Blog 9: Absolut-ly Unique

          

  In chapter six, Ten Housewives in Des Moines: The Perils of Researching Rough

Creative Ideas, Steel re-emphasizes the fact that the only opinion that matters is the opinion of the consumer, while he suggests that the most important factor is that whatever form the stimulus material takes, it should be capable of communicating the idea. In chapter ten, Bruce discusses writing strategy and the formats that can be used.

            In chapter 10, Bruce introduces the readers to the BBDO System which consists of: 1. Know your prime prospect, 2. Know your prime prospect’s problem and 4. Break the boredom barrier. Although an emphasis is always placed on obtaining and maintaining the attention of the consumer, I found it interesting that BBDO actually has a step titled, “Break the boredom.” By including this in one of the strategy models, BBDO allows the account planners to be creative and create an idea that could ‘break boredom.’ Therefore I decided to focus my example on this particular part of the BBDO system.

            An interesting ‘boredom-breaking’ strategy I found was that done by the strategists for Absolut Unique Vodka. Bruce mentions that BBDO calls this approach, “imagery that works” and Absolut took this to heart. The account planners/strategists found a “loose-end” and decided to close it. In the alcohol industry every bottle created within that year is exactly the same as the one next to it, it takes years, sometimes decades to do a bottle redesign, well the account planners found this as an opportunity to appeal more to their target audience. They came up with the idea to create a unique pattern to every single bottle produced for the rest of the year, beginning in September.  The idea became that having the same bottle as the guy next door is boring, and having a one-of-kind is fun and refreshing. By introducing the idea that every single bottle is like a fingerprint, none are the same, the planners hoped would appeal to the need of being independent and the feeling of buying a truly special bottle would thrive in the market.