There are some really good ads on TV at the moment, but my favourite is the one for Heineken. I wish I knew who shot it and where it was shot, but it’s terrific and one of those commercials that, as a creative person in the advertising industry, you say ”Now I wish I had done that” ……read more
Advertising Articles
Being an advertising agency, I am often approached by companies asking for advertising rates. Rates to advertise on TV, rates to advertise on radio, rates to advertise on cinema, rates to advertise on billboards, rates to advertise in newspapers, rates to advertise in magazines… ……read more
Of all the questions an advertising agency could be asked, these may well be the most difficult. Why? Because they’re not easy to answer with so many variables at play. A TV commercial shot in studio is cheaper than one shot on location. An animated TV commercial is generally more expensive than one with no animation. A radio ad with one voice is cheaper than one requiring three voices. A radio commercial requiring the composition of a music track is more expensive than one using library music. ……read more
Yours is a small or medium-sized business and you’re finding things tough. The first thing you need to know is that you’re not alone. The world’s been in recession for a number of years now and as much as we’d like it to be, South Africa is not immune and no island. Unfortunately what transpires in Washington and London has a large impact on what happens here, and the present climate is not exactly kind for businesses. ……read more
“Hi, it’s Darryl from Burchmores here…” and “Hi, I’m Lucy Hirsch”: two openings of radio commercials quite likely to irritate South African radio listeners – if they haven’t already. Now Darryl may be the nicest chap on the block but unfortunately his voice is not cut out for radio. (That’s my opinion, anyway). ……read more
…sounds like insurance, is insurance but raises questions about what’s important in the marketing of insurance. Santam’s TV advertising commercial featuring Sir Ben Kingsley (and look-alikes) is certainly memorable, watchable and very well produced, but I have doubts as to how effective it is proving in the marketplace.
Consider the copy in the newspaper ad: “Every day there are more and more policies out there. At a glance they all seem similar and make the same reassurances, but the reality is, it’s getting harder to tell the good from the not so great. That’s why it’s so important that you scrutinise your policy before buying insurance. And that you ask the right questions. Is it the insurance you think it is, or does it just resemble it? Santam. Insurance. Good and proper”. ……read more
It’s not a trick question. It’s just a difficult one to answer. Ask a copywriter or art director in an ad agency, and they’ll say the former. Ask a media buyer, media planner or media or marketing strategist, and they’ll say the latter. ……read more
Being an ad agency (albeit a very small one), I have cause to come across many local websites and whilst there are some pretty good ones out there and many that do the job, there are many which attempt mediocrity, but fail.It’s frustrating to come across websites like this, knowing how much a decent on-line presence can do for a company.
Splashed across the internet are websites which are badly designed, badly written or badly built. Many have spelling mistakes, links that don’t work or pages that takes ages to download.. Unfortunately, sites such as these do their owners more harm than good in that they convey that either they don’t care or simply that they fail to grasp the role that a website plays in terms of marketing. ……read more
Years back, there were less than fifty advertising agencies in South Africa. Today, there are literally hundreds – with many being small start-ups and work-from-home operations. With this proliferation of ad and marketing agencies, a marketing manager or managing director’s decision to appoint the right one has become a lot more difficult. So, how to go about it? ……read more
