House Arrested Advertising

About six months ago, a survey by the Association of National Advertisers found almost 60 percent of marketers in the United States were using some form of in-house advertising compared with about 40 percent five years earlier.

"In-house advertising," of course, is the practice of relying on a company's own staff for advertising expertise as opposed to employing an independent agency on a contract basis.

In the survey, advertisers reported a growing interest in "brand expertise" and "institutional knowledge" as possible benefits of relying on in-house advertising personnel. Possible risks were identified in the areas of "staying on top of key trends" and "creative innovation."

For computer and technology companies, the 64-bit question is whether the hoped for advantages of speed and control provided by in-house advertising will outdistance the originality and third-party objectivity of independent agencies.

During the past year, Apple is among the brands moving toward greater reliance on in-house advertising. Already for Apple, the in-house work has the look of industrial video, albeit expensively produced.

This is an industry development to watch. Indeed, the advertising quality of a firm is an important consideration on Wall Street. The strategic and creative quality of a brand's advertising is a strong signal of the the quality of leadership vision and strength of top management.

Worth remembering, in 2002 Gateway took it's advertising in-house. Let's just say, "The cow went out to pasture." Where is that brand today?

  Copyright © 2014 by John Eighmey. All Rights Reserved.

Advertising as a Cultural Agent

This 1966 Ford Fairlane commercial embodies that era's cultural scene in connection with the changing views of and toward women.

The actress Ann B. Davis enacted a romance novel inspired script to take the audience to the edge of innuendo and then "shift" to humor. The selling idea, of course, concerned the virtues of the car's automatic stick shift. 

This commercial was written and produced the same year as the founding of the National Organization for Women.  In this exemplary commercial, the archetype has turned the tables.

  Copyright © 2014 by John Eighmey. All Rights Reserved.

Art in Advertising

Artists share realizations. They communicate a new view of reality, and the audience thinks differently.

In the hands of a lesser art director, these illusions might appear trite. But, in this 1994 commercial the high fashion approach to the artistic tradition of altered perspective invited the audience to a deeper understanding of what hair can mean.

Art plays the critical role answering the fundamental question for any advertising person. What can the advertising be? 

   Copyright © 2014 by John Eighmey. All Rights Reserved.

Advertising and Art

Artistic expression moves people:  to think, to feel, to believe, to do.

Maya Angelou's performance in this PSA gave power to her words connecting them with a specific cause, allowing others share her vision and to act.

This 1994 public service message for the UNCF was created by Y&R in New York City. The supporting actors were all Y&R employees.

  Copyright © 2014 by John Eighmey. All Rights Reserved.

Consumer Insight and Advertising Excellence

Back in the 1980s, I did a series of in-depth interviews about how people experienced fast food meals. I was interested in the social context. Who was there during the meal, what happened that made one brand experience different from another?

When it came to KFC, many people talked about good times around the kitchen table. A bucket of KFC chicken has unusual powers to attract family and friends to the table and facilitate conversation.

This commercial is from KFC in the UK.  It recalls the 1980s era Y&R campaign for the brand, "It's so nice to feel so good about a meal."

This Y&RNY campaign identified the basic consumer insight about the brand as an enjoyable family meal experience, beyond the concept of fast food. Even unto today, this fundamental idea remains home ground for KFC.

    Copyright © 2014 by John Eighmey. All Rights Reserved.

Advertising Productivity and Psychological Theory

In a world filled with attention getting stunts, it is helpful when advertising can place the brand in the context of productive psychological theory.

Congratulations to Axe for going beyond the common method of sex-appeal borrowed interest to tell a story. Our hero makes repeated and even "historic" efforts to succeed. Then the commercial pulls the rug out from under the audience when the brand becomes the hero.

My students recognize this as an example of the Theory of Trying, Attitude Toward the Ad, and the Reward Theory of Communication. Might even be an argument  for "excitation transfer."

  Copyright © 2014 by John Eighmey. All Rights Reserved.

Creative Victories

My students all know Eighmey's Rules of Advertising. Number One is "For any piece of advertising to work, it first must be seen.  And, to be seen, it must be different."

"How different?" is always a good question.  Sometimes creative victories come in small packages.

This full page ad in a current national magazine shows the creative team won the day with their idea for this playful Easter-time recipe reminder from Jell-O.  Corporate clients usually go for the just the facts.

Congrats to the folks at CP+B.

   Copyright © 2014 by John Eighmey. All Rights Reserved.