How I Got to Madison Avenue. And beyond.

As with life, this blog is developing and changing. It began with a lot of stories that occurred on my career path from Albany to Madison Avenue and back.

There were some similarities to the AMC series "Mad Men," and then I went even farther back in time with a somewhat fictionalized version of growing up in Troy's Little Italy.

And now, a new development. As my free lance advertising and marketing career winds down, I'm becoming more interested in the theatre arts that my father and his 3 brothers helped instill in me as I grew up.

As a result, I've volunteered to help promote the Theatre Institute at Sage, and now, to continue a long-interrupted desire to be behind the proscenium, I've joined the newly formed Troy Civic Theatre, and was actually fortunate enough to appear in their first production.

So, I hope you'll enjoy the new stories that will develop from this latest turn.

Sunday, April 29, 2012

Free Ad Strategy Finder

Since my days in the Madison Avenue mainstream, I've adapted and used a 10-question, one-page form that I guarantee will help any creative team to deliver a creative strategy that will deliver what every client wants:  effective, on-target, tailored ad campaigns.
There are just two problems:  one is getting the client to concentrate enough to fill it out and get all the decision-makers to agree on the answers.  The other is getting the creative team to stay on strategy.
With just those caveats, today I'm giving away the Visco Creative Strategy Brief.
Feel free to use it, and if you do, I hope you'll let me know the results.


Visco Creative Strategy Brief

Who is the client? ____________________________________________________________

What is the brand? ___________________________________________________________

BUSINESS PROBLEM/OPPORTUNITY: : Given the brand’s total marketing situation, what is the key problem or opportunity that advertising must address? _____________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________

CONSUMER ACTION OBJECTIVE: What action do we want the target consumer to take, given our marketing objective – try, retry, use the brand more, etc.? ___________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________

TARGET CONSUMER: Who are we talking to – in other words, what is the target consumer profile? _____________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________

RESPONSE FROM ADVERTISING: What response do we want from consumers to our advertising? (This should contribute to achieving the Consumer Action Objective.) __________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________

COMPETITIVE SET: What competitive choices is the target consumer currently considering in addition to or instead of our brand?_____________________________________________________________________________________________

CONSUMER PROMISE: What is the one rational, sensory, situational or psychological benefit that will have the most influence on shaping the target consumer’s perception of our brand in the desired way? _______________________________________________________________________________________________

SUPPORT: What are the key ideas or facts that justify the promise? ________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________

PERSONALITY OF ADVERTISING:
How will we address the consumer? ____________________________________________________________________
What style or feeling will the advertising convey? ________________________________________________________
What image do we wish to portray? ___________________________________________________________________

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