|
By Madigan
Pratt
For decades the Unique Selling Proposition, or USP,
has been one of the most widely followed principles for the development
of strong, marketing oriented creative. Simply put, the USP calls for
creative to offer a proposition - buy this product and get this benefit.
The proposition must be strong - producing a desire to purchase and
it must be unique from competition.
The principles behind the USP were fine tuned through
years of study and application by Rosser Reeves and detailed in his
1961 seminal book on the subject - Reality in Advertising. It
provided a framework for the development of breakthrough creative at
a time when television was king and mass marketing was in its hay day.
In today's competitive travel environment, however,
mass marketing is no longer an option. With this in mind, it is no longer
sufficient to create a breakthrough television execution which can not
be translated into equally effective radio, print, direct marketing
and promotional messages. To do so runs counter to the principles of
IMC and to the existing reality in marketing today.
Therefore a new approach is needed, one that can
provide superior creative across all media, address the needs of today's
more demanding consumer and result in superior sales for clients. At
Trinity we believe that new approach to superior creative development
is found in the DRUMS® test.
For any creative concept to be considered to be
a truly Big Idea - one that will provide the foundation for an fully
integrated marketing communications program - it must fulfill all the
criteria of DRUMS. A creative Big Idea must be:
· Distinctive - it must have a look
and feel that clearly differentiates the client from competition. Me-too,
copy cat ideas have no place here.
· Relevant - consumers purchase products
that have relevance to their lives. Attention grabbing communications
which do not show how the product is relevant to their busy lives can
never be considered a Creative Big Idea. Your communications needs to
be on target to the consumers wants, needs and expectations.
· Unifying - consumers receive messages
about products and services in a random and continuous manner. A creative
Big Idea needs to be bold enough to translate equally well across all
media providing strong, unified selling messages, not simply capable
of carrying the same tag line. If it does not, you may have a great
creative execution, but you won't have the basis for a truly great IMC
campaign.
· Memorable - consumers must be able
to not only recall your communications, but also correctly associate
it with your product or service. Have you ever heard someone describing
an interesting commercial, by saying, "I saw a great commercial
yesterday. I can't remember the product, but?"
· Sales Driven - at the end of the
day, the object of all communications has to be to sell a product, service
or idea. Will all your messages in all your different media drive consumers
to take the desired action?
On the surface, satisfying the DRUMS appears simple.
Unfortunately it isn't. When a campaign fails, the root of the problem
can many times be found in the way it is developed and sold by the agency
and bought by the client.
With an approved strategy, creative teams set to
work developing breakthrough ideas. Oftentimes the ideas are expressed
first in the dominant media used by the client, be that television,
radio or magazine ads. The thinking is that once a good idea can be
expressed in the client's dominant media, the problem is virtually solved.
The same tag line and visual can be applied to other media, everything
will look the same and everyone should be happy.
Nothing could be further from the truth. All media
must work equally hard - not simply look the same. If a great television
execution doesn't translate into equally great print and promotion the
benefits of IMC will not be realized.
As a client, if you are looking at new campaigns,
don't be swayed by a fabulous television or print execution. Demand
to see how the creative idea plays out in all the various other media
and don't be satisfied unless it does. Look beyond using a similar graphic
or tag line and think about how the executions in each media effectively
sells your product or service.
If you don't see equally fabulous print including
direct mail and sales promotion material you probably don't have a creative
big idea. If you use different agencies for "below the line"
work give them a chance to show how well a creative translates into
their media. If the results are sub-optimal then the original creative
has failed the DRUMS test.
As a travel marketing professional you realize that
consumers are receiving their marketing messages through a wide variety
of media on a random and continuous basis. That's why more and more
of you are applying an IMC approach to communications. As you do, you
will also realize that a broader creative concept, A Big Idea is needed
to make the communications work. Using the DRUMS test is a good way
to make sure a recommended creative concept is a BIG IDEA. 
|
