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Ironic Ad

BigfishDM

BigfishDM

Merchant Member
I am tinkering with different advertisement ideas on some of our new materials and wanted to throw this out there. Its a retro ad obviously and I thought it was clever, it still needs some work but I wanted to see what you guys thought. We are still putting together the videos for this one, super exciting material.

xbaseretro.jpg
 
C

ColoPrinthead

Guest
I think it looks good, I just don't like the text hitting the woman's foot/ankle on the first page.
 
Marlene

Marlene

New Member
as a woman in the sign business, I am sick of seeing half dressed boobie girls in ads. I like many others in the biz had to deal with breaking into a man's world and getting the same respect men get. back in the late 80's and early 90's we "girls" were often asked if there was a man a customer to talk to as they thought we were just there to answer the phone. with that said I do get the vintage look of your boobie girl but it made me stop and not bother to read what it was that you were selling. there are a bunch of ads in trade mags with women drapped over a plotter or printer and I also find myself jsut flipping the page and ignoring the ad.
 
Gino

Gino

Premium Subscriber
I think the first one is just too many words piled together and it makes it hard to read or get interested. Ya tend to skim over it. The second one, you at least have bullets and the monotony is broken up. As for girls, it's something done around the entire planet. I don't particularly like it either, but it is what it is. It beats seeing some starving kid from India or somewhere to get your attention. Or those commercials with the abused animals. Honestly, I don't think you need a gimmick like that, but emotions is what sells, I guess.
 
thinksigns

thinksigns

SnowFlake
I'm sure its going over my head, but why are you using a "retro" theme when you are talking about your product being the "future"?

Edit, just noticed your post title, so it was over my head. I don't really like the theme though. Maybe a robot pinup?
 
BigfishDM

BigfishDM

Merchant Member
Gino said:
I think the first one is just too many words piled together and it makes it hard to read or get interested. Ya tend to skim over it. The second one, you at least have bullets and the monotony is broken up. As for girls, it's something done around the entire planet. I don't particularly like it either, but it is what it is. It beats seeing some starving kid from India or somewhere to get your attention. Or those commercials with the abused animals. Honestly, I don't think you need a gimmick like that, but emotions is what sells, I guess.
Click to expand...

Very valid points and thank you for your input, I will have it re-worked! I will drop the whole pinup girl idea and maybe do the robot thing instead.
 
printhog

printhog

New Member
like many of my posts here... TL;DR. lol.. but seriously you asked for input.. its too long and I didnt read... here goes:

Time the ads copy - just copy and paste your ads raw text to: Script Timer - Words to Time Calculator | Edge Studio

That'll time the ad out for you.
Magazine ad? flyer? You've only got 10 seconds to get your points out. so..

Show the product in use!
Show the product in use!
Show the product in use! (vs some art that is irrelevant).

cut the wording by 80%.

Im guessing a picture of a project scheduling wall or a photo showing the material in use in some way. If I cant imagine how to use it my clients cant either.
And I certainly wont buy a roll of something that I dont understand.
Bullet point the uses that SIGN CUSTOMERS will have for it. SELL TO MY CUSTOMERS, NOT ME.

Avoid questions like "what is xbase".. and trade specific questions.. tell my client what it does for them and show that. I'll understand as well.

Sell the sizzle, not the unbutchered meat. I'd cut the text, it reads like an engineer wrote it. No offense but terms like "proprietary polyester humma de humma" and run on sentences like "do you love installation and deinstallation...blah blah blah" are flow killers.. save that for the tech bulletin the shops get with a roll.

try things like these:

Want to put graphics on a wall and change them regularly? ok.
Tired of the mess of dry erase? ok
Magnets falling off and getting lost from project boards? hmmm.
Turn a wall into a flow chart in minutes.. oooooh!

each of those could be a cartoon or a photo..

thats my take on it.. maybe i dont understand the material?

Try to coordinate the wording and the imagery to hit the top 3 points of your product's strengths in under 6 seconds. For the whole thing, force it into a 15 second radio ad or elevator pitch using the timer.. if you cant describe its use to the end user in 15 seconds, its too complex.. this is harder than it seems.

Oh and leave out prices, many shops will show your ad to their client before they buy, and no one wants his/her client asking about why $.88 psf material is now $10 psf.. (jeez we're sign people, we make that kind of markup all the time, our other option was investment banking, but profits were too low)
 
Johnny Best

Johnny Best

Active Member
printhog said:
like many of my posts here... TL;DR. lol.. but seriously you asked for input.. its too long and I didnt read... here goes:

Time the ads copy - just copy and paste your ads raw text to: Script Timer - Words to Time Calculator | Edge Studio

That'll time the ad out for you.
Magazine ad? flyer? You've only got 10 seconds to get your points out. so..

Show the product in use!
Show the product in use!
Show the product in use! (vs some art that is irrelevant).

cut the wording by 80%.

Im guessing a picture of a project scheduling wall or a photo showing the material in use in some way. If I cant imagine how to use it my clients cant either.
And I certainly wont buy a roll of something that I dont understand.
Bullet point the uses that SIGN CUSTOMERS will have for it. SELL TO MY CUSTOMERS, NOT ME.

Avoid questions like "what is xbase".. and trade specific questions.. tell my client what it does for them and show that. I'll understand as well.

Sell the sizzle, not the unbutchered meat. I'd cut the text, it reads like an engineer wrote it. No offense but terms like "proprietary polyester humma de humma" and run on sentences like "do you love installation and deinstallation...blah blah blah" are flow killers.. save that for the tech bulletin the shops get with a roll.

try things like these:

Want to put graphics on a wall and change them regularly? ok.
Tired of the mess of dry erase? ok
Magnets falling off and getting lost from project boards? hmmm.
Turn a wall into a flow chart in minutes.. oooooh!

each of those could be a cartoon or a photo..

thats my take on it.. maybe i dont understand the material?

Try to coordinate the wording and the imagery to hit the top 3 points of your product's strengths in under 6 seconds. For the whole thing, force it into a 15 second radio ad or elevator pitch using the timer.. if you cant describe its use to the end user in 15 seconds, its too complex.. this is harder than it seems.

Oh and leave out prices, many shops will show your ad to their client before they buy, and no one wants his/her client asking about why $.88 psf material is now $10 psf.. (jeez we're sign people, we make that kind of markup all the time, our other option was investment banking, but profits were too low)
Click to expand...

Your telling the guy to cut down on the wording and it takes you 14 paragraphs to say it. TL;DR. back at ya.
 
BigfishDM

BigfishDM

Merchant Member
printhog said:
like many of my posts here... TL;DR. lol.. but seriously you asked for input.. its too long and I didnt read... here goes:

Time the ads copy - just copy and paste your ads raw text to: Script Timer - Words to Time Calculator | Edge Studio

That'll time the ad out for you.
Magazine ad? flyer? You've only got 10 seconds to get your points out. so..

Show the product in use!
Show the product in use!
Show the product in use! (vs some art that is irrelevant).

cut the wording by 80%.

Im guessing a picture of a project scheduling wall or a photo showing the material in use in some way. If I cant imagine how to use it my clients cant either.
And I certainly wont buy a roll of something that I dont understand.
Bullet point the uses that SIGN CUSTOMERS will have for it. SELL TO MY CUSTOMERS, NOT ME.

Avoid questions like "what is xbase".. and trade specific questions.. tell my client what it does for them and show that. I'll understand as well.

Sell the sizzle, not the unbutchered meat. I'd cut the text, it reads like an engineer wrote it. No offense but terms like "proprietary polyester humma de humma" and run on sentences like "do you love installation and deinstallation...blah blah blah" are flow killers.. save that for the tech bulletin the shops get with a roll.

try things like these:

Want to put graphics on a wall and change them regularly? ok.
Tired of the mess of dry erase? ok
Magnets falling off and getting lost from project boards? hmmm.
Turn a wall into a flow chart in minutes.. oooooh!

each of those could be a cartoon or a photo..

thats my take on it.. maybe i dont understand the material?

Try to coordinate the wording and the imagery to hit the top 3 points of your product's strengths in under 6 seconds. For the whole thing, force it into a 15 second radio ad or elevator pitch using the timer.. if you cant describe its use to the end user in 15 seconds, its too complex.. this is harder than it seems.

Oh and leave out prices, many shops will show your ad to their client before they buy, and no one wants his/her client asking about why $.88 psf material is now $10 psf.. (jeez we're sign people, we make that kind of markup all the time, our other option was investment banking, but profits were too low)
Click to expand...

All your points are excellent and I will restructure the advertisement. It is a very unique material and very hard to explain, we are making videos as we speak and I am sure it will be easier to understand once it is all done.
 
Logoadv

Logoadv

New Member
Can the advert be printed on the material? Hands on samples make for a nice marketing piece. I agree about cutting down on wording. Also.. "de-installation" = "removal?" that word just seems weird to me.
 
BigfishDM

BigfishDM

Merchant Member
Logoadv said:
Can the advert be printed on the material? Hands on samples make for a nice marketing piece. I agree about cutting down on wording. Also.. "de-installation" = "removal?" that word just seems weird to me.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately you cannot print onto the material, you apply this material to your wall, window, or board and it turns it into a giant release liner so to speak. Once the material is on your wall, you can stick any permanent adhesive vinyl onto it and it will come off like static cling. A sample piece of the white and the clear are sent in a poster tube along with installation instructions.
 
Logoadv

Logoadv

New Member
How about providing a letter size sample of the material with printed vinyl on it then? I actually wonder if you could just sell the material with the vinyl already applied for printing purposes. Maybe only 25yd rolls instead of 50, but then you'd be providing a print ready, one step application process. I don't know why a customer would buy this material and install it the first time without also installing a printed graphic at the same time, so having the two already layered would be a good idea (at least in my head). Then they would just go to you to get the vinyl alone, already knowing that your print vinyl is perfectly matched to the material that makes it removable.
 
BigfishDM

BigfishDM

Merchant Member
Logoadv said:
How about providing a letter size sample of the material with printed vinyl on it then? I actually wonder if you could just sell the material with the vinyl already applied for printing purposes. Maybe only 25yd rolls instead of 50, but then you'd be providing a print ready, one step application process. I don't know why a customer would buy this material and install it the first time without also installing a printed graphic at the same time, so having the two already layered would be a good idea (at least in my head). Then they would just go to you to get the vinyl alone, already knowing that your print vinyl is perfectly matched to the material that makes it removable.
Click to expand...

Actually what goes out is an 8.5"x11" board that has permanent decals on both sides, ones side has X:BASE on it and the other does not. It also comes with a 24"x8' piece of material.

The current solution now is using Magnetic Paint on your wall or an Adhesive Magnetic Base you apply to your wall, then you apply magnetic receptive media on top of the base magnet. This solution is great and very easy to install but the price is not affordable for the masses. X:BASE changes the whole price structure for changeable graphics, it may seem like a high price but compared to magnetics or reusable adhesives is very substantial.

The customer would install X:BASE and their adhesive vinyl at the same time, I do not sell the printing, just the materials so you would provide the client with his prints for his X:BASE wall. Once we have the video done it should make more sense.
 
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