Ideas vs Testing in Advertising

Made for Testing

Have a great idea? Cool, put it on your portfolio. The world isn't going to see your great idea if it doesn't test well.

Seems fair enough. For a crossing-your-t's one-off it is. For creating a strong brand, it isn't.

Why it's a problem

For agencies it sucks because their creatives are creating for testing, not for air time. But, that'a s whole other post. For now, I'm speaking to why testing is bad for brands.

Here's what testing doesn't account for: time. 

Time + consistency is what leads to recognition and loyalty, which is what will lead to long-term sales.

Consumers don't become loyal to a commercial that tests well, but a brand that they can identify easily through their consuming lives.

That's not to say a commercial that tests well couldn't be a great campaign.

Solution

It is to say that, it doesn't really matter what the fuck you put out there, as long as it's a great idea and you stick with it.

Shareable Killed the Strong Brand Star

"But, how can we make it more sharable?"

I fucking hate this question. Because, if you're asking it, chances are you don't really know what that means or what it looks like. Yet, here you are trying to be one of the cool kids, without realizing that the biggest mistake in any attempt to be like the cool kids is telling them you're cool.

You might get noticed, but, with everyone else trying to impress them too, you'll soon be forgotten. Pushed aside as they get distracted by another loser looking to impress. It's a losing game. Honestly, just be your great fucking self. If you're not great, get great, and then be that.

Maybe it's because of this movie that when I think of people asking me how to make something more shareable, I think of a middle aged woman doing her best to fit in at high school by being terrible versions of what she thinks is cool, rather than being her cool self.

Shareability in Campaigns for New Brands

Putting all your focus on shareability as a new brand is a mistake. No one knows you yet. The content will be more noticed than your brand, and that content will be replaced by the next shareable thing to come. An easily understood message from a great brand will reach more people through time, rather than a fleeting piece of shareable content.

Shareability in Campaigns for Established Brands

Congratulations, you're already well-known. The brand is already alive and breathing, so this shareable stuff is just it's fart in the wind. People will smell it, know where it came from, and then it will blow on. The key here is to keep it coming and in an identifiable, easy to grasp way. A one-off is cool, but doesn't stick as much, and it doesn't do much for your brand. Just for the Internet. Let's look at a real-life example...

Which brand did the "Like a Girl" video? Nothing? Didn't think so.
Which brand makes funny content about being manly? Did you get this?

Need more convincing? Just ask these guys.

5 Tips for Auto-Renew Cancellation Flow

If you think getting people to sign up subscriptions is hard, try getting them to change their minds about canceling one.

Linda Tanner via Flickr

Backstory: Like most subscribtion-based services, Shutterstock automatically opts you into auto-renewing your subscription to images.

Task: One of the things I worked on at Shutterstock was updating their auto-renew cancellation experience. I worked with a great team of me, one designer, and one manager. I wrote and created communication strategy for the new experience based on UX frames.

Results: The update lead to a decrease in cancellations by 14.5%. Not bad. Here are the five things I attribute to the update's success.

1. Make turning it off less positive. Make keeping it on more shiny and positive.

OLD

Here was the old way a user could initiate the auto-renew cancellation (or should I say, turn off) process:

UPDATED

Here's how we updated it:

2. Make it pretty. If it looks like it came from Microsoft circa 1998, they'll want to blaze right through it and get the heck out of there, missing any content that could work in your favor.

OLD

This is what the page after deciding to "turn off" auto-renew looked like:

UPDATED

Here's how we updated it:

3. Don't get defensive. The customer is still always right. Make it about offering the best customer service possible to the very end. Giving a sense that you're there to really help customers will boosts their confidence in using your service and seeking help, rather than trying to find a new service.

AGREEABLE LANGUAGE

They should feel that every move they make is to benefit them. Use language to do customer-positive things, like explain their benefit, hand hold, confirm their right, and congratulate. 

4. Redirect, but still to their benefit. It's the age-old concept of distraction, but done in a way that addresses the customer's issue. Lead them to a great experience your site. Lead them to other sites, to show them what's out there isn't much better.

POSITION THE REDIRECT TO BE HELPFUL

Here's how I took the concept of a great customer experience and combined it with redirection.

(some repeated)

5. Leave a good impression. This doesn't actually apply to the reason we saw a decrease in cancellations, but I still believe that the core of everything you do digitally should be "What's the best thing we can do to help the customer, or make them feel good?"... and it's no different when you say goodbye. Who knows? Maybe they'll leave with a good taste in their mouth and realize everything else out there is gross. That's a win to me.

OLD

Here's what the old confirmation page looked like. Good riddance to this page, is what I'd say.

UPDATED

Here's how we updated the confirmation page. A glimmer of hope. A chance of reconnecting.

The New Digital Campaign isn't All Digital

Everyone wants their campaigns to be digital nowadays. In pursuing this requests more than a few times now, I've noticed something... 

The Realization

A "digital campaign" doesn't mean executing solely on digital platforms – banners, apps, videos — it means getting ways to get consumers to interact with content digitally... because that's where it gets shown to more people. Showrooming and third screen behavior were the first ways we saw consumers blurring the lines between "digital" and "real" world. Advertising and sharing is surely next.

The Reason

With mobile taking over digital consumption, people are exploring around the web less, clicking less, and are less likely to come across that sweet video you spent $2 million on or that contest landing page you worked for 6 months on (don't even get me started on legal). Have you guys heard of Camel's new game app? Didn't think so.

What to do About It

Find ways to get consumers to share your content or interact with your content on already populated mobile apps. Is there something you can put around town that they will want to take a selfie with? Use the new shazam visual scanner with your posters or sidewalk chalk drawings. Send people to a party where a photo booth tweets their images from their account. Get in touch for more ideas...

What Millennials Don't Know They Want

image via Ed Yourdon

The Fact
Whole Foods is opening smaller stores that will have a more limited selection of products at value prices. Why? To attract millennials.

The Takeaway

Be hard to get, and easy to find.

Why are farmer's markets are so big with this generation? Why are we rushing to music festivals like a teen to a tampon? It offers something that is usually hard to get, but makes it easy to find (locally grown food, experience.) It nearly tricks the shoppers to thinking they are getting something that is hard to get and hard to find, but, by making it easy to find, the shopper is able to obtain it, obviously. So, be or offer something that is usually hard to get, but make it easy to find.

Also, be cheap. Millennials want this hard to find valuable shit at a good price. Good luck.

Different Ways to Share your Product

Think Outside the Share Button

Idea: Get users to connect their activity on your platform to another platform, outside the share button.

Example: Airbnb offering showing a link to share user's listings on Craigslist.

For You: Look at your product and make a list of all the things users create on it — a listing, a photo, a comment, an account, a thought, a like, … Then do a little bit of research to see if a) there are other platform which feature these things and b) there are other platforms that use these things, or could use these things.

Meerkat + Airbnb: Host host-led live tours of listings.  Hosts can opt in and pick a time slot for when they can show off their space. Show the hosts’s Meerkat name and showing time slots on the listing.

Food Spotter + Foursquare: Do I really need to spell this one out?

Vessel + Magisto: Similar to the Facebook + Instagram relationship.

What Makes People Click vs Tick

via

Sometimes I write to the customers' own language, ideas, likes — what makes them tick. But, if the main goal is to get them to click, I write to the customers' psyche and sub conscious.

Like great graphic design, the urge to click something should feel natural and go unnoticed. The moment a user of your digital experience has to think about what they are clicking, you’ve lost them to their thinking. There is a psychology behind what makes people click, and it’s not always the same as what makes them tick.

Tell Them Something They Didn’t Know

Nobody likes being told something they already know — it feels like a waste of time, and it’s boring. Don’t be that brand. Starting with an idea that tells something new or intrigues with new ideas will make people want to know more and reach your click. Starting with something that makes them tick by using phrases and ideas they already know, might seem like you’ve hit the jackpot, but it makes it harder to stand out, and to get people to click or want to see more. Sometimes it’s nice to tell them something new about what makes them tick, but it’s gotta be something great and really new.

Give Them Something to Grab Onto

via

If I don’t grasp why you’re talking to me, then I’m not going to trust your content enough to read on or see more. Take a step back and ask, what you want your audience to grab onto, to click onto. Taking up someones time or attention with something that makes them tick, but doesn’t seem to have a purpose, makes your product or content easier to forget and less trustworthy. Use ingredients of what makes them tick (like a soccer ball for soccer fans) but make sure there’s a purpose there too. What you want them to grab onto could range from motivation to the need for a better, new soccer ball.

Complete the Story

Of course I’m going to click on “See More” if it completes, or is the next step in, the story I’ve been shown so far. Using CTA’s that fit within the story you are telling makes people click. Using a CTA that just makes people tick with words you think they’ll like and sound fun, might be exciting, but it creates a break in the flow.