The
picture below piqued my interest as I scrolled down my LinkedIn timeline
recently; not because I have any expertise in advertising or copywriting – I am
overwhelmingly left-brain dominant, and not particularly creative – but because
of what this says about the creative process (largely a right-brain pursuit) in its
entirety. Namely, that according to 'The Father of Advertising', it is still
grounded in comprehensive research (a left-brain pursuit).
[Ogilvy’s
1955 letter, abridged]
This
step-by-step process to copywriting outlined by David Ogilvy was written in a
letter to another agency executive in April 1955. This is an abridged version
of the actual letter, because it all gets a bit bonkers after point six with
talk of half bottles of rum, Handel, growling at his wife, and his inability to
type!
But,
importantly from my perspective, points 2, 3, 5 and 6 all directly involve
research – from collating and analysing past examples, to testing the current
ones.
And it
is no surprise that Ogilvy – a Brit, hailed as the ‘Father of Advertising’ by
the New York Times, who also topped Adweek’s list of people who influenced
others to pursue a career in advertising – advocated an intelligence-led
approach to his profession. At the outset of his career, from 1938, he began
working for George Gallup’s (as in the Gallup polling company) Audience Research Institute and, during
World War 2, took somewhat of a secondment with British Intelligence Services,
where he made a contribution to ‘psychological warfare’ with a report entitled,
‘Applying the Gallup technique to fields
of secret intelligence’.
He
started his own advertising agency in 1949 and, acknowledging the centrality of
research and his own background, he gave himself the title of Research
Director. According to the compendium of his learning, ‘Ogilvy on Advertising’, his philosophy comprised four principles:
creative brilliance, research,
actual results for clients, and professional discipline. He was also infamous for
his ‘Ogilvyisms’, one of which was, “Advertising
people who ignore research are as dangerous as generals who ignore decodes of
enemy signals.” Another, incidentally, was, “the customer is not a moron, she’s your wife”[1]
– file that as being of its time, and alongside the abridgment earlier!
[Left
brain and right brain. The first of Ogilvy’s principles is unquestionably
right-brain, the second unquestionably left brain; the other two mostly
left-brain too]
Further
to all of this, the market research discipline in its entirety was largely born
out of the advertising industry, during the ‘Golden Age of Radio’ in 1920s
USA, when advertisers sought more understanding of their key demographics.
Ogilvy
died in 1999, but is survived by the global agency Ogilvy & Mather (now
owned by the WPP Group), ranked 18th in the world by Campaign in their annual ‘school report’ for 2016. And, with that
legacy, not only does the firm employ analysts itself, but it has two
subsidiaries dedicated to the discipline: Ogilvy Amp, is responsible for data
planning and analytics, including ‘big data’; while Ogilvy Change is focused on
research in behavioural sciences.
Ogilvy & Mather
is at the forefront of its industry, and intuitively understands that in the
modern marketing environment research is almost axiomatic – big agencies and big companies will use big data for segmentation
in identifying target markets, they’ll use focus groups to test campaigns pre-launch,
and analytics (particularly online) to monitor their success thereafter. But
what about the proliferating smaller, locally- or regionally-focused agencies?
There is a burgeoning population of marketing agencies and specialists: in
Shropshire, there are 125 limited companies identifying as such in SY
postcodes, and 61 in TF postcodes.[2]
Close to one third of these have been registered in the last two years.
[A
selection of agencies in TF and SY postcodes]
It
surprises me that so few – especially those purporting to be ‘full-service’ – have
access to specialist market analysts and their skillsets, nor offer a suite of
analytical services, or promote the fact that they have analysts as associates.
Ogilvy
& Mather employs people across ten different disciplines – from content
generators and creatives (right-brain) to strategists and, of course, the “best
data gurus” (left-brain) – and they bring these people together “as a community of experts, working as
single blended teams”. This approach is eminently effective, in my opinion
and experience. Having worked mostly as the sole analyst in teams of marketers,
it functions brilliantly, and perhaps for no other reason than the fact that
marketers tend to be right-brain dominant (creative), while analysts are
left-brain dominant (calculated). “Two heads are better than one” doesn’t quite
work…but…two brain hemispheres… or a whole brain…are better than…?! [“Tom, this
is your reasoned left brain, telling your (not particularly flourishing)
creative right brain to stop typing, and get back on track…!!”] The
perspectives that a left-brained analyst will bring to a project are entirely
different to those of a right-brained creative – the game of Devil’s Advocate
between them leads to the best, and most well-tested, outcomes.
For example, through mining of 'small data' in a survey recently, I countered a marketing team's prevailing wisdom about how to target one particular, fairly new, segment of prospective customers. It wasn't conclusive, but provoked a productive discussion and has led to a far more nuanced approach.
For example, through mining of 'small data' in a survey recently, I countered a marketing team's prevailing wisdom about how to target one particular, fairly new, segment of prospective customers. It wasn't conclusive, but provoked a productive discussion and has led to a far more nuanced approach.
[Ogilvy & Mather Webpage, accessed
30 January 2017, http://ogilvy.hal.graphicalliance.co.uk/about-us]
Some
smaller agencies do employ such people, of course, and I believe that those
agencies currently have a real source of competitive advantage, especially
those that predominantly compete on a local (e.g. Shropshire-wide) or regional
(e.g. West Midlands-wide) basis and focus on the SME market (i.e. not competing
with the bigger agencies). And this area of work will only become more important,
given the primacy of data in modern marketing decision-making.
Ogilvy
made clear his thoughts on how research can inform advertising, specifically; and it is clear
that they are inextricably linked. Further, it pervades all aspects of
the marketing mix (4Ps), also including: strategy, especially (indeed, even more so, in my view); through
branding, advertising, copy writing, direct marketing, website analytics, and,
interestingly, even logo and graphic design. I say “interestingly” on the
latter point, because it was one that I was involved in myself recently. In
reference to Ogilvy’s third point, an organisation I was working with needed a
new logo, linking some fairly innocuous locations with some grand concepts, and
starting with a blank sheet of paper. I undertook some comprehensive historical
research, in this case, to find those links, before testing the concept with their audience and
before it went to the creatives for designing – the idea carried.
I would contend that all agencies – regardless of size and focus – need a specialist analyst, an out-and-out left-brainer, on their team. It is a source of competitive advantage in a highly competitive, yet often quite homogenous, market. If you're a small- to mid-sized marketing agency in Shropshire, and would like to talk about adding an integrated market intelligence offer to your portfolio, a Devil's Advocate to your team, who can complement and strengthen some of the work you might be doing already, then I'd love to discuss these ideas with you further - contact me here. Integrated market intelligence encompasses everything, but specific services might include:
I would contend that all agencies – regardless of size and focus – need a specialist analyst, an out-and-out left-brainer, on their team. It is a source of competitive advantage in a highly competitive, yet often quite homogenous, market. If you're a small- to mid-sized marketing agency in Shropshire, and would like to talk about adding an integrated market intelligence offer to your portfolio, a Devil's Advocate to your team, who can complement and strengthen some of the work you might be doing already, then I'd love to discuss these ideas with you further - contact me here. Integrated market intelligence encompasses everything, but specific services might include:
- Surveys, e.g. customer satisfaction.
- Focus groups, e.g. campaign and concept testing.
- Customer segmentation, CRM and sales analysis.
- Market trends, sizing and share analysis.
- Competitor analysis.
- Campaign analysis, e.g. direct (e)mail.
- Prospect identification and lead generation.
- Online analytics.
- Big data, small data, open data (buzzword bingo!)
- Marketing strategy.
[Doner webpage, accessed 4th February 2017, http://doner.com/agency]
[1] It
goes on to add, “…you insult her intelligence if you assume that a mere slogan
and a few vapid adjectives will persuade her to buy anything. She wants all the
information you can give her.”
[2] And that’s only limited companies, many
will be sole traders and partnerships, not registered at Companies House. In
addition, many will have formed in the last year and not yet filed their SIC
Code, and many will probably have filed under another SIC Code (e.g. general
consultancy, as opposed to advertising).
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