Internet Marketing Blog | Jesse Kanclerz | Rochester, NY » Advertising

Does Fear Persuade Or Paralyze?

Jesse — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 18:04:36 +0000

The Rochester Advertising Federation posted this interesting mural which is purportedly in a smoking area. It’s suppose to motivate people to quit smoking by getting them to contemplate their own death.

It’s brilliant creative. Unfortunately it’s ineffective because it fails to provide clear steps a person can take to prevent the long term consequence of cancer and death.

Research shows that while fear arousal is sufficient to influence attitudes, it must be paired with specific, detailed recommendations for a person to change their behavior. In this case, including booklets on “How To Quit Smoking,” provided by the US Dept. of Health & Human Services alongside the mural will be more effective than providing a quit smoking hotline phone number or nothing at all.

Remember that fear by itself only leads to inaction, you need to immediately provide concrete, achievable steps for the person to begin minimizing the risk.

The Power Of A Captivating Yarn

Jesse — Sat, 10 May 2008 14:35:20 +0000

Tell me which of these is more likely to move you to action?

It is reported that over $17 billion is spent and tens of thousands of deaths occur each year resulting from medical error alone. One of the most common medical errors and a top priority for quality initiatives is inaccurate diagnoses – estimated to be 15% of all diagnoses. What if you could reduce these errors by providing your clinicians with a multi-use, visual diagnostic tool without the hassle of cross-referencing multiple text books? VisualDX is shown to increase diagnostic accuracy 124%.

or…

Jason Bernard is an internal medicine attending at Strong Memorial Hospital. In between completing a cardiology fellowship, supervising a frantic flock of medical students, and butting heads with residents, he valiantly attempts to greet each patient by their first name.

One morning, after pulling a grave yard shift Dr. Bernard was explaining a cardiac catheterization procedure to Steve Wallis, a patient, when he noticed a scaly rash on Steve’s arm. Initially, Dr. Bernard shrugged it off as eczema, but then he noticed Steve also had slightly enlarged lymph nodes.

Deciding to enter his patient’s history, and symptoms into VisualDX, within seconds Dr. Bernard narrowed the diagnosis down to two possibilities: benign eczema or T-cell lymphoma, a skin cancer whose early symptoms mimic eczema. To rule out the latter option, Dr. Bernard took a skin biopsy of Steve’s rash, sending it to a dermatologist for review. The results came back positive for T-cell lymphoma, but fortunately for Steve they caught the disease early before it spread to his internal organs.

Here’s what Dr. Bernard had to say about that particular diagnosis,Each day I make thousands, often instant decisions that affect the lives of my patients and their families. Years of formal education, and practical experience are my foundation, but I’m grateful VisualDX is there to fill in the inevitable gaps.

Call it a hunch, but I bet more people will be inclined to buy VisualDX after reading the second blurb. To help explain why, an MIT professor, Dan Ariely, says it best, we are called into action by emotions – we see a cute toddler in trouble, and our hearts go to her but numbers and statistics numb our emotions and reduce our motivation to act.

The implication for marketers is clear. The power of a riveting story is more likely to evoke visceral emotions and spur the reader to action. A captivating yarn beats hard facts any day.

Should Marketers Create Politically Charged Advertising?

Jesse — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 09:25:38 +0000

The following is an interesting but banned advertisement for SABC 1, a South African television network. A striking concept because it demonstrates a role reversal where whites only represent about 9% and blacks comprise 79% of the population in South Africa. However, despite my initial interest I’ve come to the conclusion this piece represents great creative with poor strategic value for the brand.

Before watching let me explain two terms which you might be unfamiliar with in this ad.

Mzansi is slang for â€œThe Southâ€ as in â€œSouthern Africaâ€

Ya Mampela is the tag line for SABC 1

The intended target audience for the commercial are disadvantaged, White South African youth. Since the end of apartheid the unemployment of White South African’s has increased to 10% out of a total population of 4.5 million [source]. Although the plight of unskilled, white South Africans is unfortunate it still does not compare to their black countryman. The fact should not be glossed over that of the 35 million strong black population, 28.1% are unemployed [source]. Not to mention the majority of capital, including land is controlled by whites.

I consider advocacy advertising to be an acceptable tool for us marketers, and the ad does attempt to showcase the other face of South African poverty. However, in creating this piece the ad agency overstepped a boundary by interweaving the theme of discrimination toward White South Africans. This seems especially distasteful in that the country is only 15 years removed from and still struggling with the legacy of apartheid.