Recently began working with a new (to me) client, a niché retail furniture operation.
Model Home Furnishings has six stores in Washington and Idaho. Their first - and still the most successful store in the group - is here in Pullman.
They've graciously given me permission to post publicly my thoughts on their recent ad campaign, the first chance I've had to do some work for them.
The event was an open house this past weekend. They do several of these events annually.
Figuring out what to say in a radio commercial, what will cause listeners to give the advertiser their consideration - hopefully resulting in a visit to their store - is, in my experience, the most important aspect of opening a relationship with a new client.
All other factors being equal, if you get this right, the client gets results and you've won an advertiser for life.
The copy notes given to me consisted of the event, days, and hours: Open House. Three days, Friday - Sunday, 10-5.
That was it. I was supposed to flesh out the rest of the spot from this.
Knowing that they'd been advertising these events on another radio station, I asked to hear that spot. It was one that had been written and produced for the previous open house event last fall.
Are you tired of paying outrageous prices for quality furniture?
With new furniture from Model Home Furnishings, you can have the inviting and comfortable home you’ve always wanted at low builders' prices.
View their amazing line of furniture at extrafurniture.com, and then visit their beautiful showroom for this weekend's open house, Friday through Sunday, ten to five, at 2626 S. Grand in Pullman, for unbelievable deals on furniture.
Model Home Furnishings, decoratively affordable furniture.
Ouch. Heard it once and thought, why in the world would anyone want to go to this open house, unless they were already planning to shop the store this weekend? The whole purpose of the promotion supposedly was to attract new prospects and introduce them to the MHF brand.
I asked the manager what other advertising they were doing. She said they were calling previous customers and others in their database to extend a personal invitation. These people would also be given the chance to enter a drawing for a "$1000 Room Makeover" ($1000 worth of furniture from the store). Could I include this offer in our ad copy? She consented.
Now I had something of a "hook" - a compelling reason for someone to make the effort to visit the store this weekend, instead of whenever they might get around to it.
But I still needed to craft the message, starting with a new opening line.
Chris Lytle used to call opening statement or headline, "the ad for the ad." Roy Williams refers to it as the "first mental image." Whatever you call it, it must grab the listener's attention and wrest it away from whatever thoughts may have been bouncing around in his or her cranium the moment before.
Are you tired of paying outrageous prices for quality furniture?
Right. The listener is someone who buys furniture so often, and has been paying outrageous prices for it for SO LONG...she's wearing thin, getting tired of it all. Uh-hunh.
With new furniture from Model Home Furnishings, you can have the inviting and comfortable home you’ve always wanted at low builders' prices.
Wait. You mean to tell me that, despite the fact our listener has been buying all this outrageously priced furniture, she has yet to make her home inviting and comfortable? What's wrong with this picture? Oh, wait! She just needs to get new furniture from Model Home Furnishings at low builders' prices, and THEN she can have the inviting and comfortable home she's always wanted. Now I get it.
View their amazing line of furniture at extrafurniture.com, and then visit their beautiful showroom for this weekend's open house, Friday through Sunday, ten to five, at 2626 S. Grand in Pullman, for unbelievable deals on furniture.
OK, there's a focused message for you. First go to their website to see their "amazing" line of furniture (though they don't tell you what makes it "amazing"). Then, visit their "beautiful showroom" for this weekend's open house...for "unbelievable deals" on furniture.
Two problems. Actually, three.
One, the showroom is nice enough on the inside, but it's housed in an old industrial metal building on the outskirts of town. No picture windows. No fancy signage. A casual observer would have no reason to identify the occupant as a furniture store.
Secondly, "unbelievable deals" is one of those tired clichés that ought to be banned from radio advertising now and forever. Means nothing.
And third, in view of the aforementioned cliché, do you feel any real urgency to alter your weekend plans to visit the store? Me either.
Fortunately, there's a story to be told about this store...and it's grounded in: truth. (Chris Lytle also used to say Truth is Better than Creativity, paraphrasing David Ogilvy. Funny how some things just stick.)
So, what truth(s) could make a good ad for this client?
1) They're going to give away $1000 worth of furniture to someone who visits during the open house. Good reason to drop by, even for someone not ready to buy today.
2) Let's be upfront, the whole reason they're having this open house and $1000 giveaway is to get new people to come into the store.
3) The store is housed in an unattractive building on the outskirts of town, with a little sign that sits on the boulevard between the store and the road. Commuters drive by it at least twice a day, five days a week. Most have never set foot in the store. Let's acknowledge that we're aware of these folks and would like them to come see us.
4) Model Home Furnishings does have a different (if not unique) approach to buying and selling furniture. They sell to builders, for model homes, spec homes, etc. They keep displays set up in the store, but order for customers from catalogs. This takes a little explaining on their part. But the advantage to a furniture buyer is that he or she can buy nice furniture for significantly less than the price a fancier store would charge for the same item.
So, with all this in mind...here's the spot I came up with. It's a :60, because I felt that one needed that much time to tell a story that would resonate with real prospects. Even though I had more time to work with, I left off the website information at the end because it was neither necessary nor relevant to the core message.
Result? Client was happy. Had a terrific open house. Had people mention the ad. Sold some furniture. Looking forward to doing more, on a regular basis.
It took more time to do it this way, but the results both near- and long-term justify the time and effort invested.
