing, media buying, PR, demographics, positioning, selling, category expertise, branding, market share, research, specialization, technology, customer service, resources, accounting and a real distaste for (or fear of) creativity -
and combining it all with ethics,
- accuracy, choices, honesty, integrity, fairness, a deep respect for Abe Lincoln, cheating, deceit, manipulation, quality, environmental issues, society, lawyers and a real distaste for (or a desire to imprison) Enron -
leaving you, in most cases, with nothing more than a 3 ring circus.
The only problem is determining who the clown is-because everyone believes himself or herself to be the ringmaster.

The problem can often come down to the fact that the world of business instinctively shies away from creativity because it typically conjures up images of self-indulgence by being creative or artistic for the sake of being creative or artistic which can be a total waste of time and money.

The other side of that coin is that the creative world typically abhors the business person, or at least their perception of him/her - willing to say and do anything to make a buck, regardless of who gets hurt, is commonly the consensus amongst the truly creative community.

Finally, most business owners never fully accept the notion that strong principles and ethics in advertising equate to increased profitability - and they do. It has been proven throughout the history of the NYSE that businesses whose core values were based on the highest principles and strongest ethics outperformed those that weren't - considerably. There are so many factors in creating a profitable business model but putting quality and integrity at the core of your mission is necessary in becoming great.

Now, most business owners are ethical and operate under the auspices of strong principles but they usually compromise those standards when it comes to their advertising. Just take a closer look at the content of the majority of ads in your market and I'm sure you'll agree.

The key, then, is bringing the three worlds of business, creativity and ethics together. Making them work in harmony is probably the most neglected aspect of marketing business today.

In their book, Juicing the Orange, The world renowned Fallon agency talks of the power of creativity by saying: "Imagination is the last legal means of gaining an unfair advantage over the competition." And they're right. Fallon is responsible for some of the most successful campaigns in the modern era for clients like Citibank, Sony, Travelers Insurance, United Airlines, Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express, Purina and many more.

Fallon attributes much of what they accomplish to the concept of "creative leveraging."
It's the reason Superbowl ads can accomplish significant results for those that use creative to put their business on the map of the consumer with top of mind awareness and effective execution of proper branding principles.

So embrace creativity, do it with respect for your business, guide it with ethics and you'll be on your way success. But do it now because the benefits are too great to ignore:
1. Your sales people won't need to be trained in the art of deceit and manipulation.
2. Your customers will hold you in higher esteem.
3. Your advertising will begin to pay long lasting dividends.
4. You'll develop a true sense of pride.
5. You'll sleep better.
6. You make money, a name and a difference.

Keep climbing,

Jake

	Climb With Passion
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