15 Tips for a Great Ad – Positioner

Hi everyone. Here’s number 6 in my series of 15 tips for a Great Ad. This one is Positioner.

Every day we all talk to clients who often present you with a wide variety of challenges – this series of tips is designed to make things a little easier for you and the client. Hopefully they will help you find an angle or perhaps even build on something they may have already have.

Positioner

There are many world famous “lines” out there – Just Do It -The Ultimate Driving Machine -Don’t Leave Home Without It -  and many more.  Often once established that’s all you have to say or write and people automatically remember the brand. Clients often spend lots of money trying to make their line famous and then along comes a very clever writer or account manager with a new idea and it’s gone forever.

My advice is to be wary of that path. One of the first questions I always ask a new client is “what is your positioner?” If they don’t have one, I then set up about creating one for them.

But if they do have one, I always take a good look at it and see if I can make it work even harder for them or in fact give it a new lease of life.  And so often it’s not even the line itself that works but actually how long they have had it.

In Sydney where my company IG3 is based, I have a client called Wynstan – they are a blind and doors company. Years ago someone else came up with the line “That’s Wynstan – Wynstan with a Y”. Instead of changing it to “something really clever” I choose to stick with it. This line is now one of the most well known radio lines in Australia. Yet it says nothing about the product they sell.

Another client I have is a conveyancer – his line which I came up with is: “Paul Denny Conveyancing – When All You Do Is Conveyancing You Get Very Good At It.” Recently I was presenting at a sales conference and to make the point about having a positioner and sticking to it, I took to the streets with a camera. The results we’re amazing. If you have a second take a look at the video.  A positioner – yes invent one if you need to or perhaps simply make the one they have work even better

PHOTO – Pete Fletch