I don’t post a lot about advertising. This is not because I think it’s unimportant, but because there are a lot of people doing truly great advertising blogs.

But this is too smart to resist.

Retail Store Blog has a great little summary on what makes sexy ads work — and what doesn’t.

The short version of Greg Manter’s three-point test:

• Do you remember what the ad sold? Or do you only remember the sex?
• Is the ad “hot” enough to be remarkable (literally)?
• Is the sexy ad part of a whole brand identity or just a one-off titillation?

Good stuff, and well worth a full read.

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Over at Collaborative Marketing Services, they’re asking a question sure to warm the collective hearts of the buzzword-compliance set: What is open source marketing?

Great question. Unfortunately, I’m not sure they have the full answer. OK, I am sure, but I’m being professional.

The article’s thesis goes something like this: More choice in the marketplace means monolithic brands — and the equally monolithic media buys used to support them — are going the way of the dodo. (Insert Cluetrain-ish stuff… insert Seth-like stuff… etc.)

There are good points in there, but much of it has a dotcom-heyday feel. More importantly, they focus on the community-driven aspect of open source software, but don’t spend nearly enough time discussing how explicit licensing and copyright choices allow these communities to flourish.

I’m not sure there’s such a thing as open source marketing — at least, I wouldn’t put that name on any of the trends now unfolding. Now, open source branding? That’s another matter. It exists today, often as a byproduct of fast-growing online companies or communities. And it’s a great example of branding backward.

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Rob Thrasher has an interesting take on using Google to reverse-engineer a brand. Good stuff, although it’s certainly just part of any larger branding effort.

One thing that’s usually an eye-opener — particularly with smaller clients — is the concept of branding forward vs. backward:

• Branding forward: You start with a brand that reflects back to customers things you know the they want, and then build a product around that brand.
• Branding backward: You can start with a product, and refine from its characteristics (both existing ones any any additional ones the branding team may imbue it with) a successful brand.

Both work. Both have their uses.

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Colin has such a great post on the importance of personalization during the pitch that there’s not much for me to add.

Go read it, and follow the great links.

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Mike Bawden pointed me to this excellent, metaphorical article on positioning over at 101PublicRelations. It’s smart stuff, but I may be biased because the author used two of my favorite airlines as examples.

An aside: I like long blog entries — as long as they have something to say. For me, the link-and-run miniposts so ubiquitous in blogging (and yes, I’m guilty myself — with this very post!) are a little bit like fast food; fun, but not really filling… and your mom would tell you to eat better.

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Jennifer Rice brings up some stats — and their importance — in such a direct way that all I can do is quote (emphasis mine):

The Conference Board found that the top four chief executive challenges for 2004 were top-line growth (52%), corporate agility (42%), customer loyalty and retention (41%), and innovation (31%). By contrast, Booz Allen Hamilton found that marketing executives were focused on branding guidelines (83%), counseling divisions (52%), best-practice sharing (52%), and developing capabilities (47%). No wonder the ANA concluded: “Marketing is disconnected from the CEO agenda.”…

Read more …

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