Environmental Tips

Do you care about your environment? No, not saving the planet or going green - we are talking about media placement.

Clearly there are certain ad placements that are advantageous - front or back inside covers, right side over left side, primetime network television. But did you ever think about choosing your ad space based on the other advertisers in the magazine?

A recent study in the Journal of Consumer Research shows that "expert" consumers that had knowledge about the target product's category were more likely to look favorably on a brand when its ad was placed near high end brands in noncompetitive categories - such as putting Armani or Rolex next to an ad for Honda.

Once the consumers were given technical specifications about the target product, their view changed accordingly.

So what does this mean for your media placements? Pay attention to who is around you - and not just your direct competition. Maybe a little savvy media placement can give your brand a boost. But be careful to know your audience - the study also showed that novices tended to have the opposite reaction, evaluating the target brand less favorably.

Bury These Bones

Buzzwords are the opposite of creativity, innovation and strategy. They stop thought and they obscure the truth.

For some reason, marketing seems to be a magnet for them, maybe because they are a way for we marketing nerds to seem cool, or because they allow people who don't really know what they are talking about to make other people think THEY are the clueless ones. Who knows?

What we do know is that they drive us up the wall, even when we find ourselves reverting to them!

Among our "favorites": Turnkey Actionable Web-enabled Operationalize Leverage Mission-critical Paradigm (see also: Paradigm Shift)

And the clear winner of Most Ironic: Outside of the Box

Are you also numbed by jargon and buzzwords? Feel like you would rather gag yourself with a thumb drive than run another marketing meeting? It doesn't have to be that way.

Stand up with us against buzzwords! Help Smilin' Tom bury these bones for good! Submit your favorites to his blog. Or, if you are a buzzword-believer, defend them to the bitter end!

©Six Point Creative