ADVERTISING

Ad campaigns

positioning strategy BNBranding

The secret, missing ingredient of content marketing.

It’s the age of information, and much of the marketing buzz these days revolves around information-rich content marketing. Especially for business-to-business marketers, it’s all the rage. We have YouTube videos, webinars, blog posts, slide sharing, Powerpoint Presentations, Facebook updates, LinkedIn articles, tweets, podcasts, websites, ebooks, and white papers coming out our ears. In many cases, …

The secret, missing ingredient of content marketing. Read More »

waste in advertising BNBranding's Brand Insight Blog

Garbage In, Garbage Out — How to avoid waste in advertising

I took a load to the local dump the other day. As I hucked yard debris and unwanted consumer goods out the back of the truck, I got to thinking about waste in advertising… There are mountains of it. Despite all the analytics that are available, the digital targeting and the plethora of specialized channels, …

Garbage In, Garbage Out — How to avoid waste in advertising Read More »

marketing strategies for alcoholic beverages

Absolutely better branding for craft spirits

Chocolate vodka? Dill pickle vodka? Bacon flavored vodka? Cinnamon Roll Vodka? Smoked Salmon Vodka. I kid you not. When it comes to branding for craft spirits, fantastical flavors are all the rage. Ten years ago there were basically only four or five choices of vodka. Now there are 20 brands, and every brand has a …

Absolutely better branding for craft spirits Read More »

blank

Words matter! Why your brand identity needs a tagline.

Cadillac stole my tagline. Back in 2004 I wrote “Be Iconic” to support my name change from AdWords to BN Branding. That tagline was a critical element in my decision to go with that brand identity. “Be Iconic” worked perfectly in context with the name and the mark. It has staying power because it sums …

Words matter! Why your brand identity needs a tagline. Read More »

Working together for more effective advertising. (13 helpful tips)

Planning, creating, producing and managing an effective advertising campaign is not easy. There are details galore, many moving pieces, and an interesting array of individuals who all need to come together to make it happen. When it does, it’s really quite magical. It’s a rare marriage of strategy, art and salesmanship that produces spectacular results. …

Working together for more effective advertising. (13 helpful tips) Read More »

Blog post on personal branding - BN Branding

How to sell your great new solution — pile on the problem!

Let me tell you a story about the problem with most sales pitches. There’s not enough problem. Sales people like to jump very quickly into the features of their latest, greatest high tech solutions without first making sure that their audience actually FEELS the problem. Sometimes you gotta remind people how much it hurts before …

How to sell your great new solution — pile on the problem! Read More »

BNBranding how to choose the right message for your ads

Old-school Mad Men advice : Use a USP in your advertising

Life in a 1960’s advertising agency makes for a great costume drama. Sometimes the powerful men of those fictitious Madison Avenue agencies can even teach us a thing or two. Like how to come up with a USP in advertising after downing five martinis over lunch. (If you haven’t binged on MadMen, you should.  It’s …

Old-school Mad Men advice : Use a USP in your advertising Read More »

Logo contests: A bad idea for any good brand

Sometimes the most powerful branding case studies fall into the “what NOT to do” category. Take, for instance, logo contests. Specifically, a logo contest from the Australian Ministry of Tourism. It’s a big deal down under. This isn’t some neighborhood non-proft looking for a new logo. This is a multi-national tourism marketing effort for a …

Logo contests: A bad idea for any good brand Read More »

BNBranding brand insight blog example of incongruity in copywriting

How to make your copywriting more compelling – Introduce incongruity

Sometimes, one single word is everything. The difference between a marketing home run and a dribbling bunt.
I recently ran into a client who was completely fixated on one word in a headline: “Precious.”
“Babies are precious, not parking places,” she argued. “Yes, but diamonds are also precious. And what’s more valuable than diamonds?” I countered.

Smidge Bottle Packaging

Putting your best foot forward – How to make your products look great online.

Ever since the COVID pandemic every category in the e-commerce industry has been growing like a weed plant. Everyone wants to know how to make their products look great online so they can cash in on the ecommerce gold rush. Small, family-owned boutiques are starting their own online operations; Bricks and Clicks, it’s called. Manufacturing …

Putting your best foot forward – How to make your products look great online. Read More »

blank

Catching frogs and campfire songs — Branding lessons from summer camp

I find branding lessons in some pretty funny places. Like on a wart, on a frog, on a log at summer camp. Every summer when I roll up the sleeping bag, pack the bug spray and make all the preparations for another camping trip, memories of my childhood summer camps come flooding back. We sang …

Catching frogs and campfire songs — Branding lessons from summer camp Read More »

blank

1 Tough Mother, 2 marketing objectives: Image advertising that works

It’s an age old debate… can image advertising actually move the needle on bottom-line business objectives?  Ad agency execs say yes, of course. But marketing directors, C-level execs and direct response guys are often skeptical. My humble opinion… absolutely. When it’s done well, “image” or “brand” advertising certainly can achieve both objectives… it can move …

1 Tough Mother, 2 marketing objectives: Image advertising that works Read More »

blank

Ski Industry Marketing — New product launch vs. the birth of a brand

  It was the kind of day ski bums live for…  10 inches of new snow, calm winds, and the sky was clearing. It’s also the type of bluebird day that ski industry marketing revolves around. Queue the videographers! The experts with their GoPros were queued up before the first lift, chomping at the bit …

Ski Industry Marketing — New product launch vs. the birth of a brand Read More »

borrowed interest advertising

Borrowed interest and other desperate attempts to attract customers

Ever notice how some companies are constantly scrambling to attract customers, while others enjoy some sort of magnetic attraction that keeps the customers flowing in? The scramblers spend a lot of money on digital ads, social media posts and all sorts of promotional bribery.  Their marketing messages are all over the place, and they don’t …

Borrowed interest and other desperate attempts to attract customers Read More »

Golf industry branding.

Fear of loss in advertising — Another effective angle of attack

I have an ongoing debate with a client who says we should never, ever take a negative approach in her advertising. She believes, whole heartedly, that fear of loss — or any hint of trouble — should not be part of her brand narrative. The debate’s been going on for years, and at this point …

Fear of loss in advertising — Another effective angle of attack Read More »

advertising is dead brand insight blog

The rise of “Digital Marketing” — The death of advertising?

Advertising is dead. No it’s not. Yes it is. No it’s not! The debate about the death of advertising is not new. People have been going back and forth on that for years, and the rise of digital marketing has amplified the rhetoric dramatically. An entire cottage industry is marketing the death of advertising, for …

The rise of “Digital Marketing” — The death of advertising? Read More »

Branding firm BNBranding

How to do great branding ads — Subaru scores with skier-focused print.

A lot of marketing people seem to think that branding ads are a waste of money. As if “branding” and “results” simply don’t go together. I think Subaru and many other iconic brands prove that wrong. And I’d also contend that every ad, every social media post, every email, every touch with a prospective buyer …

How to do great branding ads — Subaru scores with skier-focused print. Read More »

BNBranding how to choose the right message for your ads

Writing better web copy — How long should that copy be? Really.

This is a common refrain these days…  Doesn’t matter if the client is selling complex, business-to-business services or a simple impulse item, they often have the same idea when it comes to writing better web copy… “This copy’s just too long. No one’s going to read that.”  “You can’t put that much copy on a …

Writing better web copy — How long should that copy be? Really. Read More »

blank

Automotive Advertising: Another ride down that twisting, mountain road of tired clichés.

I don’t know what it is about automotive advertising. No other category is so rich in promise, yet so void of inspiring insight and unique execution. But there is something any marketer can learn from the long history of mediocre automotive advertising. For instance, there’s a nice Alpha Romeo ad  for the Giulia… Gorgeous video of …

Automotive Advertising: Another ride down that twisting, mountain road of tired clichés. Read More »

BNBranding's Brand Insight Blog

Effective TV advertising — How to avoid TV spots that miss the mark.

Effective TV advertising is hard to come by in my town. I just cringe when I see most local commercials… Not because of the horrific script writing. Not because of  the low, low, low production quality. Not because of the ill-advised choice of “talent,” or the mind-numbing jingle. I expect all that from the local …

Effective TV advertising — How to avoid TV spots that miss the mark. Read More »

BNBranding's Brand Insight Blog

Enough, already, with the exclamation punctuation in advertising.

I’m an advertising guy… a copywriter from way back. We’re not nit-pickers when it comes to grammatical details like sentence structure and punctuation in advertising. (Got Milk?) But there’s one thing we all know:  the fastest, easiest way to get better ad copy is to delete all those ridiculous exclamation marks. Someone has to speak …

Enough, already, with the exclamation punctuation in advertising. Read More »

4 common advertising mistakes — Bad puns, bribes and other branding blunders

Guess what…  Great advertising is hard to come by. And advertising mistakes are much more common than home runs like “Got Milk”  or “Just Do It.” Advertising is hard for corporate brand managers who have big ad agencies, market research firms, and millions of dollars at their disposal. Advertising is hard for the mid-level marketing …

4 common advertising mistakes — Bad puns, bribes and other branding blunders Read More »

blank

Truth and clarity about Guerrilla Marketing

It’s 1810. Napolean’s armies have conquered all of Europe and are enjoying the spoils. But in Spain, small bands of dedicated freedom fighters wage their own war against the occupying forces. They sneak. Strike. Move. Hide. And strike again. They involve the enemy in a long, drawn-out war, and ultimately prevail. That’s how the term …

Truth and clarity about Guerrilla Marketing Read More »

research for branding strategies

Fake thrills and false advertising — Another automotive marketing misfire.

Automotive advertising, as a category, is notoriously bad. The big brands seldom produce memorable spots, print ads or campaigns. And at the dealer level there’s nothing but obnoxious yell & sell retail ads. Many have been accused of false advertising. Let’s look at a campaign for the Toyota Camry… This isn’t what I’d call blatantly …

Fake thrills and false advertising — Another automotive marketing misfire. Read More »

path to marketing success

Who reads long copy these days? The hungry ones.

I’m really tired of people telling me no one reads anything anymore. “Copywriting doesn’t matter.” “Long copy is dead.” A prospect recently said he didn’t want professionally-written web copy because, “no one reads it anyway.” He insisted that “People go to a site looking for something very specific. They don’t want to read, they just want to …

Who reads long copy these days? The hungry ones. Read More »

craftsmanship of great advertising on the Brand Insight Blog

Craftsmanship in Advertising (God is in the details.)

I seldom write about Super Bowl advertising. (Too many other commentators offering their expert insight on the latest crop of outlandishly juvenile spots.) Besides, for most small business owners there’s no worthwhile takeaway from those big-budget productions. No marketing lesson to be learned. Spending millions to air one commercial just doesn’t compute. But in 2013 I …

Craftsmanship in Advertising (God is in the details.) Read More »

Marketing videos BNBranding

Why most marketing videos fail. (Unscripted advice on the missing ingredient)

Online video is the new TV. These days you can delve deep into any subject under the sun just by browsing YouTube. Seriously. The volume of titles is staggering… 300 hours of video is uploaded to YouTube every minute. Five billion videos are viewed every day, and a high percentage of them are categorized as marketing videos. But …

Why most marketing videos fail. (Unscripted advice on the missing ingredient) Read More »

The new normal for Ecommerce — How to sell more stuff online.

Ecommerce is exploding. The COVID 19 pandemic has created a tidal wave of activity in that industry. One of our clients has seen a 550% increase in online sales. A year ago they were wondering how to sell more stuff online, and now they’re wondering how to handle the operational implications of this new normal …

The new normal for Ecommerce — How to sell more stuff online. Read More »

Branding firm BNBranding

Effective Personal Branding — The corporate head shot is not the ticket.

Recently we had a client who didn’t like the photos we had taken for her website. She didn’t appreciate the fact that we had done something different than the usual, corporate head shot. She said they didn’t look “professional enough”  — didn’t think it was good personal branding. The problem is, her idea of “professional” …

Effective Personal Branding — The corporate head shot is not the ticket. Read More »

State Farm is Where??? Insurance industry marketing

Insurance is one of those low-interest, out-of-sight-out-of-mind service categories that no one really wants to think about. That’s precisely why insurance industry marketing is one of the most cut-throat arenas in the business world. If all you have is a commodity service that people hate dealing with, you darn well better have some good advertising. …

State Farm is Where??? Insurance industry marketing Read More »

classic positioning strategy

Positioning Strategy — It’s not what you say. It’s what they THINK.

In the 1970’s Al Ries and Jack Trout popularized the concept of positioning strategy. Since then, they’ve written dozens of spin-off books, including Focus, The Immutable Laws of Marketing, Bottom Up Marketing, and even Re-Positioning. Still, you could have a roomful of MBA’s and no two would agree on what positioning really means. Many people …

Positioning Strategy — It’s not what you say. It’s what they THINK. Read More »

a bend oregon branding firm

Brand strategy: Put some meat in your marketing messages.

Every year, millions of dollars are wasted on advertising that is well-produced, but not very well thought-out. No brand strategy. No meat. Like the stereotypical supermodel… pretty to look at, but there’s just no substance there. A few years ago I was talking with a restauranteur about this very subject. He had retained an ad …

Brand strategy: Put some meat in your marketing messages. Read More »

How to survive when the economy tanks.

 There’s a lot of economic doom and gloom in the news these days; Unless you’re living in a cave somewhere, you’ve heard about the housing market, the unemployment rate and the rising price of groceries and gas. For many business owners, it’s frightening. The fortune-teller economists are predicting even more “belt tightening” as the year …

How to survive when the economy tanks. Read More »

bmw-circle-fade

Take your next agency for a spin.

You wouldn’t buy a BMW without getting behind the wheel. You have no idea what it can do. Same with BN Branding. So let’s go for a test drive… just one small assignment to prove how well we handle whatever you throw at us.

Scroll to Top