Damn.

She could have been the perfect choice to front a Paris fashion house ad campaign.

She would have been just right as the icon of a special clothing line.

But she was from another time, born in 1775 and died in 1817.

That’s the novelist Jane Austen.

She had something that went deeper than beauty or chic. A brilliant mind.

She would have added wit, insight, perception and shrewdness to the flighty world of fashion.

Jane Austen was a woman of substance, a personality counter to the image of willowy teens in six-inch heels parading down runways to Hip-Hop.

She would have appealed to an older, sophisticated target audience.

The author of Pride and Prejudice is nothing if not a model for independence of mind, judgment and intelligence for women. Or, for that matter, anyone.

As you no doubt know, her books are read today with enduring appreciation.

Put that down to the fact that her insight into human nature is timeless.

Move along 100 years or so and you have another who could have been the face of a Paris fashion house.

The novelist Virginia Woolf.

Again, hers was another time, 1882-1941.

With an incisive mind, an unrelenting power of observation, dry humor and narrative ability she would have embodied independence, intelligence, imagination, and creativity as the iconic image of a fashion house.

Books like To the Lighthouse, A Room of One’s Own and The Waves support that.

But all this aside, wouldn’t it be folly to get a novelist to become the image of a fashion house?

It’s never been done before so it could never happen, right?

But as it did happen a few days ago in Paris, you have to give full marks to the creative director of the upmarket French fashion house, Céline.

She’s called Phoebe Philo.

She went off script in a big way to choose the novelist Joan Didion as the face of the brand.

The author of The White Album and The Year of Magical Thinking has Jane Austen and Virginia Woolf qualities.

Intelligence and perceptiveness being chief among them.

No doubt that made Phoebe Philo rethink what women of a certain age truly value.

Here’s betting she looked hard at the youth-oriented nature of fashion and the Céline line from a telling angle. Her customers’ viewpoint.

We’re talking about affluent women here, women in their fifties.

Then she acted by consigning the marketing rulebook to the dustbin and going with a surprising choice.

The Céline target market must be delighted with the Joan Didion image.

Well-off, middle age women suddenly have an edginess, a cool all their own; they gain when it comes to a new image of chic.

But to up the stakes even more you have Joan Didion’s age.

She’s 80.

Others like Dolce & Gabbana have used older models, but without the one thing that sets Céline apart. Brain power.

All this allows Phoebe Philo to add something new to her resume. ‘Rule breaker in the extreme.’

Let’s hope she sells a zillion.

Meanwhile, there’s so much lip service paid to ideas like ‘when other marketers zig, you zag, when they shout, you whisper’.

How many actually adopt this approach?

On the subject of differentiating your brand, a Jane Austen quote leaves you with a thought Phoebe Philo knows well:

 One man’s style must not be the rule of another’s.

Share with us. What does it take to think in a different way? Can it be learned? Which marketing companies have it? Which don’t? Leave your comment below. Thanks for reading Whybetonto.com. Regards, Steve Ulin LinkedIn: http://linkd.in/1Bey3Jl

It takes you by surprise. It engages you.

You’re drawn in.

It encourages you to inch forward with a growing curiosity.

It could make you smile and say ‘that’s terrific’ or maybe you’ll just say ‘wow’ .

It can be shocking,  funny,  militant, political.

It’s a Banksy artwork you suddenly discover on a wall in a public place.

As you probably know, a ‘Banksy’ is the work of the street artist who has kept his real identity under wraps .

His art is created with stencils so it can be executed quickly. Without the cops noticing. And without the artist being thrown in the clink.

So when you come upon it, it has something of the wonder of a crop circle that mysteriously appears in a farmer’s field.

Where did it come from, who put it there? Both questions occupy your mind.

The stencil quality gives the work an unmistakeable look with messaging that’s anti-war, anti-capitalist and anti-boring.

London, New York, Melbourne, the Palestinian territories, Disneyland …

Banksy’s work has popped up in more than a few places.

As to the Disney visit, Banksy dressed an inflatable doll in an orange jump suit like a Guantanamo Bay prisoner.

He placed it in the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad Ride to confront  those innocently enjoying the fun of Disney.

The penguin colony at London Zoo was another  target. He jumped the barrier and painted ‘We’re bored of fish’ in big letters.

Banksy’s wall spaces don’t just reflect the events of our times, you could say they  become part of them.

Each piece gives you the feeling you’re experiencing something new and different.

Which is why marketers might want to take note.

Banksy shows you how to get attention and make your messaging memorable.

Once you encounter a Banksy you don’t forget it.

After all, the surprise of running into one is a moving and emotional experience.

Of all the mediums available to marketers, outdoor ads rate high when it comes to surprising people.

No doubt you’ve seen strong outdoor work, like the LEGO crane pictured here.

The thing is, ad agency creatives could do more to bring greater surprise value to other channels.

Like video, web, Intranet, social media, emails, mobile, commercials, print, newsletters, blogs, trade shows and more.

Content could also stand improvement as there’s more than a bit of boredom online. Have you noticed?

Each medium has its opportunities when it comes to going beyond predictable solutions to stop people.

So then, how do we ensure creative work is the opposite of a yawn? How do we develop it to go beyond safe options that are often drab, inert and expected?

To encourage your agency to think further here are two words … as Banksy might have written them.

‘_____  ____________’.

They’re in invisible ink. But seen in the right light the message becomes clear.

‘Be Surprising.’

Share with us. Tell us how you go about creating better work. The kind of messaging that can stop people and lead to the moment someone buys. Leave your comment below. Thanks for reading Whybetonto.com, Steve Ulin

Success is bound to go out the window when your marketing content is nothing special.

‘Meh’ is the response you can expect from your customers and prospects.

Because if your messaging is obligated to protocols, rules and proprieties, people aren’t exactly quick to respond.

Maybe because they’ve seen it all before.

Isn’t that true for you, personally?

As a consumer don’t you find yourself loosing interest when a brand’s content is indifferent?

Which is why marketers worried about their problems should also worry about their solutions.

You can gain a lot by looking back on what you’ve done. ‘Was that the best possible solution? Really?’

Facebook went through the post mortem thing and ditched their ‘Chairs’ commercial. http://bit.ly/1cZHtuI

They got rid of this corporate spot as it was judged wanting. People found it confusing. Or hated it.

Many just laughed at it as this parody shows. http://bit.ly/1zQx4OB

Home Depot had second thoughts, as well.

One of their tweets came back to bite them in the arse.

It was the ‘Which Drummer is Not Like the Others’ message. http://bit.ly/1us4psc

Ill-advised and dumb. You have to wonder, who approved work like this in the first place.

For content, you often get work that’s judged not to be ‘bad’. But that doesn’t make it automatically good … what’s  acceptable is far short of exceptional.

Another term for that is ‘mediocre’.

Still, one thing’s for sure.

There’s always a better version of your brand story out there. You just have to get your ad agency working to find it.

You could do worse for a New Year’s resolution than ‘brilliance is compulsory’. Share that with your creative people.

You never know what discoveries and improvements lie ahead until you start looking for them.

Why do this?

Because it’s risky to run ordinary stuff … the kind of content you would ignore as a typical online surfer.

So if your agency presents an idea that’s so different it seems risky, you may be on to a good thing.

If nobody has done it before and it’s on strategy that’s promising.

After all, fresh and imaginative thinking is fatal to being ordinary. It’s the way to begin to own your category with a voice that’s engaging.

A CEO we know had a memorable expression about risk.

He said, ‘Risk is a bastard. Without it we could all go home at 5PM’.

More to that …

With better content you might even be able to slip out the door at 4:45.

Share with us. How do you go about lowering your risk of investing precious dollars in marketing and advertising? Leave your comment in the box below. Thanks for reading Whybetonto.com, Steve Ulin

You’re doing a run in Central Park and it’s amazing what you can see.

Woody Allen on foot crossing from the East Side to the West Side.

A guy with Mylar wings trying to become a human kite.

A 38-person drum circle so insistently fast and rhythmic it turns your running regime into a four-minute mile.

But last June there was something quite different.

A crowd of destitute people at the Loeb Boathouse Restaurant would have caught your eye.

They were having lunch at the trendy eatery.

A Chinese billionaire called Chen Guangbiao hosted them. He paid the bill for those who were poor and homeless.

This was his charity luncheon for 1000 Americans with literally nothing.

Those with no hope.

It was a random act of kindness that came from a Chinese billionaire who wanted to do good. It was as simple as that.

About 300 people turned up for the meal.

For them it was like Christmas in June. Many felt all their Christmases has come at once.

Had you been there you would have heard this from a homeless man:

‘Somebody gives a f– –k.’

A nice thought for this time of year.

So, Merry Christmas, Chen Guangbiao.

And Merry Christmas to you.

Mediocre.

When you’re trailing in the car market and still running ordinary commercials, that defines the term ‘mediocre’.

It makes you an also-ran.

Maybe that’s why Cadillac is determined to put old ways behind them and move up from a No. 4 ranking in the luxury stakes against Mercedes, BMW, and Lexus.

Spending close to $270 million last year on ordinary messaging didn’t do a lot for the brand. Their numbers are falling.

But now they’re trying to steer into that 10-½ foot space known as the passing lane.

To get there they’ve hired Uwe Ellinghaus, the ex-CMO of BMW.

It’s not an un-familiar move for marketing companies who may not be rising to expectations.

You go out and hire say, the ex-CMO from Starbucks or Apple and all will be right with the world.

Will that work for Cadillac?

Don’t answer that until you see their new ‘Poolside’ spot. http://bit.ly/1nreo2C

It’s a departure from the old GM ways but it’s also controversial as the spot comes with political overtones.

It divides those on the left and right even more.

Hmmm, one wonders … does that really matter? Because the spot stands out as it nails the target audience squarely.

Some will love it, some will hate it.

Let’s hope it builds showroom traffic and sells cars.

The conditionality around the spot is driven by the fact it’s less about the car and more about an attitude.

So, one questions if the traditional commercial route is the best way to present a new Cadillac to convince people to part with $75,000.

Since Cadillac seem to be following in the tracks of BMW success with Uwe Ellinghaus, maybe they should have gone a step further down that road.

To that end, why couldn’t Cadillac have come up with a narrative?

An un-commercial.

Something cinematic, with a plot line, entertainment value and a turn-the-tables reversal that leaves audiences agog.

Like the 9-minute Guy Ritiche production for the BMW M5 where the performance of the car makes Madonna wet her pants. http://bit.ly/1kOqQno

That was memorable storytelling.

Maybe the new Cadillac agency will see their way to something like that.

Meanwhile, I’ll be test-driving a Cadillac to determine one thing.

If, like Madonna, I’ll need a change of underwear.

Share with us. Will Cadillac advertising change minds on a global scale? Will it send buyers to showrooms with their checkbooks at the ready? Leave your comment in the box below. Thanks for reading Whybetonto.com. Regards, Steve Ulin

A goat breeder.

A theatre stagehand.

A cafeteria assistant at a Network TV headquarters.

An Army Pfc.

A standup comedienne.

Before becoming ad agency professionals charged with working on multi-million dollar brands, many young people had jobs that were … well, you could call them ‘interesting’.

Their experiences were often as varied as working as a custodian in a natural history museum, doing a stint as a hop-picker, or training to become a shipwright.

Many went on to be hugely effective in top roles as account directors, creative directors, copywriters, art directors and planners.

In more than a few cases ad professionals credit their success to those first jobs and intensive training.

Having an understanding of life and the real world counts for a lot.

Most ad agencies realize that. Maybe that’s why, unlike some professions, they’re not wedded to hiring in their own image.

They don’t fill positions with cookie-cutter personalities. Thank goodness.

Not everybody in the office has to come from an Ivy League school or a middle class family.

Advertising is one profession where you’re not under instruction on how to think.  Originality is valued and it can come from anywhere and anybody.

A case in point is a young woman who arrived with her family from Asia as boat people.

That didn’t stop her from learning English, training professionally and becoming a strong copywriter.

If you’re getting the idea that a background in the real world coupled with training is the key to success, you’re not about to get an argument on that.

You don’t need me to tell you that education can pay off in a big way when it becomes a habit of a lifetime.

That’s true in advertising and most likely in every other occupation.

Some years back in New York an ad guy called Joe Sacco encouraged young people to be all encompassing in their learning. To go all out for original solutions.

He summed it up with a thought that went something like this: ‘Look up though a telescope, look down through a microscope’.

Curiosity was his thing.

In his presence ‘the search’ for effective ideas was turned into an exciting challenge. He made it fun and he was always mildly surprised that you could get paid for enjoying yourself.

More on the learning topic, Joe Sacco said, ‘you don’t bet on a horse you hate’.

That would be right.

It was his way of saying you can expect little consideration from colleagues, clients and agency leaders if you don’t make the effort to know your stuff.

So whatever your level may be — from rookie to seasoned professional — in any career you care to name … study, learn, read, discover things, keep educating yourself.

Without that you could be left behind.

Even if you’re a goat breeder.

Share with us. Are you hiring young people? What are you doing to train and perfect their talents? Are they making a contribution from Day One? If not, why not? Thanks for reading Whybetonto.com. Regards, Steve Ulin

Did you see the one hour and thirty-nine minute commercial for Mercedes recently?

It ran on Sunday, November 23rd.

No media person could have dreamed it up.

No copywriter could have scripted it so perfectly.

It took a World Champion racing driver and an indecently quick car to make it happen.

As you might have guessed, this Mercedes ‘commercial’ was actually the Formula 1 race in Abu Dhabi.

Lewis Hamilton came first in one hour and thirty-nine minutes.

Mercedes put on a show for 305.355 kilometers … fifty-five laps of brutal acceleration, hard braking and deft cornering.

With the win Hamilton amassed enough points to also clinch the Formula 1 World Championship for 2014.

Millions globally went ga-ga. Not my word, but that of a 20-something Mercedes fancier.

If that doesn’t equate to an effective Mercedes commercial, what does?

But to shine an even brighter light on the proceedings, Mercedes won the World Constructors’ Championship earlier in the season.

Talk about an ascendant star. This one is three-pointed.

This is the second World Championship for Hamilton and the first for Mercedes since 1955 when the legendary Argentine Juan Manuel Fangio was behind the wheel.

Still, what will it mean at the dealer level? Will it sell more cars?

Will it make Mercedes more competitive against BMW, Audi, Porsche, Volvo, Lexus and other makes?

Maybe.

Because isn’t there’s another race to be won?

The race to attract younger customers … like legions of 20-somethings who are aware of Formula 1.

When you capture young buyers with your entry-level car you begin to ensure your future.

Nothing’s new about that thought.

But with that in mind, here’s a bit of heresy for you.

There could well be a Mercedes passenger car that rivals the importance of their Formula 1 car.

Look to the Mercedes CLA-Class for that.

The CLA-Class is the $30k starter package for the brand.

It’s designed to globally advance Mercedes, bring new prospects into showrooms, deny brand share to competitors and set the stage for upselling.

Call it Step 1 in creating customers for life. Is there anything more vital to a brand?

Further to that, it might have been David Ogilvy who said that the first job of business is to make customers.

Because without them how will you make money?

So while the CLA-Class wins over younger buyers, the Formula1 program is gearing up to win more Formula 1 races.

Mercedes are already looking to 2015 by negotiating a new contract with Lewis Hamilton.

It could be well over £100 million — almost $157m — for five years.

Next season features 20 Formula 1 races staged right around the world.

It all starts in Australia on March 15th.

The US Formula 1 race is scheduled for October 25^th.

Tune in and you could see Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes at it again.

Making another commercial.

Share with us. How do you use promotions to build awareness and attract new customers to your brand? Thanks for reading Whybetonto.com. Regards, Steve Ulin

It’s in the running for the best headline of the week.

Just nine words.

But it’s so jam packed with information and authority that the world from Obama on down is probably taking notice and nodding their heads in affirmation.

Maybe you did that as well.

“Vladimir Putin views himself as second only to God.”

It’s from Mikhail Gorbachev.

So you have a testimonial from an insider that explains a lot.

It’s a full story of why we could be facing a second cold war.

There are other lines that tell a complete story.

One is known as a six-word novel.

“Baby shoes for sale. Never worn.”

That’s something Ernest Hemingway created on a bet.

It’s used to teach young copywriters how to tell a complete story in the most economical way possible.

Similarly there’s another that serves the same purpose. It’s 14 words.

“Drum kit for sale. Call the owner’s mother when the owner isn’t at home.”

How about the headlines you and your agency develop for your brand?

How strong are they? Can they tell a story that will stop your target audience and make them read on?

Do they have narrative quality?

Can they compete with a headline for a language-learning course?

The visual is an Asian woman, a close-up on her face.

The headline is “She wants to put her tongue in your mouth”.

Another for Colgate Toothpaste shows a sandwich with one bite taken out of it.

The line is “The Next Thing That Gets Eaten Is Your Teeth”.

Yet another is for a special video system for learning. It’s aimed at those who run school districts.

“A Video System So Advanced Kids May Ask To Come in On Saturday.”

One more, from a writer called Richard Foster …

Aimed at girls 11-14.

The visual is a close-up of a woman’s hand trying to get a thread to go into the eye of a needle.

The line is “Like most things in life, inserting a tampon takes a lot of practice”.

It’s for Lil-lets Tampons.

So what happened to strong headlines? Where are they when it comes to online ads, emails, white papers and Website content?

Where’s the well-judged audacity?

Too many messaging efforts these days are the height of drabness, a yawn.

But you already knew that, right?

Because isn’t that why you often go out of your way to avoid advertising?

Share with us. How do you and your agency go about creating the kind of messaging that’s the opposite of inert and dull? Leave your comment in the box below. Thanks for reading, Steve Ulin

We’re all in a rush. Urgency rules.

So what can you do in say, a day?

One Day University for starters.

The name rates high with those who know it. It’s an innovative thought.

That’s not just my opinion, but the take of thousands who’ve attended.

Those people would be the first to say it’s a breakthrough.

Because it starts with something that’s long and arduous and remakes it as short and fun to do.

So you get a whole new product category with no competition.

Imagine not having competitors, life would be sweeter in the office, wouldn’t it?

One Day University comes with the tagline ‘Go back to college for just one day’, an appealing thought for its ‘time-travel’ overtones.

Parents with kids in university respond to it. Their enthusiasm runs off the charts.

Maybe because it’s a fresh way to keep up with young people and experience college with a new mindset.

It’s the joy of learning personified. No 15-page papers, no pop quizzes, just a pure feast for the brain.

It’s all about lifelong learning with famous professors on the podium. A ‘great minds’ series come to life.

You can experience it in New York, Philadelphia, Washington DC, Boston, Phoenix, Naples, Fl. and Seattle.

I’m signing up for ‘Learning from Leonardo: Thinking Creatively about Creativity’ given by a New York University professor.

That should be a day well spent in the fifteenth century.

Another thing you can do in a day is learn to play guitar.

It seems daunting, doesn’t it? Six strings, 24 frets and you’re all thumbs.

But with Bert Weedon’s book, Play in a Day, why not give it a whirl.

It turns the idea of ‘difficulty’ on its head.

The title ,‘Guitarist’, could become your claim to fame at an open mike night in your local bar.

Imagine being able to get up and play something like Stand By Me after only just a few ticks of the clock.

Weedon’s book has made musicians of more than a few people.

Those like Eric Clapton, Mike Oldfield, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, John Lennon, Pete Townshend and Sting.

This is where they all started when there was urgency to get a band together and become a rock star overnight.

What I like about One Day University and learning guitar in a day is their ‘Just Do It’ qualities.

After all, we can achieve more than we think if we can just take that first step.

To boost your abilities as a marketer overnight, there’s WikiHow.com.

Since last visiting the site I see you can quickly learn everything from How To Unspoil a Child, to How To Prevent Ebola and How To Travel Cheaply in Europe.

Professionally speaking, you might want to have a look at How To Create a Narrative.

You’ll find it can get your brain working in new, more effective ways.

We’ve all decided that storytelling is key to presenting a product or service. It a powerful driver for engagement and memorability.

So getting your narrative right can help you frame your messaging and create content to avoid ideas that are wearily familiar.

We’re talking thinking that’s deadeningly ordinary and inert.

When you brief your agency or judge their work you’ll be more effective and more aware of what will interest your target audience.

With WikiHow.com you can improve your thinking by the time you go back to work tomorrow morning.

When you think of it, that’s even faster than One Day University.

PS. Fast learning for your kids? Don’t overlook Kahn Academy. It could be the best news about algebra since the days chalk squeaked on a blackboard. khanacademy.org

Share with us. How do you keep up with technology, changes in the marketplace and the progress of your competitors? Thanks for reading. Regards, Steve Ulin

Copies.

These days there are a lot of copies running around our roads in the form of the grillwork of Ford cars.

You might have noticed.

The new grill design lifts Ford away from an indifferent look. It gives their cars panache and brio.

It adds oomph and an expensive bearing.

The new Fords gain in appeal because of it.

But I liked the Ford grill better in its original form.

On Aston Martin cars. They came up with it in the 1950s — I believe with their DB4 model.

Of course, Ford owned Aston Martin not so long ago.

Maybe that’s when the Aston Martin grill design made such an impression that it subconsciously re-emerged on new Ford cars.

Well, they say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

On that subject let’s move from Ford to Rolls Royce and a famous ad by David Ogilvy.

You probably studied it somewhere along the line:

‘At 60 miles an hour the loudest

noise in this new Rolls Royce comes from

the electric clock.’

Thirty years before, in the February 27^th, 1933 issue of Time Magazine, the Pierce-Arrow car company ran this ad:

‘The only sound one can hear in the

new Pierce-Arrow is the ticking of the

electric clock.’

Both ads sold cars.

Yes, there are similarities, but the point is many learn from the past.

People take inspiration from what’s gone before. It’s a fact of life.

You can bet if an idea is good enough it will usually get picked up again and again.

That thought could be a starting point if you’re trying to improve the effectiveness of your email campaigns.

At a recent conference, a marketer asked how he could learn to write better copy for his email blasts.

He said he and his agency could use some ‘ideas that really work’.

The good news is a lot of thought has already gone into that area by an Advertising Hall of Fame Winner.

That’s John Caples in his books on direct marketing from the 1960s.

Read them, study them, consider the approaches he highlights.

You might be wondering … why look back to the 1960s for a better way to create a digital form of communication?

Strangely enough, not everyone realizes that email blasts are really direct response efforts.

These days they’re propelled by technology instead of stamps from the US Post Office.

So it pays to go back and learn about direct response techniques.

Techniques that have been tested over and over again to prove that they engage people and sell product.

This is summed up best by the direct marketing expert and author of many books on the subject, Drayton Bird.

He said something to this effect … ‘ways to communicate may change, but human nature doesn’t’.

Of course, he’s right. People are still human in 2014.

They respond to basic needs, desires and fears … to earn more, to improve themselves, to gain an advantage, to save money, to learn, to avoid difficulties.

So with motivations like these, John Caples is there for you with ideas on how to add power to your email campaigns.

Have a look at his book, Tested Advertising Methods.

Especially a section called ‘35 Headline Formulas’.

You’ll find they’re an effective way to learn to make your emails more engaging and pay their way with sales.

Use them as starting points for your thinking. Update and adapt them to your needs.

They’re a study in adding more purpose to your communications.

Okay, so we’re not exactly talking about original thinking here.

But we are talking about learning more and being able to profit more.

Share with us. How do you and your agency go about getting fresh ideas for your brand(s)? What books do you read? What conferences have been most helpful? Thanks for reading. Regards, Steve Ulin