Marketing Litmus Test: Good Ad or Good Product?

As first blush this may appear nonsensical. It ain’t. And I’m
quite serious. To understand this, we have to get back to some
fundamental definitions. Definitions that lots of brilliant
advertising folks seem to have long forgotten.

Advertising, according
to dictionary.com, is

1. The activity of attracting public attention to a product or
business, as by paid announcements in the print, broadcast, or
electronic media.

2. The business of designing and writing advertisements.

3. Advertisements considered as a group: This paper takes no
advertising.

So, advertising is about
attracting attention by buying media and the business thereof.

Marketing is a bit
harder. Marketing is derived from the verb form of market meaning
to sell. So marketing then, is any activity that
results in the selling of more stuff. That’s it. Nothing else.

To non-marketing types, this will sound
obvious or like common sense. To marketing types, on the other hand,
will be confused. They’ve long since forgotten this fundamental
principal – or at the very least they are producing advertising as
if they had. So for they marketing folks, let’s set the record
straight: marketing is not about making people laugh, it’s not
about connecting emotionally with the consumer, it’s not about story
telling, it’s not about making people feel good, or educating the
customer, or winning awards, or being clever, or increasing
awareness, or creating a brand identity, or inspiring evangelists or
anything else other than selling more stuff… unless, of course, it
helps you sell more stuff. In other word, if it ain’t helping you
sell more stuff, it’s ain’t marketing.

The funny thing to
me is that the average consumer completely understands this while the
average marketer is trying hard to pretend it’s not true. Why?
Because when we feel that we are bing marketed to, we limit the
amount that we trust the information. If an advertisement feels like
marketing, then we tune it out. Realizing this, marketers have come
up with advertising that doesn’t feel like marketing. They’ve
done such a good job that lots of advertising is no longer marketing
because it doesn’t help sell more stuff. Have you been to Burger King
or Carl’s because of the recent ads? Did you buy a Passat because of
the elephant trick video? Me neither. These campaigns make consumers
laugh. They win Addy’s. They get downloaded 100 million times in the
first hour. But they don’t sell more stuff.

Now that we’re
clear on the concepts, let me substitute definitions for the words
advertising and marketing in my assertion:

Bad attraction
of public attention is about the business of designing and
writing advertisements, not selling more stuff.

Firms like Crispin
Porter + Bogusky are selling crap to giants like Volkswagen and
Burger King based on the idea that good ads get remembered. This is
true. But why would Volkswagen want to pay $400M for people to
remember CP+B’s product (the ad) and not theirs? These ads are about
the ego of the creative director and not about the product.

Here’s a test.
Watch some ads on TV with friends or family. After an ad ask the
open question "What did you think of that?" and point to
the TV. Don’t mention the product and don’t use the word "ad".
If the response is "That was a (good, funny, interesting,
etc.) ad." then the ad wasn’t marketing. If, on
the other hand, the response is "That’s a (cool, neat,
interesting, useful, etc.) product." then it’s
marketing. If they actually want the thing, then it’s good
marketing.

This brings me to
my epiphany… Good marketing is transparent.

Sure, educate,
entertain, create passion, whatever but do it in respectful ways that
connect with the customer. Make sure there isn’t an impedance
mismatch. Tell them the story, not a story.
Be honest, open, and credible. Don’t overstate. And above all,
never forget that no matter how hard you try to pretend otherwise,
the consumer knows you’re marketing to them. But, when the customer
feels they’re getting the straight scope, something magical
happens… they listen. They don’t see the marketing,
they see the product. If the product is good enough, and it will
help get them from where they are to where they want to be, guess
what? They might buy your product.

So here’s the
corollary: Good advertising is about marketing.

And translated for
the advertising execs: Good attraction of public attention

is about selling more stuff.

In my opinion
Geico, OnStar and Apple all produce good television ads. And by
good, I mean good marketing. When you get done seeing these ads you
say "Man, the new Nano looks cool." or "I wonder how
much Geico could save me?" or "Maybe a car with OnStar
would make our long road trips safer." I don’t feel marketed to
– even though I know I am. The marketing is transparent. In
contrast, when you see the BK/NFL ads you say "Man, what a cool
ad. Do you think the King was added with CG?" Think about it,
have you ever watched one of the BK/NFL ads and then thought about
the fries? Me neither.

Lesson to
Marketers: After watching a pitch for a new campaign, ask
yourself "If we run with this, will people say ‘great ad’ or
‘great product’?" If the answer is the former, fire you ad firm
and start over.

Matt Galloway writes the blog The Basement, where this article was originally published.