Whether you like them or not, puns are part and parcel of the advertising world. Used wisely, they can work well to attract attention or to make a product that much more memorable. Other times they fall flat. But the worst kind of pun has to be the one that creeps in completely unnoticed to undermine the very thing that your advert is trying to promote.
I recently came across one of these little horrors while waiting for my luggage to show up on the conveyor belt at the airport. “The car you need, just 40 steps away!” announced a car rental ad running along the conveyor. It obviously meant to say, “40 paces away”, but I could not help thinking of the kind of steps of the bureaucratic persuasion.
Call me pedantic if you like, but that was the thought that sprang to my mind as a potential client – and it was the exact opposite of what the advertisers intended. What’s more, in our impatient world where the time conscious measure efficiency in mouse clicks and milliseconds, I’m sure I’m not alone!
September 6th, 2006
Reading David Garfinkel’s post Plagarism? Or Creative Adaptation? Or Neither? reminded me of the adage that there are no new ideas – just adaptations of old ones. Not that I can say I entirely agree with that. Want an example? Einstein.
David says:
In direct marketing copywriting, we always strive to build our message on structures, concepts and actual words that have worked before. It’s no crime.
Hey, in this business, swiping is admired.
In other words, there is no point in reinventing the wheel. In a highly competitive environment such as direct marketing, where performance is meticulously tracked for maximum results, small tweaks and changes to past efforts are much less risky than all-out innovation.
Of course, different established methods, as well as choice of media and other variables, should be evaluated against each other whenever time and budget allow. This holds true for all kinds of advertising and not just for direct mail. After all, anything, from a different audience, a different culture, or even something apparently trivial such as a different time of the year, can throw a tried-and-tested marketing campaign completely off track.
In a nutshell, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, but test, test and test again to make sure everything still runs at least as well as you expect it to.
June 21st, 2006