The Star Tribune Interview

The Star Tribune Interview

Chris Birt?has written a book about generating brand awareness without much advertising. He has also worked tirelessly in the past year on various ventures, “an illusory partnership in health care and a very real new effort in AI,” according to Birt.?

I caught up with him to talk about the first edition of his book, which he has since turned into a series of seminars.?

Q: What inspired you to write “Awareness Without Advertising”?

A: I’ve long believed that advertising is about talk value, yet brands don’t really get that. If you create advertising that has talk value, you don’t have to pay the media companies to run it for you. My brand of work, my whole career, is based on creating advertising that people talk about. You’ve covered … a campaign I had [for a local brewery] with a fake Italian model, Lorenzo Lucid. Women made marriage proposals to him. I finally had to blow his cover.

I had another ad you covered when the Minnesota Lynx were getting going. This is back when they had about 1,000 people in the stands. Oops, wait, I suppose I shouldn’t say that … My whole idea was that women can play a fierce game of basketball. So I created an ad where I compared?Seimone Augustus?to?Michael Jordan?by saying, “Think Michael Jordan post-op.” I did get in trouble for that,?but?the ticket sells went up, the walk-up traffic went up 41 percent. It’s whatever you can do to get the message out.

Q: A piece of advice for someone who wants more media attention?

A: Instead of thinking about what makes your product different, think in terms of how you can fit your message into a conversation already being had out there. This Gillette ad, with the toxic masculinity, now every time I shave I’m saving a woman’s bottom from being patted … When brand has buzz that’s advertising that’s free … When you strike a nerve with something like that, people talk about it.

Q: That was a good message Gillette decide to piggyback on, so I was surprised there was any criticism of it.

A: [Laugh] People think advertising is about products and whatnot. No, no, no. Advertising is about the zeitgeist. It’s literally about social issues, the conversation that’s happening out there. Politics are a quintessential example of what I’m talking about. There are people on the right, on the left, people who are closed-minded, people who are open-minded. I’m sure they [Gillette] anticipated blowback.

Q: Blowback creates buzz?

A: It does … I was at a Silicon Valley conference a few months ago where [someone said] the internet is nothing but a giant conversation. Your goal as a brand or company is to become part of that conversation. That’s where I get the idea for my campaigns. That validated everything I have been saying for the past 15 years, and that’s, I think, when people in Minnesota started listening to me.

Sometimes brands here locally have been a little reticent to push the envelope of doing buzzy work because they are afraid there might be blowback. My thinking is the risk is that nobody talks about you. There is a new trend in the media now they are calling “brand bravery.” It doesn’t always have to be a social position. I did a campaign for the Minneapolis Public Library which helped them raise like tons of money. I said, “You’ve got to tap into the fact that librarians are actually kind of sexy.” That’s probably kind of sexist to say that.

Q: It’s not sexist if you say both the men and the women are sexy.

A: They both are … I talked about all the people who were librarians and that they were change-makers.

Q: What do you think of the concept of “influencers”?

A: The deal is quid pro quo. If everyone can be an influencer, then no one has real influence. In targeted areas, however, you should look at buying their audiences just like you would a website or a magazine. I use tapinfluence.com





要查看或添加评论,请登录

Chris Birt的更多文章

  • They Shoot Maseratis, Don't They?

    They Shoot Maseratis, Don't They?

    Elvis Presley had a thing for Italian sports cars (among other drugs). A certain urban legend holds that he once…

  • The Growth Hacking Game

    The Growth Hacking Game

    A good way to get your mind into Growth Hacking is to consider branding itself as an extension of hacking by other…

  • Now on AudioBooks.

    Now on AudioBooks.

    A year ago to this day "Awareness Without Advertising" was STILL at #3 on the Amazon Best-Seller list in Public…

  • "Anal"-lytics.

    "Anal"-lytics.

    PESO Analytics How much awareness do you need to accomplish your business goals? The answer to this question is…

  • The Perils of Page Layout

    The Perils of Page Layout

    Everything but the ink-stained fingers. One of the interesting insights you gain from writing a book is that print, or…

  • How Much Awareness Do You Need?

    How Much Awareness Do You Need?

    P.E.

  • Brand Advocacy, PESO. What it is and what it isn't.

    Brand Advocacy, PESO. What it is and what it isn't.

    The above graph outlines the Omnichannel potential of the PESO approach to media. Brand Advocacy helps you exploit this…

  • The media is the "massage."

    The media is the "massage."

    Separating the Advocacy From the Advocate. We don’t believe you should spend all your money on expensive software to…

  • Why Brand Advocacy is almost free. The discussion continues...

    Why Brand Advocacy is almost free. The discussion continues...

    Chapter One. What Brand Advocacy Is.

  • From Awareness Without Advertising

    From Awareness Without Advertising

    The Online Generation Gap There is a tendency for those who came of age in web 2.0 to think of digital marketing as…

社区洞察

其他会员也浏览了