The Devil’s in the Detail Looking for an advantage

in your Creative

October 14, 2013

Herschell Gordon LewisCarol Worthington-Levy

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Are you firingblanks?

WordsAre our

Weapons.

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Avoid these words in force-communication messages:

• quality• service• value• needs (as noun)

• “Remember,”• What’s more• Your partner in…•When it comes to…

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Please, please:Never again write “blah” phrases such as…

• Act now.• See your Toyota dealer today.• Southwest Airlines means business.

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What is the differencebetween

3and

three?

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Word use:Replace… with…must have toamong one ofutilize useperhaps maybebuy acquirepurchase ownspend allocatereceive get

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Can you see how

the phrase “you are among” damages the image

of exclusivity

?

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What is a more emotional word or phrase than:

• commence• utilize• omit• receive• we would like to• large• you incur no risk• circular• donate

• purchase

• fortunate

• requested

• I write concerning

• we shall

• error

• perhaps

• however

• humorous

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What is the difference between:

• autumn and fall

• at last and finally

• sexy and sensual

• nude and naked

• made and manufactured

• manufactured by and built by

• right now and at once

• reply and respond

• insincere and not sincere

• eager and anxious

• audience and viewers

• died and passed away

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Consider replacing•chance•availability•plan (as a noun)•prospect•possibility•likelihood

with opportunity

WHY?

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Consider replacing Application Form

with Acceptance Form

WHY?

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Suppose you prefer Acceptance Certificate

instead ofAcceptance Form…

WHAT SHOULD YOU CONSIDER BEFORE

MAKING A CHANGE?

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Unsolicited email: Note the mismatch between DEALS and APPLY NOW. Click:

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What is that word “Application” doing there? You contacted me.

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A classic example of what not to do. Goodbye.

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A simple and easy-to-implement rule for unsolicited email:

Graband shakethe reader,

fast anddynamically.

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Does this email grab and shake the reader, fast and dynamically?

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You don’t have to be a bourbon drinker to see problems with this copy. Suggestions?

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Too little copy…and too muchcopy.

Do you see

examples of each?

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If this marketer had asked you to create a competing

email, what would you have suggested

?

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What would you have said instead of “Learn

More”as a click-through?

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What would you have said instead of “Learn

More”as a click-through?

Why should you avoid the word

LEARN?

Because it suggests your background or education is defective. Suggested

replacement for marketing:

Get inside information about…or

See first-hand…or

[YOUR SUGGESTION]?

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Editorial decision:

Illegal immigrantor

undocumented alien?

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Your best prospects are the

individuals or businesses most

targeted with messages from

your competitors.With that in mind…

Decide how much strength you want to project:Pass this up and you

cost yourself some money.

mightmaycan

Decide when you can generate better impact by changing

voice:Pass this up and I

cost myself some money.

mightmaycanwill

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Consider the pros and cons of an absolute

statement:Pass this up and

I’ll cost myself some money

Add “If”…Have you made thisstronger or weaker?

If I pass this up,will I cost myself

some money?

The difference one word can make:

If I pass this up, will Icost myself some money?

versus…If I pass this up, won’t I

cost myself some money?

Two words that can make a conditional

statement appear to be an absolute statement:

What if…

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Two response-

suppressors here:

Download,which many

feel will affect their hard drive;

and Take the Survey Now,

which suggests

using much time.

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A single word can have the power to impel

ongoing readership in any medium:

SunkOuchNuts

Hmmm

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Opinion, please:When is

an exclamation pointbetter and when worse than

a period?Ouch.Ouch!Sunk.Sunk!

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Which of these, as envelope copy or subject line, is more likely to generate ongoing

readership?Important

orImportant!

orImportant? You decide.

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If you want an impulse-

greed response

,less

copy can be more.

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Can you think of a more salesworthy word than “Learn”?

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Your opinion: WouldPrivate offer:

have had more verisimilitude thanA special offer just for you.?

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Your opinion of the exclamation point as opposed to a rubber stamp with no punctuation

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Best Buy email – Can you think of a better subject line than

“Guaranteed to get it”?

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Headline is poor, could use the stronger selling copy in the text.

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Misleading?Won’t some recipients interpret

this subject line to

mean an MRI or CT

scan is free?

(And there is that

nasty word learn.

In the “contraindications” disclaimer for a pharmaceutical product,

which word did the marketer wisely use instead of“may be dangerous”?

“may be unsafe”

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Tip, based on multipletest results:

Others pay morebrings more response

thanYou pay less.

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Tip, based on multipletest results:

“You can apply for…is a deadly response

killer.

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Tip, based on multipletest results:

Buy one, get one freebrings more response

than50% off

orTwo for the price of one.

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For direct mail –The Cardinal Rule of

Envelope Copy:The carrier envelope has a

singular purpose (other than keeping the contents from falling out onto the

street):TO GET ITSELF

OPENED.

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Potent envelope copy.(Your opinion of the rubber stamp?

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ONE MORE HOPE:We are communicators, supposedly literate.

Do we know the difference betweenlie (intransitive)

andlay (transitive)

?

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Questions????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

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Design Details that bedevil response…

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Sometimes designers forget, or don’t understand…

• With mail or email, we’re invited guests into people’s homes…

• …Or if we’re presenting a website, we’re promising them a good experience

• If your mail’s not working, it probably is too hard to read, uninteresting or off-concept

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The death of Common Sense Design

• Why do we mail/email efforts that are impossible to read?

• Why, if we’re directing designers, do we not question the fact that it’s illegible?

• Why do we choose images that are so wrong or out of context, they don’t ‘get it’?

• The customer is not stupid – we are to blame if they can’t understand our efforts to them!

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The 4 Cs: design details that improve response

• High Contrast +• Smart Color +• Thoughtful Concept = Comprehension

• If you’re missing the details in any of these, you’re losing leads and sales — big time

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Color and Contrast: a detail that makes a huge difference

• You can capture response – or chase it away, by how you use color and contrast

• This is true in print, online, in ads, emails… everything

• This is all based on human physiology: how the rods and cones of the eyes function

• Affects how messages are read and comprehended

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Contrast• The human eye is 1500x more sensitive to

value than it is to color• When you have something that is colorful,

versus something that has higher contrast, people will look at the high contrast one first

• It’s human physiology, the rods and cones of the eye at work, sending signals to the brain.

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Low contrast = bad comprehension

• Black reads well on the yellow• White type on lime green has low contrast• The hairline thin type for the headline makes it worse• The message in green is literally ignored by prospects

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Contrast is a science, not just a creative choice

• Color value: how dark or light something is• This black and white guide is just one tool designers

(should) use to ensure the typography in their efforts is legible.

• Setting type on a background that has less than 8 value steps between them will make the type less easy to read

• Every color has value and even at level 10 is too light• Customers ignore messaging that is not easy to read

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

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Contrast examples

• The ‘arty’ choice is to set type in subtle color contrast• …but nobody reads it!• The practical and responsive way to set type and use

images is high contrast• Even if it’s just a ‘brand’ piece, it’s a complete waste of

effort if it’s too hard to read, or confusing to look at

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Contrast in action• Here it is with

typography in black and white…

• Which one is the hardest to read?

• Which is easiest to read?

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Contrast in action• Here how contrast

affects photography• Which one shows off

this product the best?

• The lower-contrast you make an image, the less likely someone will be engaged by it.

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Contrast examples• The ‘arty’ choice can’t

compete for your customer’s time or attention

• White type against gray makes customers ignore a good deal

Color and response

• Another guide your designer (should) have: the color wheel

• Think about value for these colors

• Yellow, at full strength, has a value of 2; purple (violet) has a value of 9.

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

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Color and Contrast

• Here it is with typography in color…

• Which one is the hardest to read?

• Easiest to read?

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Contrast and color• Actual sample: Yellow

type on white – or white type on yellow – is ignored by customers

• I glanced at this an ignored it. Too bad for me, and for them!

• Although sometimes they get mad that it’s so hard to read.

• Do you really want to piss your customers off?

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Does your design include white type?

• Reversing type out of a color, black, or a photo will reduce readership by up to 90% (readership = response)

• Proven in extensive studies• This is common sense: if

there’s a picture, we work to try to make out what it is. We don’t read the type that’s interfering with it

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Reversed type: who would want to read this, even if they requested it?

• When this catalog, for The Highlander TV show and films, was launched, all body copy and headlines were white on dark backgrounds

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Design for easy reading and reap the rewards of an awesome campaign

• When catalog was redone with black type on light back-grounds, sales jumped 300%+ among prospects AND existing customers

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Color in action• Note how complementary

colors ‘jiggle’ or ‘shimmer’ against each other Customers avoid reading type like that

• Notice how type in the same ‘color family’ (red on pink) is too hard to read

• Can anyone read this? NOTE: this is a VERY common mistake!

Complementary colors on color wheel – same value makes this too hard to read

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Typesetting in colors• Typography in black provides the best comprehension• Typography in colors reduces contrast — does poorly when tested for

comprehension and response• Even if strong value, the eye tires of reading color type faster than black

Compare: • Do you feel anxious in a yellow room? Does the color blue make you feel calm

and relaxed? Artists and interior designers have long understood how color can dramatically affect moods, feelings and emotions.

• • Do you feel anxious in a yellow room? Does the color blue make you feel calm

and relaxed? Artists and interior designers have long understood how color can dramatically affect moods, feelings and emotions.

• • Do you feel anxious in a yellow room? Does the color blue make you feel calm

and relaxed? Artists and interior designers have long understood how color can dramatically affect moods, feelings and emotions.

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Fonts: another detail that affects response• The fonts you choose will draw in your customer… or

send them packing!• Serif fonts are documented to provide highest

readership, documented in legibility and comprehension studies

• Sans serif fonts in typography will reduce readership and response by up to 60% - and more if it’s a condensed sans serif font

• ALL CAPS TYPE REDUCES COMPREHENSION BECAUSE NOBODY WANTS TO READ IT. See why?

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The font treatments can ALSO send them packing!

• Initial Caps Distract The Reader and Reduce Comprehension• Set type flush left, rag right. Ideally, with indent at start of

each paragraph to give the eye another way to scan• Justified type reduces comprehension, legibility and response• Hyphenated words reduce comprehension, too.• Research supports ALL of this: see Colin Whieldon’s book.

Type & Layout (link at the end of this presentation) and many other studies

• Also proven in exhaustive studies by Dr. Siegfried Vogele of the Direct Marketing Institute in Germany

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Layout: reader gravity is real• Headline must be bigger and bolder

than the body copy so the reader’s eyes gravitate to it

• The eye finds the picture first — then reads the copy

• Set copy to the RIGHT or BELOW the image, to allow for their natural progression

• NOTE: setting in 3 columns increases readership and response because it’s EASY to read; type wider than 70 characters is ignored!

David Ogilvy was right!

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Concept: the Devil’s here too!• When developing concepts for brand, advertising, mail

and more… – Don’t forget that your CUSTOMER needs to be

impressed by this – not your agency compatriots– Your efforts are wasted if it’s an inside joke, an ego

project, or a chest-beating exercise (“People look to us because we’re great”; “It’s our anniversary”; “Our award winning blah blah is what you need, etc.”)

– In fact, the more impressed your buddies are by your concept, the less it will probably work

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Overworked concept/design• If it looks

weird and gross, your customer will be turned off

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Same product; Common sense concept/design

• Answers customer concerns• Too bad it’s so hard to read!

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Under-thought concept provides ham-handed ‘historical perspective’

• Xtime creates automated systems for customer service, used by Auto Dealerships.

• They believe that body copy on an ad is too much – and ‘they just KNOW” that nobody reads it

• Does this ad tell the reader anything meaningful?

• Does the picture really tell the story? (How often this week have you seen this image?!)

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Concept that answers the most-important question: ‘What problem will Xtime take care of for me?’• Do your homework: This idea

came from walking around auto dealerships

• Myth vs reality — best creative is not produced if there’s no time to do it right

• This brought in scores of highly qualified leads

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Humor can work if it emphasizes a

point clearly• Read your prospect’s

mind… and answer their concerns

• Media buyers laugh when they see this —but it tells them this is irresistible media, and they remember it and check it out!

• Adweek award winner for highest retention

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There’s lots of thoughtless design out there.

Don’t let this happen to you.

• Orange headline• Light gray body type• Light, sans serif fonts• Orange and gray logo• The ‘great deal’ is reversed out of

orange banners• Concept??? Please• The cost of this creative and media

buy was probably $60,000 — wasted

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P.S.: Your designer’s not reading the copy!

• Oops!a line of type covered up by the block of green

• Final Advice: hire a proofreader!

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Learn more:

• http://www.amazon.com/Type-Layout-Communicating-Making-Pretty/dp/1875750223/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1343175004&sr=1-1&keywords=are+you+communicating+or+just+making+pretty+shapes

• http://www.amazon.com/Handbook-Of-Direct-Mail-Communication/dp/0132087456/ref=wl_mb_hu_c_1_dp

We’ll devil you into creating more effective work! Herschell Gordon Lewis

HGLewis1@aol.com

Carol Worthington-LevyCWL@Worthington-Levy.com