skip to main |
skip to sidebar
When we heard about the Give and Grow Program through The Journal News we knew we wanted to be involved. Knowing this ad was going to run in September and October and that October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month we chose to highlight The Breast Center at Nyack Hospital for one of our submissions.
We did research on breast cancer in women to inspire us, we wanted to have a real impact on the readers and felt the ad should be a public announcement reminding women to get their yearly mammograms. This is where we pulled in the headline, "1 in 8 women will be diagnosed with cancer," a statistic that certainly got my attention. The body copy supports and reinforces the headline message, "By the time you can feel a lump in the breast it is often 0.4 inches, or one centimeter, in size and contains roughly a million cells. It is estimated that a tumor of this size may take one to five years to develop. During that time, the cancer may metastasize, or spread by lymphatics or blood to areas elsewhere in your body."
Once we had the headline and copy down we needed a visual. After some different visual ideas I came up with the perfect image, a simple pink string around a woman’s finger. Using Dana, our Junior Designer’s index finger we took lots of shots and with a little photo retouching we added the image into the layout. We chose to create the ad in black and white to show the bold importance of having a mammogram while keeping the ribbon pink as a focal point and because the pink ribbon is so iconic.
I hope the ad we created reminded women to the importance of making their yearly mammogram appointments.
–Melissa Behrens, Art Director, The Byne Group
SPCA of Westchester : Give and Grow
The Give and Grow program sponsored by The Journal News was really the perfect fit for us. We always try to give back, not only to our clients, but to our community as well. Now we could give back with a 10"x10" pro bono ad for a charity of our choice that would run in The Journal News for free.
We chose SPCA of Westchester as one of the organizations to create an ad for because of their stellar reputation for providing care and permanent placements for animals in need. They are also involved in countless community programs revolving around animals. I’m a huge animal person and these organizations give all of our communities and friends hope.
We met with Lisa Bonanno, Development Associate at SPCA of Westchester, and took a brief tour of the large facilities in Briarcliff Manor, NY. Lisa wanted to focus the ad on "The Lonely Hearts Club" – a new program at SPCA of Westchester that is dedicated to placing animals who are older or have special needs – both socially and physically.
After thorough research of regional shelter and animal service ads, we decided to take a surprisingly brighter and hopeful approach rather than focus on the negative. We decided to make the ad entirely from a dog's point of view.
Zach is the pooch we decided to feature. He's a 2 year old handsome fella who’s part of The Lonely Hearts Club program. So cute, he surely deserves a forever family of his own and think he would have much to say if he could, so we decided to become his voice.
The ad’s headline gives you the big story – Zach is lonely without a family and the supporting copy is his brief story of coming to SPCA of Westchester, how great they’ve been to him, how he would love to move onto his forever family, and that you should come visit him and his friends. The remaining copy tells you more about the organization, it's importance to the community, and highlights contact information for you to take further action. The SPCA of Westchester has a photographer they use on a regular basis who provided the photo. [snootydog.com] We decided to silo the dog out of the photograph and set him on a warm yellow background for high color impact in a newspaper that is mainly black and white.
We believe the ad was successful and are grateful to have been a part of the Give and Grow Program. The SPCA of Westchester loved the ad as well. It is currently on display at the front desk for everyone to see.
–Amanda Holt, Creative Director, The Byne Group
I just read a really fascinating article a client forwarded to me from the NY Times today. The article makes the point that it isn't financial incentives or more information that drives consumers, but guilt. The article focuses on the secret to turning consumers green with some amazing examples on how and why a little bit of guilt works. [http://bit.ly/Green-Consumers]
I have always felt the goal of marketing and advertising should be to create an emotional connection with the viewers, and when done right it works. We love to share an experience that make us laugh, feel inspired and proud. But what about guilt, should that ever be part of the equation? I was raised in the middle, middle child, middle boomer, middle grades, sandwiched between the guilt my parents fostered in me and my kids knowing how to manipulate it. Think about how marketers have tuned in to this powerful “guilt” weapon. I read a study that when boxed cake mixes introduced the idea that customers had to add their own egg to the mix the sale of the product spiked. The study explains that people felt less guilty about not baking from scratch!
There are tons of consumer research papers on this subject. According to a 2009 paper, Measuring Existential Guilt Appeals on Donation Intention [http://bit.ly/awOsQ1] "When the audience feels existential guilt they will attempt to minimize the feeling by possibly donating to charity. But that highly intensive guilt appeals evoked anger, irritation and annoyance."
I’m happy to say that I am getting better in managing my own guilt. After all it's just a substitute emotion when you're unwilling to feel what you're really feeling and serves no useful purpose at all. Now please, tell my kids!
What are your thoughts on the subject, please share.
–Ann Byne, Principal, The Byne Group
This concept is nothing new as Aristotle, one of the great thinkers from the ancient world said "The secret to humor is surprise."
I think its human nature to like surprises, defined by freedictionary.com, surprise is, "to cause to feel wonder, astonishment, or amazement, as at something unanticipated." In advertising and marketing both off and on line, the element of surprise makes us take notice. Then add the extra zing of humor to the mix and you’ve got the beginning of a powerhouse of a campaign.
Just think of some of your favorite campaigns from the past. To totally age myself, one of my favs is "Where’s The Beef" from a Wendy's ad in 1984 (yikes, how time fly's). In the ad, a very senior Clara Peller receives a burger with a massive bun from a fictional competitor. The small patty prompts her to angrily exclaim, "Where's the beef?" This catch phrase was repeated everywhere and practically started the term viral marketing before the term ever existed. For those of you who weren’t even born in 1984 just think about the 2010 Super Bowl ad with Betty White selling Snickers, an ad that did go viral with over 2 million views on youtube. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1Sv_z9jm8A).
But it doesn’t have to be just traditional advertising, I love the guerrilla marketing campaign that IKEA has been using. They went to the streets and literally covered benches, parking meters even bike seats with their fabric and added small signs which read" A little Fabric Makes a Big Difference" completely brilliant and unanticipated! (http://inventorspot.com/articles/ikea_element_surprise_7332).
Any great campaigns that made you feel wonder, please share.
–Ann Byne, Principal, The Byne Group
When it comes to marketing it’s not how loud you shout it’s how well you make the connection.
I’m spending a week helping out with my 3 year and 3 month old grandkids and I realize the same is true in influencing people in our personal lives. I forgot the morning fights I had when my kids were 3, you know waking them up, what they will or won’t wear to school, how full the cereal bowl has to be, etc. It would be easy to shout and demand they do what I want but to what end. In a book about parenting to inspire values titled, Children Learn What They Live, the focus is the way things are said. If you shout one day how much louder will you need to shout the next to be heard. Any of us who have raised children know eventually they will tune us out completely. The ideal way, listen and understand the motives for the behavior and gently but clearly motivate.
Motivating clients is very much the same. First you have to understand your marketplace and find meaningful connections. Next you need to be consistent in your message. And last remember we live in a media cluttered world, delivering communications with simplicity and clarity makes all the difference.
–Ann Byne, Principal, The Byne Group
When was the last time you thought of yourself as being calm. For most of us these are anything but tranquil times. We’re inundated with information, overwhelmed with daily tasks and asked to keep pace with technology that keeps moving faster and faster. Personally I can’t tell you how often I have responded to email from clients without thinking through the correctness of my answer and even worse the flippant way I might have handled an issue with staff saying words that can never be taken back (if anyone reading this ever felt bruised, I'm really trying to do better).
A favorite quote of mine by James Allen an English poet from the early 1900s said it well. “The more tranquil a man becomes, the greater is his success, his influence, his power for good.”
What to do! A possible suggestion, lets continue to have the conversations, (either on- or offline) but lets give ourselves some breathing room before and after. Take time to take stock, breathe and yes be calm!
Any ideas on how you find calmness during your workday, please share.
-Ann Byne, Principal, The Byne Group
Hi everyone,
Guess what? I'm a finalist in the Chiquita Banana new label contest! The contest was to design a new fun label that will be featured on the bananas, without using any text. So I made the top 50… although the designs won't be officially posted on eatachiquita.com until August 23, 2010.
When it's up I am going to need everyone to vote for me. Top 18 designs get to be printed on the bananas!!!
–Dana Tandoi, Intern, The Byne Group
Hello everyone! I'm back!
Since I last blogged The Byne Group has kept me very busy. I've worked on such a wide array of different projects. Over the last few days I have been working on flyers for a local charity, made a few changes on a logo I've designed for an insurance company, designed a whole invitation package for a banquet event, and was on the set of a photo shoot.
Being on the set of a photo shoot is so exciting! There is so much that goes into taking a picture it's insane. All the equipment has to be set up just right, the model has to be sitting at the right angle, and the weather needs to be cooperating to get that "picture perfect" picture. It was really interesting to see the process of making that perfect picture.
This photo is from one of the shoots I was on for United Hospice of Rockland.
Back to work!
Dana
–Dana Tandoi, Intern, The Byne Group
The Give and Grow program sponsored by The Journal News was really the perfect fit for us. We always try to give back, not only to our clients, but to our community as well. Now we could give back with a 10"x10" pro bono ad for a charity of our choice that would run in The Journal News for free.
Posts
