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It’s all about people. By @Laura_Amelia_

Laura Magee

By Laura Magee

 

It’s all about people.

I’ve been thinking how an advertiser’s equivalent of an art gallery is any situation where you can watch people. It is here where we take in key inspiration.
Last week, I was reminded to put the consumers first. It seems weird as this is such an obvious thing (and the biggest thing!) to forget, however, while learning new processes I find that it’s easy to get caught up in your ideas and you actually forget about who it is that will be seeing it. If it wasn’t for people, there would be no point in advertising and therefore there is no point in making an advert that isn’t directly engaging with them.
On Tuesday, we went to Silicon Beached and had a brilliant talk by Liz Pavitt all about communication and the importance of how you speak to people where she raised the question ‘would you date your brand?’. She spoke about how honesty and owning up to mistakes is responded to far better than companies that hide from the truth. Consumers are more understanding and appreciate being in the know. She also showed the example of a tweet by Crocs who wanted to express their sadness in David Bowie’s death but thought it would be the perfect opportunity to add in a picture of some of their shoes (as you can imagine, it didn’t go down very well). No one wants to interact with a brand that only talk about themselves and when that’s what they do, we can smell it a mile off. 
I think the idea of asking yourself whether you would date your brand is a useful way of checking to see if you’re using the right tone of voice and whether you’re really considering the intended consumer.
It only takes one person to pick up on an ad that is insincere or offensive and for lots of people to hear about it and change their opinion towards that brand instantly.
But it’s not only the power of people who are at the receiving end and their ability to change things but also the power of people when it comes to selling.
On Friday, me and Blaz went to Cafe Nero on the first floor of Morleys to scamp. What was really interesting was watching how the people who were stood in the queue were smiling and eager to be served not because of Cafe Nero’s award-winning coffee beans or how there is maybe more choice in cakes than Costa but because the guy who was serving everyone was enthusiastic and friendly and completely made each service a joyful one. He completely changed the feel of the place. Now, when I think of choosing coffee shops in Brixton, I would much rather choose Cafe Nero because of this. Even if Cafe Nero had just brought out a huge million pound ad campaign about their coffee, if his service was the opposite, I don’t think I would be as convinced to go.
It got me thinking about how things (good & bad) can be made different by the input of one person 
and how I am a person.

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