http://tinyurl.com/bcrh2d

Forgive me my tangents.

I was thinking about posting some TSPL-related stuff before I read Steven Thomas’s post defending us. I too was gonna drop the combined readership of 350-odd thousand in there but never mind that – How can 50,000 KNOWN PAID-FOR copies in this day and age of fragmenting and hard-to-track media advertising not be a guaranteed, stone-wall-know-what-you’re-getting investment? It is still a very powerful tool. Online banner ads do not have that kind of impact – no danger.

Steven nailed it with his post, although the decline he and Pete Mill were forced to address due to an earlier post (and another was quick to pick up on in a subsequent post) is irrelevant in the context of 60watt’s move. Relevence is the 50,000 still buying – add to that the increase in sale which the Friday Scotsman enjoys in January coupled with the SOS’s traditional January boost in sale and you have a very sound investment.

Just to touch on the 50,000 figure one more time…. Like many media commentators (in newspapers mainly!) have done with the financial crisis, steaming in with irresponsible coverage like the tabloids doing a Brutus on Jonathan Ross, so the Scottish (online mainly) media continue to sound the death knell for the quality Scottish newspaper industry; the negativity rises from epidemic to pandemic. This is similar to what I read about Obama as his inauguration approached and all the carping from the sidelines it brought concerning his ability – he hadn’t even sat behind the big oak desk yet!
So, without wanting to sound like a therapist spouting psychobabble about being a positive or negative person in life, (bear with me), I’ll finish with this: The Scotsman circulation figure has halved from a (disproportionately) high of 100,000 nine years ago to 50,000 now. So, what’s it gonna be? Is the circulation glass half-full or is the circulation glass half-empty? That depends on your point of view I guess. You either carp from the sidelines or you get positive. 60watt got positive. The Scotsman remain positive.

I reckon these adverts deserve all the response they get – it is merited.

The most pertinent part of them is the development of the design in each advert.

The designs of the ads were just excellent. The full-page left almost blank with details cut to one-side is quite simply brilliant. Well done. Likewise the use of the handgun. You cannae ignore ‘em, that’s for sure.

Your strategy reminds me of a post on the London designer Ben Terret’s blog before Christmas. He’s a great commentator on graphic communication.

He had some guest posts on where industry gurus like yourself came on and posted ideas for strategy in the coming downturn in a short-running series of advice for designers. One post in particular (from Richard Williams of WMH) reflects your bold move – http://noisydecentgraphics.typepad.com/design/2008/11/recession-simple-advice-for-designers-3-running-a-design-firm.html

– specifically some of this part:

“Marketing. This is the one activity you shouldn’t cut. I have a personal aversion to cold calling. It’s a numbers game and delivers the wrong sort of meeting. One day, you’ll find yourself on an industrial estate in Burnley on a dark, rainy Friday afternoon having just met a halitosis ridden yoghurt pot manufacturer with a comb over, who the calling agency managed to lure into having a meeting with you. This is to be avoided.

Spend time defining the right clients for you. Filter out people you couldn’t help or would hate to work with. This will probably leave a reasonably small cluster of people to write to or network with.

Write intelligent letters that are not about you, but about what you think might be keeping the client awake at night. Follow them up, but take the hint if the client refuses to speak to you.

Think of witty stunts that will engage them (we once had a student walk up and down outside United Biscuits offices dressed up in a sandwichboard saying ‘Jaffa Cakes needs WMH’ and won the job).

Go to conferences and network like hell.

Get your website working for you, track those who come onto it and follow them up.

Keep your profile in the news. Journalists need good stories – feed them interesting thoughts and news and you’ll be in all.”

Witty stunts, defining your clients, intelligent copy addressing the probable state-of-mind of potential business client, website working for you (right here), tracking those who make contact, profile in the news along with your interesting thoughts generating comment.

For swimming against the tide, farting against the wind, and Abbot Yes We Can, I salute you.

Que cojones, senores – you’ll need ‘em.

Oh…and great minds think alike…watch this space!

Guy

Judging by the amount and the range of comments you guys are something – it can only do you good.

Rob

(creative services………)

To answer your closing question, we already judge the campaign a success in terms of the positive feedback, increased awareness and, importantly, actual business generated.

And still another couple of months to go.

Pete

I’ll pick them off in chronological order.

Pete, I’m not sure that ‘noise’ is what you need in a business-to-business campaign but, as you say, the trick is capitalising on any interest you generate. I know you will do that. I’m also sure that there are a lot of strands to this campaign that will never be aired in the public domain and that’s exactly as it should be too.

With regards to the offer and call to action, let’s not confuse benefits (leaner, meaner, keaner) with offers (discounts, guarantees, buy one, get one free) and a response mechanism (phone, email address, URL) with a call to action (’do this really easy thing right NOW!’). I wouldn’t worry too much about keeping art direction too clean if that cleanliness compromises effectiveness either. I’m also not sure how you’ll be able to track press response from a generic URL.

All that said, the use of these press ads is really a pretty clever stunt that is driving a much bigger exposure in other (largely free) media and the combination of all of these things will hopefully, in turn, bring prospects to the 60 Watt front door. As you say, Mark, you had your reasons and, you’re right, sometimes you just have to go with what you instinctively feel is right.

When the prospects come chapping at the door though will they be looking for ‘advertising’ or will they be looking for a much more holistic solution? More to the point, who’ll be put off because they think ‘60 Watt say they’re good at ‘advertising’ but, these days, I really need a lot more than that’? This isn’t just semantics, it’s about defining the proposition. Advertising and marketing aren’t the same thing and being brilliant at advertising isn’t the compelling proposition that it once was – although being brilliant at coming up with great ideas and knowing how that brilliance can be applied in a commercial context will always be in demand.

Steven makes an interesting point about the Scotsman/SoS’s readership figures. The problem here though is that 353,000 people is probably around 352,000 more people than 60 Watt need to talk to – and there’s no guarantee that any of them are the dozen or so that they want as clients. Steven, I’m surprised that you admit here that newspaper circulation is in ‘terminal decline’. I suppose that while we’re in complete agreement on the overall prognosis for the industry we’re just debating how long it will actually take to die and at what point along the way will it cease to become an effective medium for advertising.

Bearing in mind that the newspaper industry’s business model is almost entirely dependent on advertising revenue, there has to come a point in the terminal decline when readership figures will be so low that nobody thinks it’s worthwhile anymore. In a week when the London Evening Standard (currently losing up to £25 million a year) sold 75.1% of its stock for £1, we should all be concerned.

I’ll conclude. 60 Watt has taken a brave stance that I do admire. It’s being done with passion, commitment and considerable flair and I admire that too. But let’s not kid ourselves that future success will be found in the comfort zones of the past and let’s not assume that we know what the client needs (’better advertising’) before we’ve even seen the brief. Agencies need to be leaner, meaner and keaner, no doubt about that but they also have to be flexible, adaptable and innovative and, perhaps above all, willing to take risks. 60 Watt has proven it is already many of these things and I am sure it will prove to be them all on its road to success. Good luck.