Leap Into Life

oberon-old-cinema

Originally uploaded by crispycruiser

Oberon is a funny place. Smack bang in the middle of the town centre is this fabulous art deco building that was originally a cinema.

Many business people fail to develop an advertising strategy that consists of more than one or two elements such as a magazine ad, a newspaper ad and some supporting material.

But what exactly is ‘an advertising strategy’?

If you search the web, you will find quite a few different answers to this question;

The site enotes.com says “An advertising strategy is a campaign developed to communicate ideas about products and services to potential consumers in the hopes of convincing them to buy those products and services”

Wikipedia says: “In advertising, different creative strategies are used in order to obtain consumer attention and provoke shoppers to purchase or use a specific product. Advertisers use different ways of thinking to create catchy slogans that capture consumer attention.”

Both of these resources miss the point

Both of these excellent resources fall into the trap that many textbooks fall into. That is; they try to define what an advertising strategy is by explaining what an advertising strategy aims to achieve and then how the strategy achieves its objective.

There is often confusion between the terms ‘advertising strategy’ and ‘advertising campaign’. These terms are not interchangeable.

An advertising strategy is the overall plan (the how, what, when and why). The advertising strategy should contain a series of advertising campaigns.

A campaign consists of a combination of communication activities that support each other in different media or mediums. For example a TV commercial, a radio ad, point of sale, a brochure all carrying the same, similar or supportive messages.

The advertising strategies that I always recommend consist of a long term strategy (minimum 12 months) made up of a series of campaigns.

Yesterday I completed my 38th City to Surf and, as usual, it was a picturesque Sydney day. After the run, I met up with some friends on Bondi beach before a refreshing shower and our usual post-run lunch.

After the Sydney sunshine, we drove back to Canberra through snowfalls whilst listening to the coverage of the Olympics.

We heard on the news that a 26 year old by the name of Lee Marriage died only 200 metres from the finish and I recalled that quite a few people have died on this run over the years.

The City to Surf is not a hard run if you do the preparation. The organisers publish a great training schedule for people of varying fitness levels. Doing the training will help prepare your body but I believe the most important thing is to learn to listen to your body.

Feel the aches and pains and understand what your body is telling you. Then act on what your body is telling you. Usually this means slow down.

For many it is surprising to discover that is not unusual for apparently healthy men in their mid 20s to die whilst running. Some even fear running in case of death.

You don’t need to kill yourself to get fit. Take it easy and enjoy the day.

I started working in the advertising game in the late 1970s and wow, has a lot changed in that time!

I stopped working as an advertising and marketing professional in 2001 and these days I specialise in leadership development for business people (see leadership coaching on our business site). But I am often asked by my clients for my opinion on their advertising and marketing initiatives. For our clients, my background in this area is a valuable bonus.

As a business owner myself, with more than a passing interest in advertising promotion, I’ve decided to freely share my knowledge and opinions about the myriad of advertising and promotional options available to businesses today.

My posts will be in the form of media options, communication techniques and comments on strategy. All comments and contributions are welcome provided they are in the best interests of educating and providing tips and assistance to readers.

A few days ago I was reminiscing about some of the old friends I had had in my youth. By old friends, I mean people who were in their 60s and 70s when I was a teenager. It occurred to me that this would make them all either centenarians or dead. I surmised the latter.

This morning I discovered that one of my school headmasters had passed away in April this year. He hadn’t been one of the mentors I’d recalled, but he should have been.

Tommy Cuff was a gentleman who loved his rugby, well respected and credited as having played a critical role in saving the school from permanent closure in 1973.

I recall many discussions with Tommy Cuff, in particular my first meeting with him when I applied to attend Blue Mountains Grammar School in 1975.

My mother and I met him in his office in Pitt House. The main purpose of meeting him was to see if we could negotiate some way for me to do both geography and art, two subjects that clashed. Normally this would mean that I had to do one or the other, but there was no way to do both.

None the less, ever a man led by logic rather than rules, Tommy Cuff approved my suggestion to have my mother teach me geography whilst I attended art classes. After all, my mother was an experienced geography teacher.

This was the first of the many decisions I was fortunate to witness Tommy make in which he judged common sense ahead of the rules and regulations.

Thank you Tommy Cuff, for your grace, your good sportsmanship, strength of character and your friendship.

The world needs more common sense.