Archive for March, 2007

Posted on Mar 16th, 2007

It is important to distinguish between corporate identity, brand identity, and brand image. Corporate identity is concerned with the visual aspects of a company’s presence. When companies undertake corporate identity exercises, they are usually modernizing their visual image in terms of logo, design, and collaterals. Such efforts do not normally entail a change in brand values so that the heart of the brand remains the same - what it stands for, or its personality.

Unfortunately, many companies do not realize this fallacy, as they are sometimes led to believe by agencies and consultancy companies that the visual changes will change the brand image. But changes to logos, signage, and even outlet design do not always change consumer perceptions of quality, service, and the intangible associations that come to the fore when the brand name is seen or heard.

The best that such changes can do is to reassure consumers that the company is concerned about how it looks. Brands do have to maintain a modern look, and the visual identity needs to change over time. But the key to successfully affecting a new look is evolution, not revolution. Totally changing the brand visuals can give rise to consumer concerns about changes of ownership, or possible changes in brand values, or even unjustified extravagance. If there is a strong brand personality to which consumers are attracted, then substantial changes may destroy emotional attachments to the brand. People do not expect or like wild swings in the personality behavior of other people, and they are just as concerned when the brands to which they have grown used exhibit similar "schizophrenic" changes.

On the other hand, if the intention is to substantially improve the standing of the brand, then corporate identity changes can be accompanied by widespread changes to organizational culture, quality, and service standards. If done well, and if consumers experience a great new or improved experience, then the changes will, over the longer term, have a corresponding positive effect on brand image. If you are spending a vast amount of money on corporate identity, it is as well to remember this. Brand identity is the total proposition that a company makes to consumers - the promise it makes. It may consist of features and attributes, benefits, performance, quality, service support, and the values that the brand possesses.

The brand can be viewed as a product, a personality, a set of values, and a position it occupies in people’s minds. Brand identity is everything the company wants the brand to be seen as.

Brand image, on the other hand, is the totality of consumer perceptions about the brand, or how they see it, which may not coincide with the brand identity. Companies have to work hard on the consumer experience to make sure that what customers see and think is what they want them to.

Scott White is President of Brand Identity Guru a leading Corporate Branding and Branding Research firm in Boston, MA.

Brand Identity Guru specializes in creating corporate and product brands that increase sales, market share, customer loyalty, and brand valuation.

This Article may be freely copied as long as it is not modified and this resource box accompanies the article, together with working hyperlinks.

Over the course of his 15-year branding career, Scott White has worked in a wide variety of industries: high-tech, manufacturing, computer hardware and software, telecommunications, banking, restaurants, fashion, healthcare, Internet, retail, and service businesses, as well as numerous non-profit organizations.

Brand Identity Guru clients include: Sun Life Financial, Coca Cola, HP, Sun, Nordstrom, American Federal Mortgage, Franklin Sports and many others, including numerous emerging growth companies.

Posted on Mar 16th, 2007

Organized your pencils and pens lately? Sorted your clothes into a logical system in your drawers? Then you already understand the basic elements of good design: it’s practical, it’s systematic, and it makes life easier.

In the same way, marketing materials that use good design make business easier for your customers. Layout and presentation make the difference as to whether people will understand your products and services. This is why a well-designed ad outperforms one that’s thrown together using intuition alone.

Well-designed materials become even more important as their complexity grows. For instance, an ad typically gets someone’s attention for five seconds. In contrast, a brochure has the potential to claim much more of your prospect’s time and commitment. Hand a customer a poorly-formatted, hard-to-read piece and you may lose them forever.

So is good design really as simple as organizing your tie collection? Well, not quite. But there are some hard and fast rules you can follow. Use this checklist for your next project. Structure and time your piece correctly, and then brace yourself for every businessperson’s dream: informed customers who are ready to do business with your company.

Five Basics of Good Design

1. Never obscure your message. The KISS (Keep It Simple, Smarty) rule applies equally well to writing copy, creating graphics, and choosing a format.

2. Work backwards from your goal to your marketing piece. Listen to your customers’ needs before you make a decision about how to fill them. A website may not initially appeal to you as a tool, but if your customer base is using the Internet, it may be a great way to deliver your message.

3. Present similar kinds of information in similar ways. People love to look for patterns. And we feel good when we find them, so let your customers in on that happy feeling. Chances are it will help them retain your information better and use it more effectively.

4. Save special effects for the 4th of July. Just because you can print in all caps in that cool new font, it doesn’t mean you should. Readability wins out over gimmicks every time.

5. Be practical and be dedicated. Consider all the steps involved in a project, from the time you spend creating it all the way through to postage or follow-up calls. Commit to following through on every item or your project may not succeed.

Wendy Gray Maynard is the co-owner of Kinesis. Kinesis specializes in marketing, graphic design, and business writing. Visit http://www.kinesisinc.com for more articles and free marketing wisdom.

Want to harness the power of kinetic marketing? Sign up for Kinesis Quickies, a free bi-monthly marketing e-newsletter: http://www.news.kinesisinc.com

Posted on Mar 15th, 2007

Where is your brand positioned in the marketplace? How is it perceived, both positively and negatively? Can you identify your brand’s core strength’s and equities? What are the barriers or threats standing in the way? A brand strategy company will provide you with an objective assessment of your brand.

They can deliver specific solutions that will allow you to reach your strategic business goals and objectives, and clearly differentiate your brand and identity in the marketplace. Contact a branding company and they’ll explore how they can help you develop a "BrandMasterpiece" branding and positioning strategy.

Many clients have the mistaken idea that they can’t brand their company because it is too expensive. In fact, a smaller business can build a very strong brand in their sales area by being uniform in their image and message through a proactive and consistent campaign.

Corporate image and branding are strongly connected. In order for the brand to work effectively, the correct colors, font and design must be used in your corporate identity. It is not enough to say I need my logo to be blue; it’s knowing what shade of blue, out of the 1000’s to choose from. Remember your corporate identity is designed to attract your target markets, as well as represent your company.

Why Positioning

When people ask a branding company what exactly is it that they do, they unhesitatingly answer, “positioning”. While they also perform other marketing-oriented activities for their clients, their philosophy is that the entire marketing mix hinges upon good positioning. If the client’s product hasn’t been positioned properly, it will fail. Period.

The strategies, tactics, messages, and creative are all directly dependent upon the development of appropriate positioning. Unsound positioning will weaken each of these endeavors and yet it’s probably the least understood and most neglected of marketing activities. Many brand positions are hurriedly crafted by committee to placate management with obvious results. A landmark article by HCI once pointed out that fully 70% of new product positions mimic that of an established brand in the therapeutic category. That’s not typically a formula for success.

A branding company believes that good positioning is born of thorough market and product understanding. Only then can a diligent, proven process craft the positioning that will drive proper strategic, tactical, and creative work.

Positioning Design

Positioning is arguably the most important and yet the most difficult responsibility of the marketing professional. That may be why a branding company’s most popular service is a positioning design process. This unique, process makes use of a rigorous developmental methodology that designs brand positioning, and is quantitatively proven to create a positive product perception and generate incremental new prescriptions.

Whether it’s a new product requiring positioning developed from scratch or an under-performing product needing re-positioning, a branding company can enhance your product’s performance.

A branding company utilizes a disciplined, proven process to engineer an optimal brand positioning and an actionable communications blueprint. The process is broken down into three distinct phases: Surveying, Design and Engineering, and Brand Blueprint.

Researching Phase

The Researching phase includes the development of the initial strategic assessment based on an evaluation of the currently available information regarding the product, audience, and marketplace. This phase also includes recommendations for additional market research and exploration. The Researching activities include, but are not limited to:

· Qualitative evaluation and situation analysis

· Product and market differentiation

· Customer segmentation, needs and problem analysis

Qualitative / quantitative research and analysis

Strategic Phase

A branding company should believe that strategy, message, and tactics all flow from a well-structured positioning. In the Strategic phase, positioning development, evaluation, and testing lead to the formulation of an effective strategic framework for the Brand. Only with a thorough understanding of that brand positioning, can key messages for offline as well as online delivery be crafted and evaluated. The Strategic phase activities include, but are not limited to:

· Positioning workshops and option development

· Strategy creation, mapping, and metrics

· Attribute articulation / messaging

Blueprint

The Blueprint is a unifying document that provides strict guidance on the tactical application of the strategy and positioning to the full cadre of outsource communications partners (i.e., professional and consumer promotional agencies, public relations, publication planning, e-promotion resources, etc.) A primary goal of the Blueprint is to ensure consistent, cohesive, and synergistic promotion for the Brand across all tactics and media. The Blueprint:

· Creates appropriate relationship between science & marketing

· Increases cohesiveness of internal and external teams

· Is a focusing tool for tactical partners

Scott White is President of Brand Identity Guru a leading Corporate Branding and Branding Research firm in Boston, MA.

Brand Identity Guru specializes in creating corporate and product brands that increase sales, market share, customer loyalty, and brand valuation.

This Article may be freely copied as long as it is not modified and this resource box accompanies the article, together with working hyperlinks.

Over the course of his 15-year branding career, Scott White has worked in a wide variety of industries: high-tech, manufacturing, computer hardware and software, telecommunications, banking, restaurants, fashion, healthcare, Internet, retail, and service businesses, as well as numerous non-profit organizations.

Brand Identity Guru clients include: Sun Life Financial, Coca Cola, HP, Sun, Nordstrom, American Federal Mortgage, Franklin Sports and many others, including numerous emerging growth companies.

Posted on Mar 15th, 2007

What are you trying to say with you business card?

We have talked about collecting other people’s business cards and also about how they are often tough to differentiate from one another. These are things you should avoid for your own business card. It is easier to get into a conversation when you have a business card that speaks for itself. My card, BizMechanix, is so different, almost everyone remarks on how good the card looks. I have even had comments about it being the most professional and great looking card they have ever come across. You should make sure that yours is the same. Spend time with a graphic designer, and then also take time to buy good paper stock for printing. You are more likely to get notices and gain business if your card is extremely professional.

Do not use the homemade variety, the serrated edges are a sure give-away that you do not value your card. Remember that you card is the first thing people will see on their desk after the event. It is also your card that they will take note of when entering new names into their contact management system. Take the time and make the effort to create something unique, tasteful, and colorful. You do not have to go over board with it - just make it well worth it. I would rather have an excellent business card than a new car to drive. Most people will not see my car inside the event, but they will see my business card. Do not make it gaudy, just noticeable.

All the pieces have come together and attending the event has been a success. You have made the most out of your attendance and practiced the necessary skills. Now it is time to close in on the potential business. The first thing to do is to sort your contacts in order of importance and potential size of the deal. Choose the most important possibility, analyze the potential and then follow up.

Bette Daoust, Ph.D. has been networking with others since leaving high school years ago. Realizing that no one really cared about what she did in life unless she had someone to tell and excite. She decided to find the best ways to get people’s attention, be creative in how she presented herself and products, getting people to know who she was, and being visible all the time. Her friends and colleagues have often dubbed her the “Networking Queen”. Blueprint for Networking Success: 150 ways to promote yourself is the first in this series. Blueprint for Branding Yourself: Another 150 ways to promote yourself is planned for release in 2005. For more information visit http://BlueprintBooks.com/

Posted on Mar 14th, 2007

"Make no little plans, they have no magic to stir your blood… MAKE BIG PLANS. Aim high in hope and work." So wrote Daniel H. Burnham in the last century. The big plans are important. They capture your vision. The next step is to break them down into "do-able" chunks, chunks that can be done in even one day. That is what gives you a definite sense of accomplishment, isn’t it? The big plans are necessary, the baby steps, imperative!

An associate shared a marketing tip with me the other day. She said, "Go big, or go home". I thought about this quite a bit as it seemed so brash and arrogant. Great slogan, but what about the little guy? Then, it all made sense. Each person has the opportunity to define ‘big’ for herself. If we are to live our dreams and visions about how we want our lives to be, how we want to be remembered, what our contribution to our daily world could be, it IS true. Go big or go home!

Have a vision. Have a master plan for your whole life as you presently see it. What would you like to be doing, experiencing, being or having in your life, sometime in your life? What are the things that are most important, significant and valuable to you? That’s big!

After you have created the "big picture" then you can decide what you would like to create immediately and pay attention to that. Timing is only one difference between short and long term goals. Another important difference is that short term goals lead directly to long term goals which fit perfectly into the master plan. And the good news is….you are in charge! You can change your master plan, and your approach to it, as your interests and priorities shift and grow. You are not locked in. A master plan is a plan for joy and passion, not a plan for duty and obligation.

It is useful to break your goals down into three categories: current, near future and far future. Once you have put your future goals into your subconscious mind, they are begun. It is not only action that is required. Keeping your goals in the forefront of your mind is key. Thoughtfully craft your current goals. Know how you will measure your success and plan for it. Think big! Think limitlessly. Think "out of the box". People are often limited by their minds unwillingness to stretch. Remember what Napoleon Hill said: "…if you can conceive it, and believe it, you can achieve it!"

If you find yourself surrounded by people who are ‘thinking little’ it might be difficult to find support and acceptance for your big plans. You may have to include some new associates who want to play ‘big’, too! You have probably heard that, if you want to run with the big dogs, you have to get off the porch! Jump off that porch and get running!

Reflect on the biggest view of your life–your master plan. Is it big enough for you? Does it cause you to stretch to get your arms around it? If not, think a little bigger and see where it takes you. If it does, be sure you have planned the route that will get you there. Then, follow it. As you embark on each task today, ask yourself, "Am I on the road to my vision by doing this?" If not, make a correction.

Go big or go home! That one little phrase keeps me on my toes.

Scott White is President of Brand Identity Guru a leading Corporate Branding and Branding Research firm in Boston, MA.

Brand Identity Guru specializes in creating corporate and product brands that increase sales, market share, customer loyalty, and brand valuation.

This Article may be freely copied as long as it is not modified and this resource box accompanies the article, together with working hyperlinks.

Over the course of his 15-year branding career, Scott White has worked in a wide variety of industries: high-tech, manufacturing, computer hardware and software, telecommunications, banking, restaurants, fashion, healthcare, Internet, retail, and service businesses, as well as numerous non-profit organizations.

Brand Identity Guru clients include: Sun Life Financial, Coca Cola, HP, Sun, Nordstrom, American Federal Mortgage, Franklin Sports and many others, including numerous emerging growth companies.

Posted on Mar 14th, 2007

Many groups like the Chamber of Commerce, ASB at the local high school, etc. will ask if their members can get a discount if they shop in your store or use your service. Of course, the answer top these groups should be a high-energy YES! They will then make a discount booklet for their members with your company listed, this is excellent and promotes good will for your business.

The more membership booklets and coupon books your small business can be in the better your business will do. Get in all the free ones and any, which distribute to 10,000 or more people for under $50.00 or at least under the ratio of $100.00 per 20,000 units delivered. Watch for scams. Tell them ‘you can have one half the payment now and one half when you show me the coupon book,’ if you have reason to be suspicious. Make sure the organization is a known name you’ve heard of or seen around town. We have had only a few problems with these coupon books being scams in the three decades we have been in business. Membership booklets on the other hand as a whole have brought us in countless scores of new clientele. It also has help us maintain our image as community based businesses.

Coupon companies which mail out coupons for a fee are also generally good although every once in a while a no-name company with a fast talking sales man will come in the door so we recommend the same half now and half later deal with them if you are unsure. There are many well-known and established names in the coupon mailer world. Good names to work with include: Valley Shopper; Penny Saver; Value Ads; Coupon Clipper; Money Mailer; Green Sheets; Coupons ‘N More of …; Neighborhood Mail Box Values; Val Pak; Coupon Cash Saver; United Coupons; Homesteader; Super Coups.

Wow! Lots of junk mail. Too bad these things work so well! Many businesses send out coupons because they work so well, just make sure when those new customers come in that they are retained as steady customers, you want to make sure above all that the customers fall in love with the great products and great service and not just the discounted coupons coming into their mail boxes.

"Lance Winslow" - Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs/

Posted on Mar 13th, 2007

Today, in many organizations around the world, branding is treated as a cosmetic exercise only, and regarded merely as a new name, logo, stationary and possibly a new advertising campaign. But, to associate your “brand” with such superficial cosmetics is like saying that people are really only the sum of their name, face and sometimes their clothing

But branding is a thoughtful discipline that strongly belongs to the long-term strategy of an organization; brand strategy is, or should be, business strategy, and vice versa.

Smart Branding is about having a clear point of view on what an organization is about and how it can deliver a thoughtful and unique experience to its customers. Then, the execution is about organizing all products, services, and corporate operations around the customer, to close the gap between the promised and the delivered brand experience.

For example, Staples, an office-supply retailer in the US, aims at making the purchasing experience easy, as communicated in its trademarked slogan "that was easy." In practice, it may mean training the front-line personnel in customer service processes (e.g., how to minimize issues during check-out), designing the website for instant product reviews and actual delivery time, and scheduling fast delivery of orders and pick-up of returns. All those organizational aspects thus reinforce each other and converge to the same strategic objective.

Approach branding as a business strategy, is to view how all products, services and interactions with the consumer under the brand name become building blocks of bedrock of trust derived from their customers’ experience; For instance the iExperience that the iFamily of Apples’ iProducts deliver to its iFanatics.

To be successful, Smart Branding has to be seen as an important part of the corporate strategy, something that will deeply influence the entire organization. That’s why Smart Branding initiatives need to be aimed not only to the external costumer but also has to be directed to the inside of the organization, transforming the figure of the CEO into the brand champion who drives the brand and everyone in the organization; Think Howard Schultz, Steve Jobs or Richard Branson

To truly become and act as The Brand champions, CEO’s need to take all their decisions based on three premises:

1. The brand is the most important organization asset

2. The most important source of income is the customer, and

3. Branding is about business planning.

These three premises will help CEO’s follow the most important rule of the marketing game: If you don’t sell, you aren’t in business.

This CEO level approach to branding, allows brands to have an aided recognition that can result in premium pricing and extension opportunities, which ultimately will increase customers’ loyalty. It also provides management tangible metrics to assess initiatives, which eventually can be transformed into tangible brand equities.

Scott White is President of Brand Identity Guru a leading Corporate Branding and Branding Research firm in Boston, MA.

Brand Identity Guru specializes in creating corporate and product brands that increase sales, market share, customer loyalty, and brand valuation.

This Article may be freely copied as long as it is not modified and this resource box accompanies the article, together with working hyperlinks.

Over the course of his 15-year branding career, Scott White has worked in a wide variety of industries: high-tech, manufacturing, computer hardware and software, telecommunications, banking, restaurants, fashion, healthcare, Internet, retail, and service businesses, as well as numerous non-profit organizations.

Brand Identity Guru clients include: Sun Life Financial, Coca Cola, HP, Sun, Nordstrom, American Federal Mortgage, Franklin Sports and many others, including numerous emerging growth companies.

Posted on Mar 13th, 2007

I’m sure while you have seen many tips on advertising, many that talk about testing and tracking your ads, I’m sure that this one important tip is rarely mentioned: Running more than one ad at a time isn’t the greatest idea.

While it seems like a good idea to spend your monthly advertising budget all at once at the first of the month, is it really gaining you the best exposure? Even if you are running ads on various websites and networks, there is a pretty good chance many of those that see your ad on one site are going to see them on another.

Rather than having several ads running at the same time, try to space out your ads a bit and run only one at a time. Why? Well think of it this way. Say a visitor seeing your ad on one site and thinking "interesting, I may have to buy something later". Later that same day if they are on another website I’m sure they’ll think, "there it is again, but I’ll buy later".

Now think if you would have waited a week or two before advertising at that second site in which this visitor comes to daily, and then seeing it saying, "oh wow that site! I forgot I was going to buy there last week, so I’d better do it now".

See the difference? Rather than one person seeing your site several times in one day or week and it still being the bad time, if you space your ads out you have a better chance of catching them when it IS a better time…or at least taking a closer look at your site and getting them subscribed to your newsletter or other free offers you have on your website.

Another reason it’s good to spread your advertising dollars as far as they will go is for constant exposure. If you are seen constantly in several places at all times, the easier you are going to be remembered. Not to mention like we said before, always be seen by someone who IS ready to buy.

Now of course, when you do choose to advertise on several sites at the same time, there is the chance you will reach more of your target audience. Plus if you have the funds to constantly advertise on several sites at once, go for it! Just remember to keep the ads going, so you have a constant flow of visitors.

About the Authors: Kara Kelso & Anita DeFrank are two busy wahms, and the owners of Direct Sales Helpers. Learn how you can be successful in your company by visiting: http://www.DirectSalesHelpers.com

Posted on Mar 12th, 2007

Building your brand into a brand leader isn’t easy. There are 2 areas that can really help you grow your brand, passion and consistency. Passion is incredibly important. You have to understand that even if you are a start up or a one-man operation, or are well on your way, you are still a brand. You have to care passionately about the way your brand is nurtured, developed and presented to your target audience. Everything that leaves your building, every impression that your staff and your company make, is lasting. Take advantage of this opportunity to get your customers and potential customers to remember you in the way that you want them too!

Passion is something that you have to feel deep down inside; you have to be driven by the belief that your brand should be the #1 in its category. I can’t give you the passion, but I will ask you to think about this! For example, one of the greatest investors of all time is Warren Buffet. Mr. Buffet invests only in brands, or products that he really understands. He once wrote in one of his annual reports “A brand is like a moat around your business”. This point is significant! A brand can protect you against competitive attacks, it can protect you from market fluctuations, it can protect you from having to get into a price war, and it can protect your premium price positioning. When all things are equal, consumers will usually buy the brand leader!

Consistency is probably the easiest part of the marketing communications to control, but frankly most companies fail in this area. What you should do is ensure that everything that comes out of your company looks like it should. Every piece of communication should be part of a “look” that you have agreed on. I really do not care what it is; it should always look like it’s part of a family, part of an ongoing series of communications. There should be no difference. If it’s a letter, they should all look the same. No different typefaces, different margins etc. This is an area that should not be a request in your company; it should be a mandate.

Scott White is President of Brand Identity Guru a leading Corporate Branding and Branding Research firm in Boston, MA.

Brand Identity Guru specializes in creating corporate and product brands that increase sales, market share, customer loyalty, and brand valuation.

This Article may be freely copied as long as it is not modified and this resource box accompanies the article, together with working hyperlinks.

Over the course of his 15-year branding career, Scott White has worked in a wide variety of industries: high-tech, manufacturing, computer hardware and software, telecommunications, banking, restaurants, fashion, healthcare, Internet, retail, and service businesses, as well as numerous non-profit organizations.

Brand Identity Guru clients include: Sun Life Financial, Coca Cola, HP, Sun, Nordstrom, American Federal Mortgage, Franklin Sports and many others, including numerous emerging growth companies.

Posted on Mar 12th, 2007

Many of the most memorable ad campaigns around tend to be funny. Advertisers use this strategy to attract customers to their product. Audiences like to be entertained, but not pitched. People will pay more attention to a humorous commercial than a factual or serious one, opening themselves up to be influenced. The key to funny advertising is assuring the humor is appropriate to both product and customer. The balance between funny and obnoxious can often be delicate; and a marketer must be certain the positive effects outweigh the negative before an advertisement can be introduced.

The best products to sell using humor tend to be those that consumers have to think the least about. Products that are relatively inexpensive, and often consumable, can be represented without providing a lot of facts, and that’s where there’s room for humor. Candy, food, alcohol, tobacco and toys/entertainment related products have proven to benefit the most from humor in their campaigns. One of the most important things to keep in mind is relevance to the product. An example of an extremely successful humorous campaign is the series of “Yo Quiero Taco Bell” commercials. The star, a tiny talking Chihuahua who is passionate about his Taco Bell got people repeating the company’s name across the country. The repetition of the company name and the actual content of the commercial reinforce the message in a relevant manner. Taco Bell saw a substantial rise in sales and their own mascot became a pop icon.

Another point to consider when using humor in advertising is that different things are funny to different people. A commercial that may leave one person gripping their sides from laughter may leave a bad taste in another’s mouth. The target market must always be considered. What’s funny in a client presentation may not be funny on an airplane, at a country club or in a hospital. An example of a recent humorous product introduction is Mike’s Hard Lemonade. These commercials feature over exaggerated and comical violence with the underlining message that no one’s day is hard enough to pass up a Mike’s. It failed, ranking as one of the year’s most hated campaigns by both men and woman according to 2002’s Ad Track, a consumer survey. The series of commercials are aimed at 21-29 year old males and the repetition of comical violence (such as a construction worker being impaled on the job and a lumberjack cutting off his own foot) gets less and less funny every time it’s viewed. Eventually the joke just wore out and the commercial became annoying and offensive.

Humor in advertising tends to improve brand recognition, but does not improve product recall, message credibility, or buying intentions. In other words, consumers may be familiar with and have good feelings towards the product, but their purchasing decisions will probably not be affected. One of the major keys to a successful humorous campaign is variety, once a commercial starts to wear out there’s no saving it without some variation on the concept. Humorous campaigns are often expensive because they have to be constantly changed. Advertisers must remember that while making the customer laugh, they have to keep things interesting, because old jokes die along with their products.

Mark Levit is managing partner of Partners & Levit Advertising and a professor of marketing at New York University. Partners & Levit’s clients include Procter & Gamble, UnitedHealth Group, and GE Commercial Finance. For more information call 212-696-1200 or visit http://www.partnerslevit.com.

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