How do I tell the customer?
Story marketing Short stories in small advertising inserts make a big impression on readers.
Story marketing Short stories in small advertising inserts make a big impression on readers.
In times like these, in which the age-old lecture jingle about the unknown half of the advertising budget thrown out the window is doing the rounds again, advertisers are longing for clear answers even more than usual. Also to the question: How do the placement, colorfulness or size of an advertisement relate to the contacts achieved or, even more strictly, to the attention generated? Anything but linear. Approaches to deepening topics often degenerate in their complexity, and the reaction of some companies to this situation appears to be simple and relatively affordable. Their communications agencies allow them to make a big splash with short stories in small advertising inserts for specific tasks. At the same time, they give success control a considerable role. What is special about the form is that it is not immediately perceived as advertising by many readers because it makes use of the advantages of various print advertising forms: in addition to the credibility of PR, the format of a small advertisement, the sustainability of the image advertisement and the good advertising environment, there is the reduced scope and the reduced blandness of the related public reportage. A testimonial and a competition usually serve as a visual stopper.
One of the first implementations of this kind in Switzerland is the Coop online supermarket campaign by the St. Gallen agency Ammarkt. It runs throughout the year with a drip strategy and delivers good results according to the Link Institute. "In the recognition test, the testimonials achieved spontaneous recall values of 29% and supported recall values of 49%, which are significantly higher than those of product advertising," says Rolf Zeller, responsible for the online supermarket at Coop.
Short stories from celebrities
Zurich-based Contract Media used similar ingredients to design the
a Swisscom Mobile campaign. Her goal: to communicate the cell phone features that are still little known to the public in an exciting and easy-to-understand way. In short stories, the pitch winner lets various Swiss celebrities have their say. Among others, TV presenter Kurt Aeschbacher, national soccer coach Köbi Kuhn and Formula 1 team boss Peter Sauber talk about how they use their cell phones. The story is rounded off with a short instruction manual for the respective service and, as with Coop, a competition.
The latter allows conclusions to be drawn about the level of attention in the medium used. "So far, we are very satisfied with the response to the campaign," explains Carsten Roetz, Head of Product PR Swisscom Mobile. In the case of Aeschbacher - an engagement as a night talker on Schawinski's Sat 1, which he missed out on because he didn't know how to use the combox - the story apparently seemed so real that various journalists asked Schawinski whether the story was true, according to one agency manager.
It is not known which medium the journalists who fell for the new form of advertising work for. However this story continues: Se non è vero, è ben trovato.
Inexpensive and effective: telling stories instead of advertising products.
Luca Aloisi
In times like these, in which the age-old lecture jingle about the unknown half of the advertising budget thrown out the window is doing the rounds again, advertisers are longing for clear answers even more than usual. Also to the question: How do the placement, colorfulness or size of an advertisement relate to the contacts achieved or, even more strictly, to the attention generated? Anything but linear. Approaches to deepening topics often degenerate in their complexity, and the reaction of some companies to this situation appears to be simple and relatively affordable. Their communications agencies allow them to make a big splash with short stories in small advertising inserts for specific tasks. At the same time, they give success control a considerable role. What is special about the form is that it is not immediately perceived as advertising by many readers because it makes use of the advantages of various print advertising forms: in addition to the credibility of PR, the format of a small advertisement, the sustainability of the image advertisement and the good advertising environment, there is the reduced scope and the reduced blandness of the related public reportage. A testimonial and a competition usually serve as a visual stopper.
One of the first implementations of this kind in Switzerland is the Coop online supermarket campaign by the St. Gallen agency Ammarkt. It runs throughout the year with a drip strategy and delivers good results according to the Link Institute. "In the recognition test, the testimonials achieved spontaneous recall values of 29% and supported recall values of 49%, which are significantly higher than those of product advertising," says Rolf Zeller, responsible for the online supermarket at Coop.
Short stories from celebrities
Zurich-based Contract Media used similar ingredients to design the
a Swisscom Mobile campaign. Her goal: to communicate the cell phone features that are still little known to the public in an exciting and easy-to-understand way. In short stories, the pitch winner lets various Swiss celebrities have their say. Among others, TV presenter Kurt Aeschbacher, national soccer coach Köbi Kuhn and Formula 1 team boss Peter Sauber talk about how they use their cell phones. The story is rounded off with a short instruction manual for the respective service and, as with Coop, a competition.
The latter allows conclusions to be drawn about the level of attention in the medium used. "So far, we are very satisfied with the response to the campaign," explains Carsten Roetz, Head of Product PR Swisscom Mobile. In the case of Aeschbacher - an engagement as a night talker on Schawinski's Sat 1, which he missed out on because he didn't know how to use the combox - the story apparently seemed so real that various journalists asked Schawinski whether the story was true, according to one agency manager.
It is not known which medium the journalists who fell for the new form of advertising work for. However this story continues: Se non è vero, è ben trovato.
Inexpensive and effective: telling stories instead of advertising products.
Luca Aloisi
