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Chalk One Up For Corporate Advertising

If you are going to mount a traditional advertising campaign, follow the rules completely.

1. Have panache. Assert some personality. Your company has one (hopefully), so what better way to show it than cleverly crafted advertising art?

2. Deliver your message. Enforce the brand image. Show the product. Make them want you.

3. Connect with the audience. Show it at the right time, in the right place. Make sure it is seen by the right people and that it is designed to impact them. No denture ads with buxom young models during Saturday morning cartoons.

4. Follow up. Have a plan to involve your new, interested, taking-time-out-of-my-day-to-wander-around-your-website prospect. Really good offers, thoughtful partnerships, or a payoff are particularly effective here.

All that being said, congratulations to J. C. Penney for their campaign during the MTV Video Music Awards. It exuded persona, showed they can be hip, had interesting and alluring commercials, and was well integrated with the broadcast, both on and off the air.

If you are trying to start a relationship by using the media, take some notes from J. C. Penney's performance, because they nailed it.


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