57 Rules of Media

Monday, March 8, 2010

A Bridge Too Far

William Goldman also adapted Cornelius Ryan's book - A Bridge Too Far.

It is the true story of one of Britain's more embarrassing military disasters. The plan was too complicated and relied on every element working for it to succeed. Miss one bridge & the operation collapses. Which is what happened at Arnhem.

A friend once told me that his client at Procter was an ex-Marine. He would compare media planning to a battlefield. If the enemy has 100 Ratings a week, we buy 200. If they increase to 200 we go up to 300. You get the picture. It's not pretty but it's pretty successful. Complicated plans can be brilliant but they also have more parts to go wrong. Over the longer term simple plans which keep the enemy (competiton) in mind are the most effective & efficient.

Some plans try to be clever & fail like Operation Market Garden (the Bridge Too Far). But Procter is the Red Army of media. They set a target, Berlin say, and they just keep going straight ahead until they reach the Reichstag.

Nobody Knows Anything

William Goldman said "Nobody Knows Anything." He also wrote Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid, Marathon Man & the Princess Bride. See the link in the headline for what he meant.

In media, as I hope I have explained, nobody knows anything. What works, what doesn't; long or short commercials; first or last in break; TV or Posters; Print or Radio. I'm not complaining, this lack of a scientific approach has kept me in work for 17 years. Google frightens Media agencies because they are using alogrithms to find the audience. Google is frightened of Facebook. Facebook is scared of Twitter. And somewhere in a garage the next Twitter is being born.

In Media - Nobody Knows Anything

Pitching to Win

We did a 2 day workshop last year which could have been summarised in 3 rules

1. Attract them with knowledge
2. Win on Price
3. Keep them with service

It's Shite being Scottish....

"...And all the fresh air in the world won't make any fucking difference" See link in the headline

Sunday, March 7, 2010

Process NOT a Project

3 more rules I have remembered about the communications business.

You should have a 'process not a project". A project is a one off which won't be repeated. It's similar to a great ad but not a brilliant campaign.

But make sure that the process isn't so complex that it kills the passion. 'Proces Kills Passion"

And don't commit the worst offence of 'Paralysis by Analysis'. There is a reason why analysis starts with the word anal. Otherwise your indecision could be final.