The 7 Ideas at BIG !September 14th 2010"

There are only 7 communications ideas"

1.  The presenter"2.  The demonstration"3.  Problem/solution"4.  The analogy"5.  Inversion"6.  The slice of Life"7.  Borrowed interest"

1. The Presenter"

•  Who can present your argument? "•  A testimonial from a satisfied customer? (Dove)"•  Someone whose job/expertise is relevant (Sir Robert Mark

for Goodyear; dentists sell Colgate)"•  An appropriate celeb whose values match yours (Seinfeld

for Amex; Sean Connery for Dewar’s)"•  It can be someone who is dead (Marilyn Monro for

Chanel; Steve McQueen for Ford Puma.)"•  It doesn’t always have to be a person. Duracell Bunny,

Tony the Tiger, Cadbury’s Martians."

Ordinary people " Dove, Germany"

Relevant person"

•  Rabobank wanted older customers to use online banking. Mrs de Vries, their oldest client, 92, was their spokesperson. "

Your Dad?"

•  Foster’s wanted to bring to life the idea ‘Get some Australian in you’"

•  You got a letter from some solicitors telling you you might have an Aussie ancestor – and from him you could inherit a year’s supply of Foster’s"

•  All you had to do was go to a website and do a ‘How Australian are you’ test"

Virgin Mobile"

•  With just 5c for a call or a text with Virgin, the result ios a better social life"

•  ‘Get tight with your posse’ campaign featuring a midget rap star called 5 Cent"

•  TV, taxi backs, in-store collateral, a promotional single from 5 Cent, a special Posse Pack phone, radio campaign, Big Day Out concert with 5C. "

Celebrity presenter"

Celebrity Presenters"

•  To sell the power of radio advertising, brand managers were mailed letters from Madonna (bedding), Robbie Williams (lingerie) et al, applying to be salespeople. Bookings of radio spots were up 54% on the same time the previous year. Many companies used radio for the first time. "

Celebrity presenter"

2. The demonstration"

•  The demonstration includes the side-by-side comparison, a demo of competitive superiority"

•  Can you show what your product does? "•  Does it go fast. Or faster? Does it last long? Or does it last

longest?"•  Does it do more than its competitors?"•  What is its advantage?"

Demonstrate – mail engages all the senses"

Demonstrate – mail can be heavy" Demonstrate – what a donation means"

Demonstrate – what IBM can do" Demonstrate – what Schwatrzkopf does"

Demonstrate – the strength of Scottex" Demonstrating a bigger cab"•  How do you demonstrate the

new bigger cab of the Mercedes Actros? "

•  Send truckers a bigger air-freshener. "

Demonstrating homelessness"

•  Goss Gothenburg"•  At Christmas, to raise money

for the charity, letters were left out in the rain all night - and then mailed. "

•  They tried homelessness too and it showed. "

•  Results: 22% of recipients donated an average of #29 each raising #163,00. A lot for a small city."

Demonstrating precision"

•  Komatsu’s target audience was just 5 companies big enough to need their construction machines."

•  The key prospects came to work to find an envelope on their desks with nothing but a weblink inside."

•  Clicking on the link revealed how the envelope was delivered by a Komatsu machine. The line was, if you need extreme precision, call us."

•  All 5 contacts are now customers."

Demonstrating four wheel drive" Demonstration cont…"

•  Royal Mail delivered 200,000 fresh flowers to demonstrate speed and reach."

•  Research showed 40% awareness recall, higher than press and just below that of TV"

The demonstration - TNT" What Microsoft will do"

Staedtler – Famous, Brussels"

3.Problem/Solution"

•  What’s the problem your product can solve? "•  Do you ‘bolt on’ software systems? Then you

have a problem Microsoft can solve."•  Are you paying more bills than you need to?"•  Are you about to get a job in a small and cramped

office?"•  What happens if you have a fire in the office?"•  These are all problems that can be solved by

someone. "

The problem with computer systems…" The problem with being burgled"

The problem is space"

•  Just before finals, students who had shown interest in the Singapore Navy were sent a blueprint of the average size of office space they would get"

•  Or, if they joined the Navy they would have the world"

The problem with Tinnitus" Publicis London - Zurich"

The problem is - theft"

•  Within hours of the capture of Iraq, the museum was looted and thousands of ancient books and scrolls sold"

•  Mailing to 100 wealthiest Germans of ‘The Cultural Treasures of Iraq’"

•  The solution: to buy them back with the donations"

The problem is – no future"

Bacteria is a problem"

•  Berendsen stress ball was mailed out to HR Directors "•  A week later, they were mailed the kit to show them how

much bacteria had accumulated"

The problem with poor windows"

4. The Analogy"

•  What is your brand like? "•  What is its performance like? "•  What does it look like, feel like, behave like? What does it

make you behave like? Look like?"•  Is your car as faithful as a hound? "•  Is your mortgage a heavy load?"•  Will your decision come back to bite you? "•  Is paper-billing the way of the dinosaurs?"

IBM China"

Langley Travel, Sweden" When a Londoner got married…"

Like a dinosaur…" Billosaurus - BMF, Sydney"

•  To launch the innovatory service of being able to pay all bills online"

•  B-Pay’s Top 25 corporate and banking clients were mailed"•  Idea was to bring to life the product truth that soon all

paper bills will no longer exist"•  5 major clients signed up as customers"•  5 financial institutions go live with B-Pay ""•  Cannes, Caples, ECHOs, ADMA"

Iris" Live like millionaires"

Eye…balls"

•  To persuade media buyers to place their clients’ advertising in ESPN’s sports programmes, they were mailed a reminder of just how close-up ESPN gets to sport. And how many eyeballs they attract. "

•  Basketballs, footballs and baseballs like eyeballs were mailed out with the message: you can’t get closer. "

5. Inversion"

•  Flip/flop - when you take your proposition and flip it."•  Instead of writing to householders about mosquitioes, write

to the mosquitoes."•  Show unreliable to make a point about reliability."•  Who do you not want to use your product?"•  Slavery – what a brilliant way to make money. (Irony)."•  Send model toy soldiers – only the figures are of boys

reading, playing"•  Send a Christmas mailing at Easter"

When you don’t have snow" Think small"

Slavery is unacceptable – so make it acceptable to make the point" Reversing the expected"

So a Christmas mailing arrives at Easter" Put the inside on the outside"

Reversing the usual procedure" CMW - Marmite"

Substitution"

•  Chevrolet invited top editors to the premier of ‘Transformers’"

•  They sent a storyboard with drawings of the recipient"

•  We couldn’t get you the part but come and see the film anyway"

Substitute one medium for another" 6. The slice of life"

•  Tell it like it is."•  Powerful observations of what really happens"•  Commonality of experience creates resonances"•  Can you (a) observe and (b) show your brand in the lives

of its users? "•  How do they really relate to it, use it, think about it?"•  Absa knew recipients had just experienced their first power

cut"•  Svedanskan Daily News knew most of their target group

had had their births announced in the paper"

Absa – knew about the powercuts"

•  The day after you experienced a blackout, Absa mailed you to see if you’d be interested in a home loan – to buy a generator. "

Norwegian Royal Mail"

The task was to persuade students who have started at university to let the mail know their new address. They did this by leaving opened letters around all over campus. "

Norwegian Royal Mail" Akestam Holst – Gothenburg Homeless"

" "!Army Recruitment UK - TMW!

" " " " " " " """

" "!C.A.L.M. Personal Effects - TMW!" " " " " " " """

Posten – Akestam Holst" 7. Borrowed interest"

•  Can you connect your message to some event that is happening right now?"

•  The World Cup – an opportunity for a thousand ‘borrowed interest’ campaigns"

•  Parody"•  Topicality"

How Don are you? "

To get media buyers to buy space in Saving Nemo " Hospital Cavell Brussels"

Domaine Louis Grezes - Belgium" Gebrueder Mey"

Shackleton - iJam"

•  At Christmas, Spanish agencies either send their clients a ham or something tecchy, like an iPod."

•  Shackleton decided to send both. The iJam."

•  On Youtube there is a video of a guy going into an Apple Shop asking for help with his iJam…. "

OgilvyOne, Madrid"

iPad for Mercedes, France"