New Wave Marketing 101: The Fallacy of Making It Local

I helped write an ad that created the largest, most successful, single SKU in the cosmetics industry (2004 - 2007). Eventually, the print ad ran in, I think, 40 countries.

Here’s the story:

The ad remained essentially the same for six years, and ran unchanged in dozens of countries, even though ‘experts’ in each would insist that we had to alter the ad to fit the market. We refused to change a thing and had to fight almost daily with company directors and designers and marketers who insisted the ad had to be localized. Our stand: we want a literal translation, changing only those very few phrases that might not translate correctly.

The result? The product became the #1 skin care cream in several countries, including France. And if you  know the French, they were the most adamant that the ad had to be completely rewritten because the French market is different… more sophisticated, needs a more glamorous looking ad… the usual BS.

The marketing ‘experts’ at the company that sold the product in France (with huge banners on the Champs Elysees that used our original text) still won’t admit they were wrong. I guarantee that if you were to send them an American-style ad, they would DEMAND that it be changed to meet the French market. Old, stupid habits die hard!

Granted, some products are country or area specific. (For example, facial whiteners are more popular in Asia because of the cultural prejudice that lighter colored skin is somehow a sign of class superiority.)

For universal products, however, people are people… women everywhere want to look younger… men want to be virile… computer geeks want things to run faster. Don’t let local company bureaucrats or so-called ‘specialized’ agencies convince you to change a successful ad. It’s their way of making a few bucks from you and grabbing control of YOUR ad.

They win either way: if the ad sells, it was their changes that made it successful; if it fails, it will be your fault for not changing the ad enough!

Stand your ground! Don’t take a good story, a good ad, and ruin it by making it local.

Copycats and Cowards – Why Most Marketing 'Sucks' These Days

(The survey I allude to, ok, to which I allude (for you grammar freaks), is coming on two years old... and still there are very few executives or marketers exhibiting the two core qualities of great leaders. More's the pity because, "things ain't getting any better... we need leaders more than ever" -- yet another Billy Mays-sounding truism.)

A 2010 IBM study of 1500-plus executives asked CEOs about the qualities most needed to be a great leader. #1 is creativity, defined as “leaders who are comfortable with ambiguity and experimentation.”

If I can summarize, men and women who are not bogged down by endless analysis… they review the data, use their creativity and instincts, then chart a path without waiting for more information, more analysis, more PowerPoint presentations. Their courage to push ahead and their creativity to try some new, perhaps unproven approaches inspires loyalty and devotion and often results in bigger, more profitable successes.

I agree, but where are these guys/gals? Not in B2B or direct response or most ad agencies. I see copycats and cowards.

When is the last time I saw a B2B marketer challenge his or her agency to do something ‘out of the box’ then actually implement the strategy? I worked in B2B from 1984 to 2002 and now back in 2011. I’ve seen zero.

How about agencies willing to tell the truth to B2B clients rather than saying, “If that’s what you want, we’ll do it”?

Direct response advertisers/marketers willing to break the Gunthy-Renker mold… willing to try something new, without the BUT WAIT or the NOT 1 FOR $30, NOT 2 FOR $30, BUT 3 FOR $30 IF YOU CALL RIGHT NOW? Zero.

Copycats and cowards rule marketing. I can think of no other industry so derivative. If Popeil rhymed ‘Set it and forget it,’ and Billy Mays rhymed ‘Put the power back in your shower,’ then we need to rhyme, too. It’s a rule.

If Gunthy-Renker uses three calls to action in 10 minutes, then by God we need three!!!!!

B2B is the same. Copycat marketing that seeks to be 10% better than the competition. Not new, not different, just a little bit better… don’t dare stick your neck out and say ‘we’re the best.’

A wise man once said, “People want what’s new and what they can’t have… and that’s all they want."

I wrote “Better than Botox” as a headline for a DR ad because no cosmetic cream had dared challenge Allergan. Why not, I figured. It can’t hurt. If I don’t use it, the ad will certainly fail… if I do, it has a chance to succeed. Not rocket science, just Logic 101. The result? Half a billion in sales.

In this day and age, if you’re going to copy, don’t waste your time. If you don’t have the courage to try something new, don’t waste your money. If your product is just the same old, same old, throw in the towel right now before you get embarrassed.

IBM knows what makes a good business leader… creativity #1, integrity #2… traits that also make a good marketer. It’s no secret. Why then are there so few men and women with the courage of these convictions?