Tag Archives: UK Advertising Agencies

Advertising is not as easy as it looks

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For those of you who saw last nights Apprentice (Wednesday 10th November) you will know just how wrong an advertising campaign can go, thus proving that advertising is not as easy as it always appears.

I’m sure we have all sat at home watching a TV advert or have driven past a billboard poster and thought ‘that was rubbish, I could do better than that!’ yet when it comes down to it creating any advertising and marketing campaign is a minefield which needs to be tread carefully.

In the recent Apprentice advertising challenge the remaining 10 finalists were tasked with coming up with an advertising campaign for a new cleaning product. Despite the two teams having 10 of the best young business brains in Britain between them both failed spectacularly by creating ads that were old fashioned and completely missing there target market.

This is why using a UK Advertising Agency is always the best way to go when marketing a product or service. Even though the apprentices thought they had a brilliant original ideas that couldn’t fail it took the experienced minds of professional marketers to point out all the many ways in which they had gone wrong. While using these professionals may be more expensive than going it alone a failed advertising campaign is a waste of money and could do more harm to a business than good. So if possible always seek out UK Advertising Agencies who can help you avoid the pitfalls that many of the apprentices fell into.

The Perfect Direct Response Advertising Campaign.

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Unfortunately there are still a large amount of company owners who believe that advertising their brand or product is a “Waste of money” and “Doesn’t bring results.” This maybe true, perhaps in the past they have worked with an agency who doesn’t know what they are doing, producing adverts and campaigns that weren’t properly thought out.

Alot of marketing/advertising budget is spent on adverts that attract the consumer but not necessarily to act or make a purchase. This is called “Image advertising” designed specifically to stay in your mind next time you want a drink, chocolate bar etc. The only problem with this is unless you have the cash flow of a marketing giant like Coke, Mars or Walmart you just won’t be able to compete.

The solution? Direct Response Advertising. This type of advertising is made exclusively to attract or generate a specific action or response. There are many different ways of getting your advert across be it TV, newspaper, radio or magazine. Direct response advertising is designed to generate leads, to make the consumer think a bit more about the brand or product. This means that you will have their details and can contact them with future campaigns, sales or offers. The question is how would the ideal UK Advertising Agencies go about doing this?

Step one – Create a quality/resourceful piece of content that will become an authority in that sector. This can be done through trial products, newsletters, tips, reports etc. Once you have decided what to write about and what format you are going to put it on. (email, mail, website, blog) Leave it alone and wait for people to request, download your content.

Step two – Once the requests and interest rolls in send, send send! Why does this form of advertising work well? It means not having to cold call or force the consumer into a place they don’t want to be. The discussion can be had on their terms even if they are only interested in spending a small amount of money. People don’t generally like being sold too, if you can show that your service or product offers good return on investment and have read your reports then a bond of trust has already begun.

It’s an obvious but very effective way of marketing. Think about it, if the person is calling up for your free information or after reading it then they are obviously already interested in what you have to offer. Now all you have to do is push the sale through. This also means that you can measure the popularity (or not) of your advertising campaign. Lack of interest? Change the campaign and try again!

The other benefit of direct response advertising is that you now have information on people who have previously shown interest in your product. Invite them to events, send them monthly newsletters. Invest your money in something that works!

How Social networking could threaten marketing growth

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Nearly 70% of UK Advertising Agencies are unprepared for online changes that will have to be implemented after the rise of social networking and other forms of internet social media.

A damning recent report has revealed that Direct Response Advertising Agencies will grow at a very slow rate of 1.2% a year by 2016 if other agencies are slow to change the way that they work after the emergence of social media sites like Twitter, Facebook and Youtube.

Social networking has enabled users/possible customers to pass on product, brand or service information to and from friends and this new technique is now seen as more powerful than other traditional ways of advertising.

Companies like Cadbury have hit the ground running in terms of social interaction with a recent advert showing a gorilla playing the drums being popular on the television but even more so online with Youtube saying that the advert has been viewed over 10 million times! The “Campaign for real beauty” from skincare giants Dove has also seen an increase in sales thanks to viral marketing videos shown on Youtube.

Although these two do appear to be success stories it appears that not enough companies are following in their footsteps and adjusting to the digital world. The worst case scenario has predicted that 16 million pounds could be lost by 2016 if UK Advertising Agencies fail to make new products and advertise them for the social media world.

What is Britain’s Favourite Advertising Slogan?

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“Good things come to those who wait.” A well known and excellently marketed slogan designed by Guinness has been chosen as Britain’s most popular and the one that is used most often in everyday life.

A recent survey taken by one of the largest UK advertising agencies has shown that nearly 50% of people frequently use the famous line from the Guinness TV adverts. The survey taken by 2,000 people decided that the Tesco’s advertising slogan “Every little helps” featuring celebrities like Terry Wogan and Jane Hurrocks was in second just slightly ahead of the simple “It does exactly what it says on the tin” by household products company Ronseal.

In fourth was the catchphrase used by fast food giants McDonalds “I’m Lovin’ It” and in fifth came Budweiser with their iconic “Wassssuuuuupppp?” commercial which was used by school kids everywhere.

A slight surprise to be as low as sixth is Nike’s famous line “Just Do It” with British Telecom coming seventh with their classic “It’s good to talk”

Tony the Tiger from Frosties comes in at eighth with “They’re grrrrreat’” followed by Orange the mobile phone company with “The future’s bright, the future’s Orange” Another alcoholic drink finishes off the top ten with “Probably the best in the world” from Carlsberg.

These results show that the advert doesn’t have to be beautiful or expensive (although Guinness do usually win awards for their adverts) to get peoples attention. The Tesco’s and Ronseal adverts are very to the point showing that an effective and catchy slogan can stick in people’s minds. As you’ll see below the slogans are short, memorable and creates an amount of trust .

The results also shown that 80% of UK residents use famous advertising slogans in everyday conversation. The most vital statistic however for direct response advertising agencies is that nearly 40% of people will be more likely to purchase a product if it has a decent slogan or advertising campaign.

The Evolution of Banner Advertising.

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The once popular banner adverts which have become commonplace on the internet are seeing a dip in success prompting experts to question their importance and future in online advertising. This form of direct response advertising is not as well liked as previous years with most users finding them annoying and intrusive. The pop up adverts offering free goods have slowly been phased out offering a new more laid back approach to banner advertising.

The internet is getting more crowded by the day, with new companies and people accessing it and looking to advertise their brand. Due to the variety of sites and adverts available it is now harder than ever to make an impression and attract new customers.

To stick out from the crowd and content a direct response advertising agency have to be creative. Video advertising has proved a winner with its eye catching visuals and tracking ability making it easy to identify its success rate. The difficult and brilliant thing about video is that it is a tricky medium to master. Make it too simple and boring then no-one will click but make it too wild and creative and users may get confused. Producing an advert between these borders, whilst making it unique and relevant aren’t as easy as you’d think!

The direct response part of the advert is usually added in the middle or the end of the video advert. If placed in the middle of the advert, users can pass on details to see the rest of the advert. If placed at the end, the user knows more about the company and the product which can help people feel more at ease with passing on personal information.

Online advertising is going to become ever more competitive over the coming years, although the credit crunch will see less spent by UK Advertising agencies, we will see a higher percentage of money going into online.