The One Dollar Shave Club is not even into its second month but it’s going to cut through the billion dollar shaving market, big time.

Why?

Not because it uses sweary words in its advertising, which everyone seems to be focussing on right now (for what it’s worth, from a copywriting point of view, I think it could have had just the same impact without the F-word because the copy and the art direction is spot on).

Not because it’s the new kid on the chopping block.

And not because, the branding, tone of voice and, as mentioned above, advertising is spot on.

It’s because the whole premise is different to the way we’re currently buying our shaving products.

Cue sweeping, sexist statement:

Blokes are rubbish. Rubbish at bothering to shave. Rubbish at remembering to buy razors ‘n’ blades ‘n’ foam ‘n’ stuff.

What we need is a club. Some sort of body that sends me the bumpf I need to shed the bum fluff. And if the blades are cheaper than what’s currently available, then all the better. And if, as suggested in the ad, we can do away with all that 3, 4, 5 and 16 blade nonsense, then I think we’ve got ourselves a holy grail of the shave.

In a nutshell, The One Dollar Shave Club is a game changer because:

• It’s changing the way we consume our shaving stuff
• It’s putting the kibosh on years of re-marketing (the multi-blade nonsense)
• It’s big, brash and bold enough to get millions on side, quick sharp.

Now that’s what you call sharp.  And no real need for any of that cussing!

In the true spirit of direct marketing, this Leeds agency is conducting a good ole split test to see which approach gets more response – all in the great cause of Movember too.

Will the bristling animated gif garner more response or will the tried and trusted well-brushed jPeg persuade mo people to donate a couple of nuggets to a very worthy cause?

Answers carved on an oak tree in true manly fashion early after the close of Movember-ish.

November each year, Movember is responsible for the sprouting of moustaches on thousands of men’s faces in the UK and around the world. The aim is to raise vital funds and awareness for men’s health, specifically prostate cancer and other cancers that affect men - so any donation, however manly or not-so manly, you can make to The Woolly Jumpers is greatly appreciated. After all, you’d be helping a brilliant cause and we’d like to think we’re not walking around like total tools for nothing!

Well not really, because this little beauty got my attention for all the wrong reasons. Quite simply I recognised the Santander name and the picture of Lewis Hamilton next to his McLaren racing car.

But that was it.

Scattered around these images is a mixture of corporate marketing messages that, to cut a long story short, say nothing. Too many messages with no point!

Bearing in mind I was passing this site at 30mph, in order of prominence the messages read as follows:

‘The start of something new in business banking’ – great I thought, we’re a new business and we could really do with something new to help us, so what is it?

‘A new approach to business banking’ – yep you already told me that. You got my attention, now tell me what’s new?

‘Join the team that shares your drive’- well I’ll be driving right past in about half a second so what’s the point?

‘Driven to do better’ – sorry you’ve lost me now, I’m just pulling into the office car park.

‘Value from ideas’ – forget it guys, the kettle’s on. And, as a concerned direct marketing professional, my blood is boiling at the money you’ve invested in this without giving it any discernible chance of a return!

So why such poor creative and ineffective use of media space from such a high-profile brand with a huge marketing team?

Well my guess is this is a classic case of the European marketing team insisting that the UK team toe the line and make use of every brand positioning line they’ve ever come up with, cobbled together with the latest sponsorship photos that they’ll have paid a bucket full of money for. Phew… deep breath… and relax. Well, it might work in Europe (although that’s probably doing the whole of the European banking audience a huge injustice) but in our experience as a direct response agency, that kind of wishy-washy messaging certainly won’t do the business with UK punters.

The frustrating thing is, having had a look at the Santander B2B marketing website, they actually have a good proposition with some great offers. If only they could be single-minded when they communicate this. Maybe I’m doing them an injustice (I seem to be full of them today) and these messages are being delivered using highly targeted direct marketing campaigns – all whilst being supported by this high-profile brand awareness advertising. Unfortunately, I’ve not been the recipient of any of this, so I’ll never know.

Could we do any better?

Well, we’re an agency, so we’re cocky enough to think we can – even if we are based in Leeds, a far cry from the dram glam of London marketing circles – or European circles, for that matter. We recently created a campaign for a division of ING, another large European bank. Like Santander, they have also sponsored an F1 team, but have had the sense to allow the UK marketing team the freedom to create more relevant and targeted B2B campaigns with messaging targeted, and more importantly, relevant, to their audience. This direct marketing campaign created by Jump below contains messaging that’s all based entirely on the proposition we conceived, which was simple:

‘Now arranging your car is as easy as ordering your favourite takeaway.’

Probably the most important element of the previous sentence is the word, ‘simple’ which, I’m afraid I’m not getting from the Santander example above. This campaign is currently ongoing and we’re confident of delivering a higher return on our client’s marketing investment.

If you’d like to ensure not only that the opportunity to get your message across isn’t lost, but also that you do get a return on your marketing investment, then give me a call on 0113 397 1310 or email me now.

And, to someone who’s been in need of a couple of portions of the red stuff myself on more than one occasion, the festive blood bags are a little stroke of design genius. Created by Helsinki-based designer Lee Ki Seung, they are the perfect example of implementing a design solution in order to solve a specific problem; that of general apathy towards giving up a little time – and little a drop of life-giving tomato ketchup.

These bags embody the spirit of warmth, fun and of course, giving at Christmas and show how design can be used to not only persuade people, but also to change lives.

Read more here on Lee’s personal site.

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This little old agency from Leeds sure is; Pantone Christmas baubles from Selab Studio for Italian design team Seletti.

Don’t hang around, get yours now!

“Make it absolutely bl**din’ obvious.”

“I want my customers under no illusion whatsoever…”

…and

“I want nothing clever. I want a sledgehammer of a message.”

…are just some of the phrases you may be familiar with, either as a member of a modern Marketing Department or as a marketing supplier.

But isn’t there enough room in the marketing world to take a step back and look at things from the other side? For me, as a brand response agency, we have an absolute duty to do so on behalf of our clients.

We should remember that we are not marketing to numbers; to target groups; to demographics.

We are marketing to people.

And people are a funny old bunch. They’re fickle. They’re opinionated. They’re prone to hate and susceptible to love. And that’s just the tip of the human iceberg.

So use a battering ram on people too many times and they may also be prone to turning their back on you; at the very least, putting up more of a defence against your not-so-subtle advances.

Too much sledgehammer messaging can smack of desperation; perhaps even disrespecting the potential customer.

Subtlety can remove the aroma of desperation your brand may give off. Subtlety can put the power back in the customer’s hands. In fact, if you have the confidence to let the customer make those associations and complete some of the mental leaps it can appeal to the customer’s intellect, not to mention their ego.

That ‘people’ thing again.

Subtlety can make your prospect an insider on the deal; it can turn a cold, blaring message into a warm welcome and it can turn ‘selling’ on its head.

For good.

How many times have you heard the best salespeople are the ones who don’t make you feel you’re being sold to? They’re the ones who just talk to you. The ones who listen.

Still not sure subtlety can work for your brand? Then take subtlety to the nth degree and you’re talking subliminal. Now take a look at this great piece of footage of Derren Brown working his subliminal messaging magic on a couple of creative advertising guys and it may change your perception.

Power of Subliminal Messages- Derren Brown from Michael Arbach on Vimeo.

Am I suggesting that we throw simple and direct out of the window in favour of 100% subtlety? No. Because people are people, they’ll respond more to the rise and fall of a brand’s communication; the ebb and flow of its timbre.

And because response comes through stimulating dialogue, when it comes to helping them decide which way to act, a healthy mix of direct messaging and subtlety will leave your customers under no illusion.

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Read why here and Larner’s thoughts (and those of others) on his latest Drum blog.

Is your smartphone or tablet cram-packed with more apps than contacts? Are they really all that indispensable? Any gaps in your life which could be filled with an insightfully thought-through app to help you cope with the pressures and people around you?

Larner’s latest post for The Drum is up now.

Technology helps mobile phone brands get over 5.3 billion people connected – that’s currently 77% of the world’s population.

It helps UPS parcel service deliver nearly 16 million packages or documents a day.

And it helps you read the Jump blog on your weapon of choice, wherever you happen to be.

There’s no doubting technology’s vital role in furthering a brand’s success in today’s get-it-now world.

But when that technology takes the hit for a brand failing in its offering it takes a little piece of the brand credibility with it.

Case in point: I just purchased a present for my good lady from Comet online. I’m already getting grief that I made my purchase too late; I made the purchase last Wednesday, my wife’s birthday was on the following Monday.

But in my defence, I knew Comet did next day delivery – another thing we’ve to be grateful to technology for.

Those of you with a sharp eye for customer service can probably guess the rest.

The parcel hadn’t arrived at the office by 5:15pm Thursday. I called Comet and spoke to a customer service rep who explained that the sales purchase page had not loaded properly so they had no record of a planned delivery.

The ‘sales service page’, ay?

Could I have it Friday then?

“Well, because you’ve left it so late to call, you have now missed the delivery slot for tomorrow.”

Cue a certain amount of incandescence on my part, mixed, in no small way with a drop of fear that my missus would be bereft of birthday giftage, together with 5 minutes of wrangling about what I could do to retrieve victory from the jaws of defeat.

After eventually getting the poor bloke to organise a Saturday delivery with Parcelforce, I asked, since it was Saturday, if the parcel could be left with any one of three neighbours?

“It’s not Parcelforce policy. It depends on the driver so it could be fifty fifty.”

Could I leave them my mobile number so they could get in touch?

“Drivers don’t tend to call up.” (Seems technology isn’t the cure-all panacea it may purport to be, then.)

So it’s in the lap of the Delivery Gods?

“Basically, YES.”

Because of your brand’s cock up?

(AND HERE’S THE RUB:)

“It’s nobody’s fault.”

“The page didn’t load up properly.”

“It was a system error.”

And for me, that’s where brands are falling, miserably, flat on their faceless faces: accountability.

It’s not the mistake. We all make mistakes.

It’s how that minor hiccup is then dealt with.

The trouble is people buy from people. Have done since the wheel came around.

And brands aren’t just logos. They’re a combination of many different attributes, not least the people who work for them and lead them.

And if brands continue to treat people like robots in relying on technology as the fall guy, sorry fall bot, then that’s all that will be left. No customers. No people who are able to think for themselves and put their hard-earned cash wherever they’re free to choose.

Because, in the main, people are reasonable. They don’t want blood. They don’t want a customer service rep’s head on a platter.

I’m certainly not interested in a half-baked apology on behalf of the company from a some poor soul who isn’t culpable.

They just want an honest explanation; a personal apology and people who, when they say they’ll try harder next time, they can believe in those people.

And the brand they represent.

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And could you predict which are the 22 most trusted brands in Europe this year?

Larner’s latest post for The Drum is up now.