What’s the secret behind the most successful advertising?

There are some products that have that illusive gimme-factor. You see them and you want them. An ice-cold can of Coca-Cola, with the drops of moisture dripping down the side of the can. A Walls Magnum with a tantalising crack in the inch-thick chocolate revealing the cool dreamy vanilla ice cream below. The dew-dripping glass of lip-smacking Carlsberg, ready to give your senses that much-needed shot of invigoration. The white-sand turquoise-water palm-tree-swaying beach in the Seychelles, where all your dreams can come true.

You get the picture.

The list is not endless, but some brands have cornered the market on what turns their target audience on. They’ve gone beyond mere products and advertising and have earned the status of love icons. They have harnessed the power of brand love. And it probably took them years to do it…

Humans use brands all day, every day. We’re surrounded by them. Many are run-of-the-mill necessities, like washing up liquid or toilet paper perhaps. Others are a bit more than that based on the utility, like Ford or Heinz. And others were either love at first sight, love on the first date or an enduring marriage based on Joan Armatrading’s Love and Affection. We are all open to persuasion when it comes to brand love.

Every brand has to do some selling to create appeal. But true love doesn’t happen until someone has bought the promise and enjoyed the product or service so much that they fall for it. Love happens because there’s chemistry. The product understands me and my needs. It’s a great fit with who I am. Truly, madly, deeply – I love it!

Creating the opportunity to make the first step happen is the critical bit.

You know, the kissing part.

Finding a way to kiss many frogs – to find as many princes or princesses as possible – that’s the beginning. Obviously, it’s called advertising. After that, the magic might happen, depending on your sex-appeal, or put another way, your product’s attractiveness and your customer retention strategy.

The challenge here is surprisingly not the falling-part – it’s getting an endless supply of complete strangers to consider the first kiss. So, for today’s amble through the marketing mix, let’s talk about the magic formula that directly improves your conversion rate from kissing to… love on the first date or going all the way – to a lifetime of wedded bliss.

When you’re spending time and money on advertising in the hope that it will attract lovers, you need AIDA. This magical marketing formula tells you that wherever your advertising is going to appear, it will need to do four things to persuade your frogs to pucker up for the big snog:

1. Grab their attention.
2. Turn that into interest.
3. Then create desire.
4. And last of all action.

A classic example to illustrate this is to time and design your advertising perfectly to persuade:

1. Grab their attention. Your visual imagery and headline need to provide sufficient impact and eye-candy to get them looking, then staring.
2. Turn that into interest. Show them the personal benefit of what you’re selling.
3. Then create desire. Show them how easy you’ve made it for them to buy – get them to want it.
4. And last of all action. Then tell them it’s time to do something about it and give them a way of getting in touch.

A picture speaks a thousand words.

I’d love to show you a perfect example of what I’m talking about, but I prefer to show you an imperfect one that packs the same MORE power.

When SEAT launched the Mii Toca, they chose fuel nozzle advertising as a key medium. Petrol stations and cars seem like a good fit, but more than that they wanted to target a youth market and chose to do so through the parent group. They had produced a cool looking and affordable car that was within the financial reach of a significant number of parents who they reckoned were wanting to provide their children with a safe, reliable and affordable new first car. The advert speaks volumes for attention, interest and desire:

• It instantly grabbed attention with a vibrant colour scheme and a strong headline – which is as big as the product shot of a cool-looking new buggy, for which any first-time-driver would bite your hand off!
• This turned rapidly to rampant interest with the unmatched affordability of this new first car. £79 a month is one thing but free insurance? On someone who’s just passed their test – that’s INCREDIBLE!
• Desire? Look at how funky the car is and how easy it must be to buy! And the cost. And the free insurance!

But the call to action was tiny… barely visible! This is a monstrous anti-climax in the immediately-created desire for instant gratification of literally a dream (of safe and affordable motoring for your kids) come true. If you want the perfect build-up to love, it doesn’t get better than this – or worse!.

How will this dream turned horror story end? Well, it just so happens that we know that the campaign converted successfully. The only phone number on the ad was ours in small white print at the bottom of the fuel grade, which we are required to display in case of equipment queries. Tiny number, swallowed up in the overall scheme of things.

But here’s the interesting thing: a phenomenon occurred that hasn’t taken place before or since this campaign. It’s a complete one-off. The target audience was so stirred, so excited by the promise of love, that they scrutinised the advert, took our phone number, and for the duration of the campaign the phone rang off the hook at our offices with people asking in droves where they could buy the love of their life!