Apply What You Learned

If you had a chance to read my previous blog on propaganda, you can put it into practice here. If not read my  Propaganda or good advertising? and return back to this one. Alright now watch this commercial and see how many techniques are used.

This Ad campaign by Miracle Whip is witty. Here is a link to a more in depth article on the series of commercials that were run. Brandchannel Blog - Kraft Miracle Whip

Propaganda or Good Advertising?

This week I’d like to look at the dark side to creative communication (Heavy breathing ala Darth Vader). It’s one that plays on the susceptibilities of people to various techniques that fall under the category of propaganda. Understand I have participated in developing marketing campaigns to attract people to church, to get them to consider the teachings of the Bible or to get involved in giving campaigns. That said, I find nothing wrong with the type of marketing whose objective is to get people to check out the product or idea being marketed and give it a chance to stand or fall on its own merits. But when the purpose of marketing is to manipulate a person to purchase a product or buy into an idea solely on various emotive strings that are being plunked then you’ve crossed the line into propaganda.

Some may consider the use of propaganda fair game when it comes to marketing, taking the philosophy of “Caveat Emptor” – Let the buyer beware. But I’ve found that the buyer has to be aware before he can beware. And a great majority of people simply aren’t aware that they are being propagandized. Too many of us are so over or underwhelmed with life that we coast through it on mental cruise control, which leaves us susceptible to some of the techniques I highlight below.

Here are 7 basic propaganda techniques as set forth by the Institute for Propaganda Analysis in the early 20th century, others have been added since then, but these seven by and large cover the majority of techniques that are used to manipulate people.

Bandwagon: This approach encourages you to think that because everyone else is doing something, you should do it too, or you'll be left out. Bandwagon is an appeal to the subject to follow the crowd, to join in because others are doing so as well. The average person wants to belong, to be part of the in crowd. This techniques plays off of that need of people not wanting to be left out.

Card stacking: This term comes from stacking a deck of cards in your favor during a card game. It seeks to slant a message. Card stacking involves presenting only information that is positive to an idea or proposal and omitting information contrary to it. Although the majority of information presented by the card stacking approach is true, it is dangerous because it omits important information. Keep in mind that an advertiser is under no obligation "to give the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth."

Glittering Generalities: Glittering generalities are words that have different positive meaning for individual subjects and have little or no real meaning, although they are linked to highly valued concepts. When these words are used, they demand approval without thinking, simply because such an valued concept is involved. For example, when a product states that it is “new and improved”, makes “whites whiter”, or has “scrubbing bubbles.”

Name Calling: Name calling occurs most often in political advertising. This technique consists of attaching a negative label to a person or an idea. People engage in this type of behavior when they are trying to avoid supporting their own opinion with facts. The propaganda attempts to arouse prejudice among the public by labeling the target something that the public dislikes. Often, name calling is employed using sarcasm and ridicule, and shows up often in political cartoons or writings.

Plain Folks: The plain folk’s device is an attempt to convince the public that the products/ideas/views reflect those of the common person and that they are also working for the benefit of the common person. The user will often attempt to use the accent of a specific audience as well as using specific idioms or jokes. This technique is usually most effective when used with glittering generalities, in an attempt to convince the public that the propagandist views about highly valued ideas are similar to their own and therefore more valid.

Testimonials: This technique uses "big name" personalities to endorse a product or an idea. Testimonials are quotations or endorsements, in or out of context, which attempt to connect a famous or respectable person with a product or item. Whenever you see someone famous endorsing a product, ask yourself how much that person knows about the product, and what he or she stands to gain by promoting it.

Transfer: Transfer is an attempt to make the subject view a certain item in the same way as they view another item, to link the two in the subjects mind. This technique can be used to transfer negative or positive feelings for one object to another. By linking an item to something the subject respects or enjoys, positive feelings can be generated for it. For example, using the American flag as a backdrop for a political event makes the implication that the event is patriotic in the best interest of the U.S.

There are several other propaganda techniques that have been developed or are subsets of the ones listed here. Techniques such as the “Either/or fallacy” that encourages "black-and-white thinking" because only two choices are given. Or the “Snob Appeal” technique that tries to play off of a person’s desire to be unique and have something, or know something that the majority doesn’t.

Hopefully being aware of these techniques will better prepare you to spot them when you are purchasing products for yourself, your business or non-profit, to insure that you make an informed decision. If a company/government/church has to use propaganda to sell something to us, then it merits us taking the time to dig deeper into what they are pitching to insure we aren’t being taken advantage of.

In closing I’d like to thank two of my professors for making me aware of these techniques and providing me with the tools to see past them. They are: Ray Fabrizio, who taught a course entitled “Propaganda in Media, Politics and Advertising” at Monterey Peninsula Community College in the 1980’s and Dr. John Williamson, who taught a course on “Critical Thinking” at Nazarene Bible College in the 1990’s.

Using the Headlines To Creatively Market Your Community

This is a brilliant way to communicate creatively. There's already a buzz in the news surrounding senators who have fled their state to hide out in Illinois. This town has taken advantage of the situation and turned it into an opportunity to highlight their community as a great place to getaway to. Instant connection.

Creating A Creative Team Part 2

In my last post I shared how to set up a creative team. In this post I want to share how to operate a creative team so that you can generate and develop ideas to creatively communicate your product or message.

You’ve got your team together, it’s 9 a.m. on a Tuesday morning, and you’re in a relaxed, creative setting.

First, you start the Creative meeting before the actual meeting by informing your team a few days in advance, what they are supposed to be getting creative about. If it’s a product, tell them what the product is. If it’s a message or idea, tell them what it is. This gives your team members opportunity to start thinking about ways to creatively communicate.

Second, start the meeting by reminding them of the rules mentioned in the first blog post, assign someone to write down the ideas that are mentioned where everyone can see them (Have a white board, or some means of recording the ideas) and then tell your team to start firing out different ideas. It doesn’t matter how crazy they are, how stupid they sound, how out of reach financially it is to do it, write it down and don’t allow anyone to trash anyone’s idea (Not at this point). Have your team think out of the box, under the box, behind the box, don’t even have a box.

Third, after you’ve gotten a list of ten to twenty ideas start culling them out.

Start by asking if there are any ideas listed that go counter to the core values/mission/beliefs of your business or non-profit (This is a good way of reminding yourself what your core values are). Immediately remove those ideas that can compromise your companies or non-profits values. One egregious example is an outreach event that occurred at a mega church. The event was geared to families with young children and they brought in an acrobatic team whose program turned out to be a bawdy burlesque show and far too racy for the age group intended. The persons who scheduled this team could have prevented this by asking if this acrobatic troupe's act went counter to the organizations core values. They could have gone to the acrobatic team’s website where they would have found a nude calendar the team had produced. And the sensuous nature of the team’s rehearsal before hand should have been a blatant red flag. Here is a case where a little due diligence could have prevented the fiasco that occurred.

Next, determine if any of the ideas presented would alienate your target market. Two recent examples of advertising gone wrong were the Groupon Superbowl Commercial Campaign (Here is one of the commercials videos).

Another is a recent restaurants ad campaign that made light of a religious cult that resulted in mass suicide several decades ago.  Indiana eatery pulls billboards

There is a school of thought that says “Any press is good press” as it provides free publicity. This only works, if your intended market prefers such scandals. Regarding the aforementioned ad campaigns, if they weren't intentionally trying to shock their audience then they fell short in the creative development by not asking if these ads would alienate their market. As an aside understand that using shock as a marketing idea will only take you so far. And you can’t use it too often.

Now have your team members list their favorite five ideas and have them state their reasons why they like that particular one. By doing this you will gain insight on that idea based on what that team member brings to the table (IE. the demographic they represent, their experience, their knowledge base). This is important especially if your market and that team member’s demographics match.

If someone’s idea doesn’t make the final five cut, give them the opportunity to defend it and add it back to the list. This is not an all or nothing venture. Nor is it majority rules. If you have someone standing up for an idea and they have a track record of picking winners, then go with their idea, no matter how crazy it might sound. Also as the business owner, or non-profit head, you have the ultimate say, but remember the reason you put the creative team together.

Fourth, take the favorite five and start throwing out more ideas surrounding how to develop and implement them in regards to your product or message. Look at the various scenarios they would work out best in, compare them to your target market, has anyone else done this? Why or why not? How does this idea compare with the trends that are currently moving up among your target market? (If the trend has peaked or is in decline toss the idea.) Depending on how far out you are planning you may utilize all five ideas, or just one or two. At any rate, if the ideas have made it this far, they each have value, so definitely save the ones you don’t use for a second look down the road.

And fifth, take the idea(s) you settled on and run with them.

After the meeting take time and determine what worked and what didn’t. Was the team creative enough to provide the spark needed? Were the ideas fresh or stale? Was there someone there that shouldn’t have been? Or was someone missing who should have been present. Make note of these things and make the changes prior to having your next creative team meeting.

Now go gather a team and start getting creative.

Creating A Creative Team Part I

In previous posts I've made mention of a creative team and how they can be very helpful in developing a guerrilla marketing campaign. I gave a brief example of what a creative team consists of: “a small group of people from various backgrounds, ages and gender.”After seeing them in action, I think they are beneficial for a variety of businesses, churches and non-profits.

At a previous workplace we utilized the Creative Team concept. Since this was a church we would gather once or twice a year to brainstorm what sermon series and topics should be covered for the following year. Rather than come up with too many details we would lay out a sermon schedule that was more like broad brush strokes. And then throughout the year we would meet weekly to hammer out particulars of the individual 3-6 weeks series. Our meetings would be informal and some weeks we accomplished more than others. Businesses and non-profits can plan creative team meetings around product launches, and major events.

So what is a creative team and how can they help you communicate creatively? What a creative team is, is a group consisting of anywhere from 3-8 people who meet for the sole purpose of coming up with and developing ideas that will help you to creatively communicate the product or idea that you want to provide your target market. Here are some key concepts to follow in selecting your creative team: 

1) Team members should be diverse in regards to their age, and personality type, as well as their likes and dislikes. Yet they should also be united in regards to the product or idea that you are marketing. The age span of our team was 20-something to 50-something. Some of the team came from a graphic design background; some of us were performers, supervisors, ministers, military veterans, video producers, etc. On various occasions we would bring in different people if we thought we needed better insight in a specific area which they could provide. 

2) The team members have to know that they have the freedom to state their opinion on any idea that is given, without fear of repercussion. At the beginning, every idea is equally valid. Because when the team first starts out, the meeting is more like a brainstorming session. So no matter if the team member is the company president, or the newest employee or volunteer, they have a voice in the meeting. 

(The importance of having the diversity of people and ideas is because each of us by nature is creative, but after a while we tend to get into a rut and soon find ourselves repeating what we’ve done. I think this happens because when we run out of fresh ideas we return to what we know.) 

3) The team should number between 3-8 people. No less than 3, as you need the dynamics that a third person brings, so you don’t turn into a mutual admiration society and no more than 8, because too many chefs spoil the stew. One of the last annual team meetings I participated in had a group of more than 8 people and it turned out to be one of the least productive meetings. Too many people will mean you will lose your creative focus, as large groups of people tend to go off on their own agenda’s losing sight of the big picture of why they are there. 

4) Limit your meeting time to 2 hours and meet before lunch. The best times to be creative are usually the morning when people tend to be their freshest. The longer a meeting runs, the less productive it becomes. It’s been my experience that 2 hours appears to be the limit when it comes to creativity. After that you tend to get a sense of beating a dead horse and you will start losing team members mentally. Also don’t just provide snacks/foods that are high in sugar. Have a mix of fresh fruits, vegetables, as well as chips and pastries, coffee, water, juice and soda.

The team members on the creative team I worked with were all staff members at the church I worked at. However your business or church or non-profit may not be larger enough to draw from staff members. Then partner with people who you do business with, if  you are a church/non-profit then involve volunteers, if you are married utilize your wife. And depending on whom you are marketing to involve your children or the teenager next door. 

The next post we will look at how the creative team operates in generating and developing ideas to meet your goal of communicating creatively.

Guerrilla Marketing

As part of the creative process, I take time each day to surf a variety of websites. Some are more traditional news websites, like cnn.com or wsj.com, others are more avant-garde or trendy, like visualnews.com or neatorama.com. As part of my daily surf I came across this image.

If anyone has ever played Oregon Trail you would immediately pick up on this. (And by the way Oregon Trail just launched on facebook). And the first thing that popped into my mind was, "this was a creative way to communicate". I immediately thought of guerilla marketing. How easy it would have been for some business or church to create something like this and then have each of the tabs stamped with info about your organization, or a website to drive them to. 

According to wikipedia the concept of guerrilla marketing was “invented as an unconventional system of promotion that relies on time, energy and imagination rather than a big marketing budget” (which makes it perfect for start up businesses and churches). Wikipedia goes on to say that generally such campaigns are unexpected, unconventional, interactive and target the consumers, or your target market in unexpected places. The objective of guerrilla marketing is to create a unique, engaging and thought-provoking concept to generate buzz about your product or idea and hopefully get it spread via word of mouth.

You can use any type of advertising medium to do guerrilla marketing. Just remember to keep it unusual and unexpected. The key is that the person you are trying to communicate with is a part of a niche that will “get” what you are advertising. That’s why the primary investment for this type of marketing is time, energy and imagination, and not just throwing a big pile of money at something.

Here is where having a creative team comes in handy. Generally a creative team should consist of a small group of people from various backgrounds, ages and gender. And if you don’t have a creative team you can turn to, then go online and see what people are listening to or watching, and let that stir up your imagination about how you can creatively communicate your product or idea using guerrilla marketing.

Guerrilla marketing can be as inexpensive as the handbill taped to a light pole, creating a cardboard template and recreating an image around town using side walk chalk, or as elaborate as some of the campaigns in the pictures I’ve attached.

I enjoy all the creativity surrounding guerrilla marketing but when it comes down to it, the end game of the marketing is that it has to deliver the goods. It doesn’t matter how cute you are, if your guerrilla ad doesn’t hit the mark (IE. Increased sales) or generate traffic. In a book called Guerrilla Marketing Handbook, by Levinson and Godin, they write, “In order to sell a product or a service, a company must establish a relationship with the customer. It must build trust and support. It must understand the customer's needs, and it must provide a product that delivers the promised benefits.” Hence the need to study who it is you want to sell that idea or product to.

So remember to put this creative communicating tool into your toolbox. Don’t use it too often, but when the time is right unleash the power of imagination and get involved in some guerilla marketing.