Tiptoeing Toward a Big Idea

When I visited Bounce's Web site I made several interesting discoveries: For one, there was a “cleverest story sweepstakes.” Out of all the stories submitted, one entrant was chosen each week to receive a months' free maid service and possibly be featured in a Bounce print ad. There was a kind of game in which the visitor rated past “clever stories” and the highest-rated one was featured each day on the Web site. And although I didn't count them all, there appeared to be the staggering number of 1,444 stories displayed.

For my makeover I decided to make more use of this treasure trove, customer comments that'd barely been hinted at in the original ad.

The headline I developed was “What's your clever use of Bounce?” Right away this tells Bounce customers there are other uses for the product they might not know about. It invites them to learn more and get personally involved.

Then the subhead immediately mentions the sweepstakes. There's something more attractive about this sweeps than meets the eye: In a world of multimillion-dollar lottery prizes, a chance to win free maid service for a month may seem like a trifle not worth bothering with. But there's a paradox here. The smaller the reward, the more attainable it may seem. “I could never win a million dollars, but what the heck, even I might win a little prize like this.” Especially since it involves an element of skill, in the form of a well-described clever product use. And the idea of free maid service has an emotional content, suggesting sympathy for hard-working moms who can't afford a house cleaner.

This is followed by panels displaying the names, pictures and stories of five winners. These serve a dual purpose. They open the reader's eyes to additional uses of Bounce. And equally important, they tantalize the reader with something almost more important than a monetary prize — namely, the chance to win that “15 minutes of fame” that everyone dreams of. (For this reason, I have dummied in head shots instead of thematic thumbnails for each story. I think most featured winners would like to see their photo as well as their name displayed. And it does add human interest.)

The fact there are five winning stories instead of one promotes five different ways to use Bounce and suggests that the reader has five times as many chances of being featured as a winner in the next print ad.

Then I conclude by spelling out the sweepstakes details and clearly displaying the Web site address.

All this would do more than increase Bounce use by present customers and expand sales to them; it might also attract a great many new customers who're bored with typical brand advertising for products they've never bothered with, but who in this case might reconsider and try Bounce because of its versatility.

It you are a brand or service advertiser, your best customers know, appreciate and can sell your product even better than you can. Part of your advertising challenge, then, is to find creative ways for these folks to do that job for you.

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THOMAS L. COLLINS (thomas.l.collins@verizon.net) has been a direct marketing copywriter, ad maker, agency creative director and co-author of four books on marketing. He is currently an independent creative and marketing consultant based in Portland, OR.

Find more Makeover Maven columns at http://directmag.com/opinions-columnists/makeovermaven/.