A lesson in bad advertising.
Another car brand is on the chopping block. Ford has announced that it intends to discontinue the venerable Mercury brand. Mercury’s recent ad campaign—a bad one—didn't help the cause. My apologies to Jill Wagner...it really wasn’t your fault. Instead, a weak value proposition and bad execution did in the campaign.
You gotta put Mercury on your list? Their entire campaign was built around the premise of asking (almost begging) you to just consider their product in your selection set. Hardly instills confidence. That’s like a high school junior (let’s call him Paul P.) going up to a senior girl that he likes and saying, “Hey, this Friday when you’re thinking about guys that you’d like to spend some time with over the weekend, I hope you’ll consider giving me a call.” Two words: dead end. Trust me, I know.
Too bad, because Mercury has done it right before. Here Farrah shows the right way to do it. Better ad = better results. This Cougar XR-7 model went on to set sales records.
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A paid search campaign for Greater Wilmington Convention & Visitors Bureau
This is the second in a series of case studies for those who read our blog. I think it's a nice opportunity to share examples of our work. Read the rest of this entry »
A paid search campaign for Southern Delaware Tourism
Below is the first in a series of case studies that we wanted to share with those of you who read our blog. We think it's a great opportunity to share examples of our work and capabilities. The case study below, for our client Southern Delaware Tourism, showcases our online media capabilities, specifically paid search campaigns. Read the rest of this entry »
Celebrating the holidays with silver and golds!
AB&C was honored with four gold awards and one silver in the 35th Annual JASPER Awards competition. Sponsored by the Jersey Shore Public Relations and Advertising Association (JSPRAA), the competition drew more than 265 entries.
Our work with St. Joseph’s Healthcare System Children’s Hospital in Paterson, NJ, won gold for outdoor billboard advertising, print poster material and print brochure, and silver for magazine advertising. We also received a gold award for newspaper advertising created for Underwood Memorial Hospital, Woodbury, NJ, highlighting maternity care.
It’s always great to be recognized with our clients for our combined creative efforts. We’re happy to share this good news with you.
Award-winning work
That’s why I’m happy to report that AB&C recently won 12 awards at the 2009 Aster Awards, a medical and healthcare marketing awards program. The awards —golds, silvers and bronzes — recognized creative work in direct mail, web design, television, collateral and print. Check it out for yourself.
One gold was for our design of the St. Joseph Hospital Website. St. Joe’s old website was packed with information, but you had to take the time to dig through it. And that was the problem — especially because the good people of Greater Nashua, western New Hampshire and northern Massachusetts — the hospital’s audience — are very tech-savvy and look to the Internet as their first source of medical information. So after we impressed St. Joe’s with unique micro-sites for some of their new campaigns, they decided it was well past time to overhaul their main website. Read the rest of this entry »
Spec Creative
For all you prospective clients out there, we at AB&C would love to have you as a client. We really would. And please, give me a call at any time.
Or, feel free to include us in your RFP process. Just one little thing about that RFP process...
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Award-winning work
AB&C earned 11 awards, including a “Best in Show,” at the Twenty-Sixth Annual Healthcare Advertising Awards, the nation’s oldest and largest healthcare advertising awards competition, sponsored by Healthcare Marketing Report. Click to see the winning creative.
AB&C took top honors (the “Best in Show” award) for developing a Physician Recruitment Showcase Book on behalf of Geisinger Health System of Danville, Pennsylvania. Physician recruitment is challenging and highly competitive —particularly for Geisinger Health System, a renowned but remote health system in rural Pennsylvania. Recruitment branding has always represented Geisinger as a place where physicians are thought leaders and innovators — where they can be heard, do research, teach and pioneer revolutionary treatments and modalities.
Our idea was to create a showcase book that would capture the essence of the Geisinger physician experience. The book parallels scientific/technologic photography with quotes that aren’t so much inspirational as they are aspirational. We chose quotes from contemporary sources rather than “dead Greek guys.” Other photography captured the lifestyle of the physicians with captions that contrasted their leisure pastimes with their clinical pursuits. Response has been good — the piece has gotten high marks from physician candidates.
