By Keeping the Consumer Guessing, Teaser Ads Flirt With Danger
That splotchy red birthmark across Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev’s forehead might not seem like the sort of thing you’d expect to see advertised on a billboard--or across the side of a bus. But, by golly, it’s all over town. And next to the familiar forehead is this cryptic clue: “More talked about than this.”
The same advertiser posted another billboard with a picture of a wrench that has “Property of the Pentagon” stamped on it. The only other words on that billboard: “A better bargain than this.”
Nowhere on either of the billboards is the advertiser named. In fact, there are now 2,000 billboards, bus shelters and bus sides in the Los Angeles market with the ads. It ranks among the largest outdoor-ad campaigns ever undertaken in Los Angeles.
So why isn’t the advertiser identifying itself?
“It’s a visual tease,” said Cynthia Neiman, marketing manager at the Torrance office of Ikea, the Swedish contemporary home furnishings chain that plans to open its first West Coast store in Burbank next month. “When you see the pictures, they force you to think.”
Ikea, which plans to open four more stores in Southern California over the next year, has begun slapping its name on all of the billboards and posters. Its offbeat campaign is a form of so-called teaser advertising that attempts to get consumers involved with its ads by holding back information. The object is to attract attention by keeping the consumer guessing.
Recently, the Los Angeles market has seen a slew of teaser campaigns. They are most commonly used when big retailers enter a new market--or for major movie openings. Silo, a home electronics chain new to the West Coast, warned in teaser TV, radio and print ads earlier this month that “Silos are coming to protect the Southland.” Also, the makers of the films “Hunt for Red October,” “Darkman,” “Dick Tracy” and “Batman” relied on teaser ads.
But teaser ads are not just fun and games. They are fraught with risk. Among those risks is disappointment. “You don’t want the consumer’s mind to run wild,” said Tina Kiesler, professor of marketing at USC. “When you find out what the ad is really about, there’s always the potential for a letdown.”
Perhaps the biggest risk of all is throwing money down the drain. “Almost no one has enough advertising dollars to be out there without saying who you are and what you sell,” said Bruce Silverman, president of the Los Angeles agency Asher/Gould, which creates ads for American Suzuki. Yet Silverman said the Ikea and Silo campaigns are effective.
What makes a teaser ad work? “The key is knowing when to get off the tease and get on with the advertising,” said Bill Lane, executive vice president of the West Coast offices of J. Walter Thompson. “With a good teaser campaign, you’ve got the consumers’ eyes and ears.”
The Ikea campaign is the brainchild of the Los Angeles ad firm Stein Robaire Helm. “Everything on the boards relates to Ikea and reflects what the company is all about,” said agency President Greg Helm. The firm oversaw the purchase of outdoor advertising that includes 800 billboards, 600 bus sides and 250 bus shelters.
Silo also embraced teaser ads. The home electronics chain is new to the West Coast, but it is a very familiar name in the Midwest. In order to grab attention, the chain ran a large numbers of teaser ads--playing on the idea of housing nuclear missiles in silos--that said Silos were being built here in “densely populated” areas “to protect the Southland.”
The ads gave a toll-free number to call for more information. Within six days, the company received 25,000 calls. Callers--many of whom feared that missile silos were being built near their homes--were told that it was Silo stores that would “protect” them from high prices.
“This is the entertainment capital of the world. So ads here have to be entertaining in order to get noticed here,” explained Stan Becker, vice chairman of Saatchi & Saatchi DFS/Pacific Advertising, which created the Silo campaign.
Teaser ads, however, can cause unexpected problems. Not everyone liked being fooled by the Silo ads. Seventy-two callers complained to the company about the campaign.
Then, just days after the campaign broke, Silo quickly pulled the ads for several days after an experimental missile exploded at Edwards Air Force Base, killing a civilian employee.
Perhaps no industry uses more teaser ads than the film business. In January, a teaser campaign for “The Hunt for Red October” began to show up on billboards all over Los Angeles. The boards simply said, “The hunt is on.”
Because the film opened in March, which is usually a slow time in the film business, the studio decided that a teaser campaign would build interest. It worked. The film took in $120 million in domestic box office receipts in 1990.
“The film business is a business of events,” explained Barry L. London, president of the Motion Picture Group at Paramount. “You try to create an event whenever you can.”
Latino Agency Wins More B of A Work
It recently created ads promoting special bilingual checks at Bank of America. The success of that campaign last week resulted in the Los Angeles office of the Latino agency Font & Vaamonde winning the Spanish-language advertising business for Bank of America.
The size of the business, which was previously handled by Bermudez Associates, was not revealed.
Bank of America now ranks as the largest account at the agency’s 2-year-old office, which also creates Spanish-language ads for Warner Bros. and several Procter & Gamble products.
Carnation Business Has Really Blossomed
It all began six years ago when the Los Angeles agency Dailey & Associates picked up a tiny piece of Carnation Co.’s business. Last week, Dailey was handed an estimated $15 million in new business from the Los Angeles-based maker of products ranging from Friskies Dry Cat Food to Carnation Instant Breakfast. That made Carnation the agency’s largest client.
“We’re more like a New York agency,” said Clifford Einstein, president and creative director of the firm. “People come to us to build brands.”
Although Einstein declined to reveal the size of the Carnation business, he estimated that his firm now creates ads for more than 80% of Carnation’s products. The 22-year-old agency also creates ads for E&J; Gallo Winery and the California Lottery.
Mendelsohn/Zien Gets Yonex’s Golf Account
Pardon the executives at the Mendelsohn/Zien agency if they don’t know whether to suit up for tennis or golf.
The sports equipment maker Yonex Corp. handed the Los Angeles agency its $3-million golf equipment ad business last week. It was previously handled by Evans Advertising. Mendelsohn/Zien already handles Yonex’s tennis equipment business, bringing its total Yonex billings to $5 million annually.
With this win--and other new business expected to be announced shortly--agency President Richard Zien said he is hunting for several new creative and advertising account employees.
Magazine Day Event to Focus on Environment
Green used to be the color of money. Now it’s the color of environmental concern. And environmental issues will top the agenda at the annual Magazine Day seminar hosted by the Advertising Club of Los Angeles on Nov. 14 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.
The theme of the seminar, “Magazines Make Things Happen,” will feature authorities on the environment and on print advertising. Gilbert Grosvenor, chairman of the National Geographic Society, will moderate a panel discussion on the environment. The seminar, which costs $45 for members and $55 for non-members, will include two morning sessions and a noon luncheon.
