BRANDING MAKE FOR GREAT ART & COPY

Whenever I talk with marketers and ad agencies, the conversation inevitably gets to whether breakthrough creative or a sound brand strategy is more important to the success of a product or service. Of course, I always answer “Both!”. What’s really important is the order in which these two challenges are addressed. So often, marketers (especially retailers) are so pressured to produce some immediate results that they rush to get out a new campaign or spot and make some noise that will result in more sales. Now, if the brand strategy that’s in place is already working and well developed, getting new creative may just be the answer. However, usually the fact that what’s currently reaching your customers isn’t working well is the result of poor branding in the first place.

This seems obvious to me and I believe that the really creative advertising gurus also agree that the brand comes first and then the creative. I recently received a DVD in the mail from a good friend, Cedar Hames, who is CEO and founder of a local agency here in St. Petersburg. To celebrate the 10th anniversary of Paradise Advertising, Cedar sent a complimentary copy of a PBS documentary from a couple years ago, title “Art & Copy”. The show featured interviews with some of the true great creative minds in the advertising business talking about their craft and some of the outstanding work that is legend in our business. The group included Mary Wells, the late Hal Riney, George Lois, Dan Wieden, Lee Clow, and others. To learn more about the program, go to http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/art-and-copy/film.html and I’m sure you can download or get a copy of the 90 minute program.

I won’t go into the details of each person’s comments on the program here, but it became obvious to me that they are/were all risk takers who dared to breakthrough with great spots like VW’s Think Small, Apple’s 1984, or Braniff Airlines’ Flying Colors. However, to the person they spoke highly of their clients and the direction they received from them. This was manifested in a brand strategy that reflected a thorough understanding of the market, the customer, and the competition. Developing a successful brand strategy is part of the process and opens the door for art and copy that truly breaks through and resonates with the four buying styles we talk about in our book (co-authored with Robyn Winters): BrainBranding—Activate the Brain, Stimulate Your Brand.

With so much mediocre advertising out there today (a great deal of which is from top companies and major brands), it would be beneficial for many of the marketers responsible to sit down and listen to what these “icons of creativity” had to say. It will make for great advertising and, more importantly, for successful brands.