Well, why not?

Oprah Winfrey. Copyright 2009: Knut Skjærven.

Well, why not?

You probably didn’t think I had a picture of Oprah Winfrey. True, this morning I didn’t, but now I do. Just to remind you that absence can be turned into precence if you work on it. Please read this post and stay alert for more .

As I told you, Oprah Winfrey is in Copenhagen for the last push for the 2016 Olympics to be held in Chicago. Here leaving the lunch at the Royal Palace Amalienborg in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Yes, the Danish Queen was there too. In pink.

Go here for more images moving into precence .

Phenomenology: The Larger Picture.

Presence and Absence. Copyright 2009: Knut Skjærven

Following this blog you will agree with me that it stills needs a more practical approach to phenomenology. We need some tools that can be applied when doing, understanding and analyzing pieces of communication. Being it text or pictures or other.

Aspects of gestalt psychology have been pretty well covered in a number of posts. So have certain practical aspects of semiology. And there are plenty of useful information on both advertising efficiency and human behaviour, for readers that seek that kind information. (To be linked later).

The next series of posts will deal with a more practical approach to phenomenology. This is important since we have stated several times, already, that phenomenology takes up a special position within the barebones universe being both the basic of reflection as well as a particular area of investigation. Normally you refer to phenomenology as the method of phenomenology. The phenomenological method has been randomly covered by a series of posts taking it offset in the big book on phenomenology by late philosopher Herbert Spiegelberg. The big book being his The Phenomenological Movement. This however is by far not enough. Spiegelberg’s steps of phenomenology may be good, but not very practical.

Making the whole area more practical shall be very interesting since a similar effort had never been done before. Correct me if I am wrong here, but in my humble opinion this is the case. I am pretty sure that this effort have never been tried in anything that resembles a communication theory. So, it will be interesting to see what develops in the course of the future posts on barebones.

It is all in the photograph above. I call it Presence and Absence. There may be some presence, but there are certainly more absence. Let’s see, then,  if we can get more absence present.

Please take a note that this post is written the day before President Obama arrives for the IOC conference in Copenhagen, Denmark. Michelle Obama arrived early yesterday and so did the Spanish King, The Brazilian President, and Oprah Winfrey. And many more celebrities doing a warm up of for the 2016 Olympics. Chicago Tribune calls it The Big Push. Friday all will be settled since the voter’s votes will have been cast. And all the presidents will leave.

What this last information has to do will phenomenology? Well, the facts are certainly there, aren’t they? And the celebrity information around IOC’s meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark, is likewise missing from the picture above, right? That is precisely why this information belong to the photograph.

Confused? Just wait till you read the next post on phenomenology. That post will deal with presence and absence and everything will become clear to you .

Have a good morning.

………………………..

More posts in this section.

Library Thing.

Is this “Quite Simply The Best Commercial Ever Made”?

Screen shot from Danish commercial. Reproduced with permission.

I made a promise, earlier this year, that one of the ambitions for 2009 was the be more specific in my analysis of real life communication. In other words, not so  much “acadamia”, but more concrete, specific analysis of what I called real life communication.

This was not only my ambition. It seems to me that the barebones of communication, over the last year, had been skinned enough to start redressing them with softer tissue. The are, in other words,  enough resource information on the blog to start putting it to critical use.

What will be the object of this first proper analysis? Some of your have noticed that there was a post on a certain commercial from Danish retailer, Fleggaard, who used partly undressed women to advertise for their retail outlets just on the other side of the border to Germany. That post hit pretty well on the blog  and has been the top post ever since. Seems there are a lot of people internationally that are interester in Danish/German border shopping . So I will use this commercial for the specific analysis. Seem like a good idea, right?

So before we start on this mission, here is what I would like you do to:

a) see the commercial a couple of times. Familiarise yourself not only with what you see, but with the way the commercial is put together, structured. For purpose of analysis, it is a good idea to split the commercial into sections and shots. You’ll find the commercial on Fleggaard’s web site. You need to mouse over the screen on the wall to activate the movie. Or you could go directly to the movie.

b) go to the CET-Checklist , or pick it up below. Follow the links and get an understanding of the checklist. Read thought the different checkpoint and get them under your skin.

You need to spend some time on both, and while you do that I will start finalising this post. The post will be continued … you need to come back to this post.

The CET checklist:

1. One Unified Impression.

Evaluation Scale: -3***-2***-1***0***+1***+2***+3

What is the impression given in this movie? And how is it given? It is on, it is two, is it even more, maybe even conflicting impressions?

In my opini0n, this movie does rather good. The overall impression is that these people are very dedicated towards their end, which is to spell out the the name of the product and the product price in the sky. On the ground they move firmly, up the stairs they move sternly and in the plane, in the plane they act dedicated, and when they jump from the plain is is with the same decisiveness as when they enter.

There is a tail to it when a single girl falls into the swimming pool, but that is added for the humour of it. Attention from the people on the ground is drawn towards the sky divers, and nice wraps up the urgency of what is going on in the sky.

I rate this +3.

2. Dominant Mood.

Evaluation Scale: -3***-2***-1***0***+1***+2***+3

Dominant mood. Got the be image or product. There is not much product in this move. It is all image. Besides the name Siemens and the price tag, that is.

I rate +3.

3. Visual and Verbal.

Evaluation Scale: -3***-2***-1***0***+1***+2***+3

There isn’t much text/speech in this commercial, so there is nothing really  to get in the way of the visuals. Could this have been done in another way or even better with a speech over? Hardly.

I rate high even here: +3.

4. The Simple Truth.

Evaluation Scale: -3***-2***-1***0***+1***+2***+3

The structure should be as simple as possible, and the structure in this commercial is indeed very simple. Camera follows the girls from moving rapidly on the ground till they are floating in the air. One could ask if the last scene with the girl in the swimming pool distracts, or is necessary, for bringing the message through. Maybe not, but as long as it is perceives as as add on to the “main story” is does not harm any.

I rate this +3.

5. Product of Consumer.

Evaluation Scale: -3***-2***-1***0***+1***+2***+3

I am not sure that this point fits very well here. If anything, it takes the consumers point of view. Anyway there are not much product display in the commercial, so that is out.  I am a bit cautious here.

I rate 0.

6. The Right Consumer.

Evaluation Scale: -3***-2***-1***0***+1***+2***+3

The target consumer are males between 20 and 50. There are about 700.000 of them in the area (this is stated by the advertiser Fleggaard in a mail to me. I would say that the commercial does a good job in targeting male consumer.

I rate high: +3.

7. Thoughts Worth Entertaining.

Evaluation Scale: -3***-2***-1***0***+1***+2***+3

It is even my opinion that the casting, the clothing, the lack of clothing, the simple story told, and the whole drive of this commercial do a very good, and entertaining job.

I rate +3.

8. Connotations.

Evaluation Scale: -3***-2***-1***0***+1***+2***+3

Connotations are in full bloom here. The connotations are clearly sexual, and appropriate to the male segment in question here. I might add that there are, IMHO, nothing shameful in this.

Rating +3.

9. Gestalt factors.

Evaluation Scale: -3***-2***-1***0***+1***+2***+3

How well are gestalt factor used? If at all? The commercial is held together by, amongst other things, proximity, similarity, direction, and you might even say the factor of the good curve: Movement.

Rating +3.

Overall results:

.. soon to be stated .

Introducing the Communication Efficiency Test (CET)

I am sure that 10 is a good number, but in this context the number 9 is even better.

I am going to anticipate what is going to come when I have written the last couple of posts on advertising fundamentals set forth by Horace S. Schwerin and Henry H. Newell in their book Persuasion in Marketing. As I have stated plenty of times I urge you to get this book and pick up this research information directly from the source. The fundamentals are the result of extensive testing based on more than 50.000 ads and commercial. I am not saying that this is the whole story there is, certainly not, but is a good basics if you want to avoid big blunders in advertising.

You need, of course, to add a dash of campaign strategy, lots of creativity and originality to get things working for you. And you will better off if you bring a couple of bare bones to the party as well. So that is just what I am going to suggest to you in setting up a basic check list for your future expertise as an advertiser. Or as an advertising consultant. You will be surprised how well this is going to work for you.

You may ask, is this really necessary. Do I need a check list for this. Well, I leave the answer to you, but before you speak it out, take a local tour in the magazines, in the newspapers, on the commercial television canals, that you have access to. Look briefly, or less briefly, over the ads and commercials that demands your attention. I have done that, and what I see produced from even highly estimated ad agencies, does not impress me. Not all of the time anyway.

Using the CET checklist will secure you against possible pitfalls. Expensive ones, even. Particularly if you are the one paying for the game.

So here is what I am going to do: I am going to let myself be inspired from the arguments from Schwerin and Newell, and I am going a couple of barebones to the list, which will bring me to the number of 9 (nine). These is going to be 9 separate checkpoint in the CET checklist, then. Right?

The CET check list:

1. One Unified Impression.

2. Dominant Mood.

3. Visual and Verbal.

4. The Simple Truth.

5. Product of Consumer.

6. The Right Consumer.

7. Thoughts Worth Entertaining.

8. Connotations.

9. Gestalt factors.

How to use?

How do you use this check list? Basically anyway you want, but my suggesting is you give each checkpoint a stretch from minus 3 to plus 3 so you have some room to mark your evaluations.

Could look like this:

1. One Unified Impression.

Evaluation Scale: -3***-2***-1***0***+1***+2***+3

You will do that for each of the checkpoint in the CET checklist I just introduced. I will have the full checklist made ready for you in later post, but there is enough for you already here to get you down to work.

Crash Criteria:

As you see the evaluation scale have a red area and a green area. The span from -3 to 0 is the crash area (left) , and the span from 0 to +3 is the non crash area (right). Just like the traffic light: red you stop and green you walk.

Here is how I suggest you use it. If, to the best of your ability, you find that a certain checkpoint not fulfilled in the add or the commercial, you rate it on the red side of the scale (minus something). If you find the criteria fulfilled you rate on the plus side of the scale.

Crash criteria are: If even one of the 9 checkpoints are evaluated to the red area you crash it, you dump it, you don’t pay out.

Pretty tough?

You may argue that this is a pretty tough test. Only one checkpoint in the red and then you dump the whole thing? Could we say, mayby, two or three in stead? No we could not. It is not possible to half or even partially pregnant.

The argument for this toughness is that the 9 checkpoint are weaved together. You will find, that if you down an ad or a commercial on “One Unified Expression” you will probably experience that it fall apart on many other checkpoint, as well.

Seventh Advertising Fundamental: Thoughts Worth Entertaining

I am updating blog logistics. This post will be written soon.

Other posts

You’ll find the other posts in this series on advertising fundamentals, below. If the post title is linked, it means that the posts have been submitted, and that you will get to it if you follow the link. If the fundamental is not yet linked, it means that that the post is not there yet. So you need for have a little patience.

First Fundamental: One Unified Impression.

Second Fundamental: Dominant Mood.

Third Fundamental: Visual and Verbal.

Fourth Fundamental: The Simple Truth.

Fifth Fundamental: Product of Consumer.

Sixth Fundamental: The Right Consumer.

Seventh Fundamental: Thoughts Worth Entertaining.

For an overview of the whole section please go here.

If you want to go for the book making your learning curve steeper and faster, here is the Library Thing information on it. You’ll get the full information here as well:  Persuasion in Marketing, The Dynamics of Marketing’s Great Untapped Resource, John Wiley & Sons, New York, 1981.

Sixth Advertising Fundamental: The Right Consumer

I am updating blog logistics. This post will be written soon. You’ll need to come back for this post.

Other posts

You’ll find the other posts in this series on advertising fundamentals, below. If the post title is linked, it means that the posts have been submitted, and that you will get to it if you follow the link. If the fundamental is not yet linked, it means that that the post is not there yet. So you need for have a little patience.

First Fundamental: One Unified Impression.

Second Fundamental: Dominant Mood.

Third Fundamental: Visual and Verbal.

Fourth Fundamental: The Simple Truth.

Fifth Fundamental: Product of Consumer.

Sixth Fundamental: The Right Consumer.

Seventh Fundamental: Thoughts Worth Entertaining.

For an overview of the whole section please go here.

If you want to go for the book making your learning curve steeper and faster, here is the Library Thing information on it. You’ll get the full information here as well:  Persuasion in Marketing, The Dynamics of Marketing’s Great Untapped Resource, John Wiley & Sons, New York, 1981.

Fifth Advertising Fundamental: Product or Consumer

Basically, I was never a Mac fan. This obscure little company, Apple, run by Steve Jobs that seemed to go in and out of business for so many years. The gear might be good for designer and other hippies, but not for more regular people using their desktops or portables for normal business. Windows was good enough. More than good enough. So where the boxes it came in.

But that was last year. My company came with an offer for an employee lease/buy that, for the first time, included some Mac options. Three packages based on PC’s, and three packages of Mac’s as well: the IMac, the Macbook, and the Macbook Pro. Six different solutions to chose from, and six set of expectations to be met.

It did not take me long to decide and I basically did so on aesthetic criteria. The new IMac is a beauty. In fact, there are lots of barebones connotations over it. And it work, and that is a good thing. It has been with me since November last year.

Since then I am the regular visitor on the Apple Site. And I was there October 14th this year (2008) for the Apple Special Event and Steve Jobs introducing another round of groundbreaking software and hardware. You need to go see his keynote speech, because it is a good introduction to what I am going to target in this barebones post: product or consumer.

Sales numbers displayed at the keynote meeting are impressive, and so are briefs into the Apple production technology. Normally you would not, from a selling point of view, want to dwell to long a time on production techniques because lots of user would not take an interest. My reaction was quite the opposite since the idea of carving out the frame structure of the new MacBooks from one single bloc of aluminium is good thinking. It’s brilliant. Unibody Apple calls it.

(This post is to be continued, so you need to come back later).

Other posts in this section.

You’ll find the other posts in this series on advertising fundamentals, below. If the post title is linked, it means that the posts has been submitted, and that you will get to it if you follow the link. If the fundamental is not yet linked, it means that that the post is not there yet. So you need for have a little patience.

First Fundamental: One Unified Impression.

Second Fundamental: Dominant Mood.

Third Fundamental: Visual and Verbal.

Fourth Fundamental: The Simple Truth.

Fifth Fundamental: Product of Consumer.

Sixth Fundamental: The Right Consumer.

Seventh Fundamental: Thoughts Worth Entertaining.

For an overview of the whole section please go here.

If you want to go for the book making your learning curve steeper and faster, here is the Library Thing information on it. You’ll get the full information here as well:  Persuasion in Marketing, The Dynamics of Marketing’s Great Untapped Resource, John Wiley & Sons, New York, 1981.

Fourth Advertising Fundamental: The Simple Truth.

You may not connect “truth” to the world of advertising at all. And maybe you should not. It has always been accepted by conventions that advertisers, and advertisements therefore, are allow to bend the truth a little. To be interesting, to be persuasive, to be competitive. To catch and hold attention.

However, there is one truth that you don’t want to bend: the simple truth. Meaning “the structure and order of a persuasive message should be a simple as possible. As far as structure is concerned, this means leaving out all extraneous elements”. (page 165).

Simple as that. Cut the crap and leave out the fat.

Again the example is from the world of commercials. This time not for toothpaste or cars, but for a cold tablet, a medical. You know, a tablet you take for not getting cold (it that possible?).

Schwerin and Newell tells the story about two different commercials trying to tell the story.

The first execution contained only three scenes: a) a man walking in the rain passing a billboard for the product in question; b) he enters a store, sniffling a bit, and is advised to buy an item of the brand; c) he is then seen well and happy again. End of story.

The second version is much longer, consisting of 7 different scenes. A much more complicated structure and argument.  

The measured difference between the two in terms of preference change was clear. The simple version of the cold tablet commercial worked twice as good.  

Not only simplicity of the structure is important. So is the order of things. Schwerin and Newell, in their book, refers to a test done with different order formats. One of the most popular formats is “before and after”. Here is the way they describe it: ” X is at a disadvantage because he does not use the product. X uses the product. X is better off”. This is called the normal order format.

Other formats are: reverse order, extended normal order and simultaneous. I am sure you can guess where this is leading; the more simple structure, and the more simple order, normally gives the more persuasive message.

If you need to go in details with these studies, please consult the book and its references. All you need as a reader of this blog, however, is to remember that simple makes better, and you handle simplicity through message structure and the order of things.

It is very easy to remember. Try training it the next time you see or read an advertisement, or a commercial that attracts your attention.

Other posts

You’ll find the other posts in this series on advertising fundamentals, below. If the post title is linked, it means that the posts have been submitted, and that you will get to it if you follow the link. If the fundamental is not yet linked, it means that that the post is not there yet. So you need for have a little patience.

First Fundamental: One Unified Impression.

Second Fundamental: Dominant Mood.

Third Fundamental: Visual and Verbal.

Fourth Fundamental: The Simple Truth.

Fifth Fundamental: Product of Consumer.

Sixth Fundamental: The Right Consumer.

Seventh Fundamental: Thoughts Worth Entertaining.

For an overview of the whole section please go here.

If you want to go for the book making your learning curve steeper and faster, here is the Library Thing information on it. You’ll get the full information here as well:  Persuasion in Marketing, The Dynamics of Marketing’s Great Untapped Resource, John Wiley & Sons, New York, 1981.

Third Advertising Fundamental: Visual and Verbal.

The third fundamental to deal with is visual and verbal. 

And again: It should not come as a surprise to anyone, that this third fundamental links closely to the other fundamentals.  It is not a third fundamental in terms of something entirely different from the the first two. It’s another side of the same coin. An added aspect.

In a commercial, a good idea is to check if it contains the same message sound turned off. Simply block the sound and describe the message. Then turn up the sound and describe the message once more. If you, roughly, don’t get the same result, you may have some revising to do.

Visual and verbal need to be coherent and stick together? In what way?

Don’t tell, show!

First of all, research seems to stress that it very important that support your message actively: don’t tell, show.

Schwerin and Newell mentions two different commercials they did for a shockproof wristwatch. The first commercial “was a straight stand-up pitch by an announcer, interspersed with occasional static shots of the the watch and superimposed legends”. That commercial did a very poor selling job, says the two authors.

And they continue: “The second commercial showed the product on the wrist of a sculptor who was violently hammering away at a block of marble with mallet and chisel”.

And guess what: In terms of selling the second commercial did much better than the first commercial by far. Measured by Schwerin and Newell it did SEVEN TIMES better.

Not at odds

Is does little good if the visual is at odds with the verbal, says the authors. SCR tested two commercials for a toothpaste. The message being that the toothpaste leaves a clean and fresh taste in the user’s mouth. The first version showed a white row of sparkling teeth, and a speaker told the story. The second version showed the same set of shining teeth, but this time the commercial included” a misty balloon effect surrounding the words CLEAN BREATH”.

The latter commercial worked better, and in terms of recall of the message it worked twice as good as the first one.

Not at the same time

Again, don’t try do to too many things at the same time. I will not work. Trying to get someone to respond to more than one message at the same time seems to destroy impact. Schwerin and Newell refers to a case where a car commercial flashes the words “fasten your seat belts” at the same moment as a speaker asks the audience to see the local dealer. It did not work. ” …. the consumer becomes emotionally paralyzed because he can respond to only one stimulus at a time and he is being confused by two simultaneous alternatives”.

Other posts

You’ll find the other posts in this series on advertising fundamentals, below. If the post title is linked, it means that the posts has been submitted, and that you will get to it if you follow the link. If the fundamental is not yet linked, it means that that the post is not there yet. So you need to have a little patience.

First Fundamental: One Unified Impression.

Second Fundamental: Dominant Mood.

Third Fundamental: Visual and Verbal.

Fourth Fundamental: The Simple Truth.

Fifth Fundamental: Product of Consumer.

Sixth Fundamental: The Right Consumer.

Seventh Fundamental: Thoughts Worth Entertaining.

For an overview of the whole section please go here.

If you want to go for the book making your learning curve steeper and faster, here is the Library Thing information on it. You’ll get the full information here as well:  Persuasion in Marketing, The Dynamics of Marketing’s Great Untapped Resource, John Wiley & Sons, New York, 1981.

Notebook Brief: Gabi, Frank, Mia und Max T.

I had a chance to visit Germany last week. I saw a couple of these posters once more. Along the highway, and in the cities. Runter vom Gas.

The picture below is shot in Berlin in March 2008, and it has been stuck in my mind ever since. I have been trying to get away from it. However, last week, was a reminder of a message that needed showing.

Tell me, in terms of denotations and connotations, why is this message, imo, so incredibly strong? Use other barebones tools, as well, to build your argument.  I will join in shortly, but right now it is your turn to use the barebones tools to figure out the strenght of this message.

What does “Runter vom Gas” translate? Simply “Down by Gas”. Very down.

For more information on the campaign go here. Or try this commercial to really get in the mood for impressive advertising. Go here for extensive campaign downloads, but please notice the restrictions for use.

More on notebook briefs.