by Susan Carroll | Mar 15, 2016 | Random
The “Most Interesting Man in the World” is perhaps the greatest brand spokesman of our time. And he has no name. NPR shows the final ad and reveals the story of the man who has played the Dos Equis character.
After 10 years, the most interesting man is being launched into space, never to return. Let’s hope his legacy continues. But how could it not, with lines like: “The police often question him just because they find him interesting. He can speak French, in Russian. His mother has a tattoo that reads ‘Son’.” One comment on the NPR article adds, “Even the locals ask him for directions.”
by Susan Carroll | Mar 15, 2016 | Random
Utilize is increasingly over-used as a word for use. Maybe it started out this way because utilize is a very specific word, sharing the same root as utility, whereas use has many meanings.
Almost every time I see, or worse, hear the word “utilize” it makes me think that the person using it is trying to sound smarter than they appear to be. After all, “utilize” is a bigger word than “use.” Though the two words sound the same, utilize is over-used in place of use. It used to be confined to scientific, technical and bureaucratic jargon. But then it spread into marketing, and like a virus, into everyday conversations. This word is the bane of copywriters and art directors alike, not only because it is wrong, but because shorter words and lines are easier to read and understand and fit into layouts.
The two words, in fact, use don’t even mean the same thing.
According to Dictionary.com, the word “Utilize” means: “to put to use, turn to profitable account”. It is understandable that it can be confused with “use.” But that’s no excuse. Utilize is not a synonym for use. You won’t find it in their Thesaurus.
In Getting the Words Right, T.A.R. Cheney, writes:
“Utilize is not an elegant variation of the word use; it has its own distinct meaning. When you utilize something, you make do with something not normally used for the purpose, e.g., you utilize a dime when the bloody screwdriver is nowhere to be found. If the screwdriver were there, you’d use it, not utilize a stupid dime for the purpose. Use use when you mean use, and utilize only when it’s properly used to mean–to use something not normally used. The computer went off-line, so they utilized Mr. Wang’s abacus, the one he liked to use. Despite the temporary breakdown, the computer’s use-rate was up (not its utilization-rate).”
According to Bonnie Mill’s well-researched piece at the grammar blog, Quick and Dirty Tips: “The word ‘utilize’ often appears ‘in contexts in which a strategy is put to practical advantage or a chemical or nutrient is being taken up and used effectively. For example, according to the American Heritage Guide to Contemporary Usage and Style, you might hear “utilize” properly used in a sentence such as “If a diet contains too much phosphorus, calcium is not utilized efficiently”. So if you’re a science writer, you might find yourself using the word “utilize” usefully.
End note: the next time your staff copywriter is overburdened, utilize the services of a freelance writer like Susan Carroll. You can embed her into your team seamlessly to optimize your copy writing processes.
by Susan Carroll | Oct 29, 2015 | Random
You know the truism, “advertising is a young person’s business.” In talking with an old colleague, a talented A.D. who started at Y&R, we were wondering if maybe we’ve gotten too old for advertising. We’re both feeling as creative, if not more so, than when we were younger. Yet, as freelancers, we’re finding assignments to be less satisfying.
Personally, when my fledglings flew the coop my creativity began flowing like when I was 25. Only it’s better now, since I discern good ideas faster and have the confidence to explore them.
Contrary to popular opinion, instead of getting duller in midlife, we actually become brighter. Indeed, there is proof that in mid-life our creativity really blossoms. In NextAvenue, “Why We’re Hardwired for Midlife Reinvention,” Author and Journalist Mark Walton discusses what he learned from Dr. Michael Merzenich, a professor emeritus neuroscientist at the University of California, San Francisco, and a pioneer in the field of brain plasticity.
According to Dr. Merzenich “One of the interesting things that we commonly see when people transform themselves later in life is that they’re not just doing a new thing at a more or less mundane level,” Merzenich added. “We see that they have found what they’re really meant to do in life and suddenly move into the domain they were really constructed for.”
Well, be sure you’ve constructed a lucrative career in advertising before you’ve turned 40, so you can get out and do something really creative when you’re approaching 50.
Out of the mouths of babes?
Ironically, or perhaps prophetically, DDB Europe just this month sponsored a Golden Drum competition inviting young creatives to enter a short slide presentation about ageism. Winners receive an Applewatch and free admission to the 2015 Golden Drum Awards. According to the website’s creative brief, The 2015 Challenge:Ageism: “People start vanishing from advertising already in their higher middle age. Unless you don´t mind thinking about a different career after only 10–15 years, it’s time to stop it. Advertising is a young industry. According to IPA (Institute for Practitioners in Advertising) average age of people working in advertising in Britain is 33.6 years. Other European markets often lack the data, but countries established after the fall of the ‘iron curtain’, are likely to have an even lower average. Most people in advertising are under 30 or in their thirties…” Oh, and by the way, you have to be born after 1985 in order to enter.
The fault is not in our stars…
As Millenials (those ages 20-34) grow to becoming half of the work force, Boomers need to understand why and how “they can’t be like we were, perfect in every way”, according to another interesting article in
NextAvenue, “
Boomers and Millenials Trash Each Other.”
The difficulty boomers may find in working the younger generation, the Millenials who with 2-5 years experience, are now starting to run the show, may be less about creativity and more about a cultural generation gap. In several surveys, the problem isn’t so much about skills as about differences in attitudes. Although many boomers may be feeling 25 inside, they grew up in a much different world. Apparantly both take a lot of pride in their generation and blame the others for workplace flaws.
The Gen Y folks see Baby Boomers as being overly critical, micro-managing, work too many hours and are not good team players. It’s important to bear in mind that Boomers entered the workforce with the idea that one could work hard, prove their worth and loyalty, and thus move up the ranks within a company. The millenials entered a much different world, and are much more likely to move up by switching jobs
I find it useful to think even further back to the differences in our childhoods. Millenials learned team sports: in organized ways, from an early age, where they got lots of recognition for small acheivements. Boomers socialized informally, in pick-up games, where they made up the rules, fought and played and had to compete as individuals to succeed. And when boomers wonder why they don’t respect us as we respected our parents: Boomers grew up in the definitive Youth Culture and a cultural revolution that celebrated sex, drugs and rock and roll. We offered them reason over faith, we let them call us by our first names, and more than half of us got divorced.
In working with Millenials, Boomers need to be aware and accepting of their parenting styles and that those styles produced the Millenials — and they’re not your children anymore — indeed, they could be your boss. One thing both Boomers and Millenials agree on: Millenials are much more tech-saavy. So in this brave new world of fewer jobs and an increasing dependence on technology tools, Boomers need to reflect on their youth — both internally and externally. And they need to continually raise their skills to avoid being seen as anachronisms.
by Susan Carroll | Oct 23, 2015 | Random
Whiteboards in CyberSpace
There are so many great ways to develop ideas and collaborate online, it makes you wonder why so many companies, many of them professional communicators and marketers, continue to limit themselves to relatively clumsy communication tools like emails, pdf markups and in-person meetings. But who doesn’t love a white board? And now – wow – you can keep those great ideas, share them and update them — all in one place, accesible at any time — with virtual white boards. Smartboard gets across the concept with a very clever animation.
Apparantly there exist several to choose from (see Creative Bloq review below). But I was pretty amazed how much I could do with Conceptboard, the one I first encountered through Chrome. Conceptboard is great for visualizing and collaborating on projects and ideas. Everyone’s comments are available for viewing and sharing through a handy comment tool that resembles stickies (you can hide or show). It’s easy to look back at the development of the project, and memorialize changes. You get a generous 50 Mbs for free for starters. Anyone you collaborate has to accept your invitation and their own account, or you can purchase a team account for more seamless integration. The navigation takes a bit of getting used to, but it lets you zoom in or out on various areas: which is great for both seeing the “big picture” and the details together.
Although their audience is designers, the “Top 20” tools Creative Bloq reviews range from whiteboards similar to Conceptboard and Smartboard to project management tools that encompass pretty much everything in a project you need to track.
by Susan Carroll | Oct 13, 2015 | Random
Who better than a couple of German marketers to come up with a methodology for defining and quantifying creativity in advertising. In a 2013 article for The Harvard Business Review, Werner Reinartz and Peter Saffert showed a trained consumer panel over 400 consumer ads from 90 “fast moving” categories to determine if and when creativity matters, in which categories certain types of creativity work best, and the correlation between the price for the creative and its effectiveness.
The creative dimensions included originality, flexibility in ideas, elaboration of details, synthesis of objects usually not related, and artistic value. Not surprisingly, parity products such as soda scored highest for originality; whereas personal care products such as shampoo were more valued for elaboration of differences. However, sales didn’t always follow the logic. Originality in soda ads had a smaller impact on sales, whereas creativity in selling shavers and detergents boosted sales. Different combinations of these creative dimensions were rated, and originality and elaboration together almost doubled the impact on sales.
And the top scorers for each dimension (on a scale of 1-7) were…
Originality
- Is the ad “out of the ordinary”?
- Does it depart from stereotypical thinking?
- Is it unique?
Winner: Coca-Cola “Happiness Factory”
Flexibility
- Does the ad contain ideas that move from one subject to another?
- Does it contain different ideas?
- Does it shift from one idea to another?
Winner: Jacobs Krönung “Time for Chatting”
Elaboration
- Does the ad contain numerous details?
- Does it extend basic ideas and make them more intricate?
- Does it contain more details than expected?
Winner: Ehrmann Yogurt “Strawberry Tongue”
Artistic Value
- Is the ad visually or verbally distinctive?
- Does it make ideas come to life graphically or verbally?
- Is it artistic in its production?
Winner: Danone Fantasia “Flavor Trip”
I wonder if Germans just really, really like yogurt. As the researchers pointed out, original ads seem to do best when people are familiar with the item/category and creative commercials tupically need a few airings before people “get” them, But why is it that, at least in the U.S., you see the same ads and promos running over and over again ad nauseum? Well, that’s a topic for another post.
