ihaveanidea's Academia adblog  

STUDENT ADS HAVE TWO TARGET MARKETS
Posted on 2007-Mar-29 at 11:34
When I graduated from college I didn't land an agency job right away. It took me a few years actually. So I fell back on the skill set that put me through school. Foot modeling? Stunt-doubling? Good looking music video extra-ing? Nope. Sales. Technology sales to be exact. Glamorous huh? Specifically I worked for a technology reseller helping large companies manage their hardware acquisitions and software licensing. And trust me, it's not nearly as sexy as it sounds.

By day I was quoting out networking equipment and by night working on my portfolio. I decided my next 'client' would be something close to home. I started working on a campaign for the company I was working for. And once the campaign was done I thought it was pretty good. It was insightful, it said something about the company that our competitors couldn't say and the campaign spoke to a truth that our target marketing could identify with. Overall, I was quite pleased with it.

But then I started showing it around. Some Creative Directors looked at the first ad and then politely skipped over the next two. Others looked at it with an expression of confusion crossed with intrigue (or was it gas?). And the rest who 'got it' only did so once I explained how the company worked and why the target market would appreciate the ad. Regardless, it didn't go over too well. And that's when I discovered that students have two target markets: the actual target market and the Creative Directors looking at their book.

This is something that they don't typically teach you in school. Or they didn't at least where I went. But the reality is the ads in your student book need to work for the product's target market, but also your target market. Essentially, you're pulling double duty.

As a student it's tempting to do a campaign for products or services you use regularly and truly identify with. The problem with heading down that road though is that the product truths and little nuances that make your ad perfect for the product could be the exact same things that make the campaign go right over the head of the Creative Director you are dying to work for.

Now I'm not saying Creative Directors are slow. But a really clever ad for an obscure brand of high end guitar strings might be completely lost on them, if they're not a guitar player.

Typically a Creative Director won't spend hours looking over a portfolio. And they, like most regular people, will only spend a few seconds with each ad. And throwing in a campaign for professional grade spark plugs could easily disrupt the rhythm of them flipping through your portfolio.

So if you really want to do a campaign for an obscure product or service make sure the truth/insight you work to can be understood by the masses (ie. product X will make your car faster, or make your life easier). But what I would also say is you'd be better off sticking to more general products since the perception is that it's harder to do an interesting ad for a boring everyday product. Sure, you can do a cool campaign for really expensive snowboard bindings, but you'll impress people more with a really fresh idea for table salt. Or staples. Or diapers.



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COMMENTS

Untitled Comment
 Great ads will communicate to everyone. If they use technical language or demonstrate a technique not commonly understood by the masses, any creative director will be on the ball enough to recognize the idea behind the ad and whether or not it works, without needing to know the specifics of the product.

An ad that leaves someone scratching their head to explain what it's all about, is not a good ad...unless, the intent was to leave people scratching their head, which is a whole other thing entirely
Posted by Anonymous at 01:35 on 2007-Mar-29      


okay...but
 in general yes, a great ad will appeal to everyone. but the reality remains that there ads out that are great for a very specific target market (like those you would find in an enthusiast magazine) that will be less great when shown to the general public.

and further to my post, i should have also mentioned that in retrospect the campaign i had done probably wasn't that good. but i mentioned it to get the point that when creating an you need to know your audience. and when you are a student your audience, regardless of your product, includes the creative director looking at your book.
Posted by Brendan at 01:44 on 2007-Mar-29      


he's totally right
 yes, a good CD will recognize a good idea for anything if its actually a good idea. however, CDs flip through book sat lightning speeds - and when they come across an unfamiliar brand, they usually gloss by. they may reconize that its not bad, you're not going to get a CD to say "stellar."

now, you may catch a CD on a good day when he has loads of time on his hands and he may ask you to clarify what the ad is for. but then again, you may see a pig fly.

think about it. you're at a dog show. you (read: the CD) know a lot about dogs because you're an expert in your field. now, some guy (read: you) comes up to you with some obscure breed (read: your obscure brand) that 99% of people aren't familiar with. you might be able to look at it and say "ok, nice dog" but you're not going to have a clue about if the dog is stellar because you have nothing to base that opinion on - you've never seen that type of dog before.

round-a-bout analogy, but totally applicable.
Posted by Anonymous at 04:00 on 2007-Mar-29      


tippetitip
 I found it effective to do a couple of campaigns or ideas on clients that the companies I was showing my portfolio to already had. But they better not be bad then :)
Posted by Anonymous at 03:24 on 2007-May-23      


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