When you’ve been around as long as we have, you tend to get accolades from all over the place. Most recently, through the agency search site designrush.com. They found us and want you to find us, too.
That’s all well and good, but almost all of our business comes from referrals. So keep telling your business friends about JSH&P. We’ll check and see if these guys send any business our way!
JacksonSpencer (aka JSH&P) was founded to provide world-class advertising, marketing and design services to smaller businesses who can’t afford the “big boys”. It’s also the way that I can support myself and my family.
“Do really great work and the rest will take care of itself.”
That’s really been the motto of the firm. It’s nice, then, when other groups, firms and individuals take notice of that work and give kudos.
We recently received another award, this time from The Small Business Excellence Awards program as being a top Wisconsin ad agency. And to that, we say, “thank you.”
And know what? We’ll keep up the good work.
We have a food proof system that helps businesses get on the right path for their marketing — called Powerline.
You’ve heard of elevator pitches and Unique Selling Propositions, but “a Powerline is a USP on steroids.” Perhaps the best way to explain it, is to document the most famous ad campaign of the last 50 years…
“Got Milk?” is arguably, the world’s most memorable marketing campaign. Fashioned in 1993 by Goodby, Silverstein & Partners for the California Milk Producers, they created a whole new way to think about brand marketing and coined a new term… deprivation marketing.
In essence, what would the world do without your product?
It was a novel concept and one that could have backfired quite easily, but there’s more to milk than meets the eye.* You see, there’s an interesting process we use, called a Powerline, that helps brands determine who they are, who they target and most importantly, why their prospects should even pay attention.
In the case of milk, a commodity that had been sold for decades on “milk is good for you”, started losing marketshare with the introduction of more beverage choices in the 90’s AND confusion in the market place on whether milk was actually good for you. An axiom that was, and continues to be under fire.
The Original Milk Powerline:
CONVINCE moms
THAT they should buy more milk for their families,
BECAUSE it builds strong bones for healthier bodies.
But mom was beginning to question this (from lactose intolerance to anti-milk messaging). So GS&P crafted a very different rationale for California Milk Board consumers…
Here’s the Got Milk? Powerline:
CONVINCE grocery shoppers
THAT they have to put milk in their cart,
BECAUSE without milk, you can’t eat your favorite foods.
Read that again.
It doesn’t say “moms with 2.4 children” or “purchase 6.4 additional quarts of milk”, it just says, someone in the store ready to buy… but might have no interest in putting milk (even a little pint of milk) in their cart or basket. And why would they? Because if you put Oreos or Fruit Loops into that same cart, you can ONLY eat them WITH milk. Milk’s no longer a commodity, but THE brand that makes certain foods taste better! So much better that you can’t even picture having these foods with ANYTHING else. Gatorade on your Frosted Flakes? Orange juice with your Toll House cookies? No way! This single sentence helped marketers of milk focus their attention on who they were attracting and why they would comply.
So what can you do?
Now the trick is to apply this kind of thinking to your own business or brand. Who do you specifically need to reach out to? What should they do? And then, the kicker… why should they believe you?
The CONVINCE line is the hardest to come by. Frankly, it’s why JSH&P gets hired to take on brands. We’re pretty good at deciphering a universal truth about the companies we work with and framing a sentence that gives new life to start-ups and stagnated businesses.
Give it a try, write your own Powerline. You may just have solved the 800-lb. marketing problem that’s been plaguing your team. Want a good place to start? Try your hand at writing your own Powerline and find a universal truth about YOU.
Here’s the very first ad created under this tagline…
*The director of this original commercial was none other than Michael Bay of Transformers fame.
NOTE: The milk mustache campaign was developed by another agency (Bozell) for a slightly different purpose, but recognized the brilliance of the tagline and made it a part of their memorable creative (with the help of Annie Leibovitz photography).
Read more of a “how to” on creating your own Powerline here — an article on LinkedIn.
Getting a handle on your brand is pretty much what we do at JSH&P. Either forming the brand from scratch, or, working to coalesce your existing brand into a stronger, more consistent voice for the best of what your business has to offer.
“Far too many small businesses are working against their own brands by not defining who they are, what they look like and what voice they speak with,” says founder Mike Farley.
Building a brandbook — a simplified version of everything you are — is a great place to get consensus on what makes you – you. From color choices, fonts and logo forms, to advertising, web and promo items. What’s more, it pulls together the thinking behind the sales process as well as offering a pathway to future success.
The biggest secret behind it? Putting a Powerline together is a great start. Ask us more about it.
The image above is a portion of an actual brandbook for JSH&P client Skills Pipeline. Get in touch with Mike Farley to find out how you can benefit from your own and start saving marketing dollars as well as improving the trajectory of your business.
Then, in 2007, the itch of the entrepreneur took hold again and Farley started JacksonSpencer LLC in Cedarburg. It’s there that JSH&P works it’s magic for clients big and small — handling the brand management and leading marketing efforts that not only look good, but add profit to any businesses bottom line.
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