As I read that while sitting on a local train (I had missed the express train by a few minutes, much to my chagrin), it struck me as clever copy and even placement (I think that Conill handles their creative while MV42 does their media). The creative ties in nicely to the placement and to the product benefit (although the more strict grammarians among us would have requested the copy read “ir en el expreso” as the correct way to phrase it). It works nicely, in any language. Here’s a bad picture of the ad.

Continental Airlines Hispanic OOH

What was more interesting to me, however, was the tagline. I had never read the Continental Airlines tagline in Spanish before. It’s “Trabajar con Empeño. Viajar con Pasión.” The English-language tagline for Continental is “Work Hard. Fly Right.” which supposedly came from their CEO during an speech to employees and it was adopted as the tagline for the company.

In English, the tagline never said much to me. It felt obvious that it was a non-consumer statement being slapped on ads. I don’t feel it communicates much to a consumer. However, in Spanish, the adaptation of the tagline works much better. It loosely translates to “(To) Work with Determination. (To) Fly with Passion.” First of all, the choice of words really resonates with me and I think with consumers in general.

The word “empeño” is particularly interesting here. It’s a great word in Spanish and it means so much. It encapsulates the concept of striving, working hard, determination, insistence, and making an effort. To me that is a much richer concept than plain “work hard.” Then there’s the word “pasión” that is so relevant to Hispanics, but also so much more human, warm, and emotional for consumers in general that the English-language “fly right” (what does that mean, anyway?), at least in my opinion.

So, kudos to Continental Airlines. If I was your target, you got me. And by the way, how about working on that English-language tagline a bit?

As I was getting closer to the office, I spotted another example of Hispanic-targeted OOH. This one was a Bud Light billboard for its Bud Light Lime flavor. What was interesting about it is that Lime was adapted to “limón” in Spanish. It’s not that “limón” is incorrect. Au contraire, it shows  deep undersanding of the target consumer.

In the countries from where most US Hispanics hail, the small green citrus fruit is called “limón” and the larger more-elongated yellow citrus fruit is called “lima.” Go figure. Still, kudos to Bud Light for picking up on that.

This time, the research study mentioned by author Brian Steinberg hails from IAG Research and found a few interesting tidbits of information. First and most concerning is that “people who use DVRs have one-third less general recall of commercials than people who watch the ads on live TV.” That’s right: one third. That’s in stark contrast to the finding by the NBC Universal TV Research folks that says that the drop in ad effectiveness in households with DVRs is slight. “Consider the source,” I said before.

According to estimates by Interpublic’s Magna Global, DVR subscribers will number almost 40 million (34% of US households) by the end of 2011. Further, the article notes that “already, a Nielsen study of the 2006-2007 TV season finds that ‘nearly all the viewing declines in live TV can be attributed to the increase in DVR use.’ And that’s with 97% of prime time viewing still occurring live.” That’s not an insignificant impact for a device that is currently in about 20 million homes.

As I’ve said before, it is incumbent on us to figure out how to get our consumers to engage with our message before it’s too late. The days of disrupting and interrupting the target to feed her our message are quickly coming to an end. Enter the days of getting consumers to seek out your message. That’s a paradigm shift that few are prepared to surmount. It’s about using other channels but also about using all channels (yes, even television) differently. Are we ready?

The research study’s second finding noted by the article is that contrary to conventional wisdom, the place for your TV spot to be is not the first position in the pod, but rather the last. Ad recall in DVR homes was found to be highest for those that run last in the commercial break. Why? I can tell you from personal experience. It’s easy to notice that a commercial break is starting (and thus you hit the fast forward button on your TiVo remote) but it’s difficult to figure out when it ends (especially when in fast forward mode). Since I don’t want to miss any part of the show I’m watching, I tend to stop early and catch the last spot in the pod.

Can last-in-pod positions exclusively be bought? At least in the general market, that’s a delicate situation. Networks have tended to parcel out first and last positions across clients to keep everyone happy and not rock any boats. What will happen when everyone starts clamoring for last positions? Perhaps we’ll end up with many more commercial breaks (kind of like the Oprah show) that are one minute long, offering only first and last positions to advertisers.

A third finding that may spark some controversy according to the author can be summarized as “creativity works.” As the article puts it, ads with more “‘creative’ flair tend to be better recalled by DVR viewers.” The author notes that this finding dovetails nicely with the network executives position that while they have to figure out a way to address these issues, advertisers have to do their part by improving their ads.

I also addressed this point in an earlier post on the DVR issue. We have to give consumers what they want, what they will seek. Great creative will find an audience or an audience will find it. It’s encouraging to hear that great creative is still very much a critical part of our craft. The bar continues to be raised, though, and it’s up to us to keep jumping over it time and time again.

You can read the article in full (heads up: subscription may be required).

So here are his tips, with my editorial thrown in. By the way, the article really should have been called “A Copywriter’s Spin on The Elements of Style” since, as everyone knows, book titles should be set in italics. But I digress.

1. Put The Reader First. This tip simply reminds the writer to mind his or her reader. Focus on what you want to communicate and to whom, then do so clearly. Overall, you should ask yourself if the writing clearly communicated to the intended audience in the most relevant, clear, and effective way possible.
2. Organize Your Thoughts. This is a no-brainer, of course, but so often forgotten. I’ve seen many people at all levels just start writing. Some start up PowerPoint and start drafting a deck, for example. You should have (at least in your head) at least an outline of what you’re going to communicate and arrange your thoughts accordingly before you put fingers to keyboard.
3. Use Short Paragraphs. This also is not that difficult and it’s related to the one preceding it. Shorter paragraphs, driven by good organization, are easier to consume and understand. They also force you to be efficient with your writing. Try to keep your prose chunked to small paragraphs.
4. Use Short Sentences. Same as above. Try to keep sentences short and tight, with one clear thought. It will make it easier for your readers to follow your writing.
5. Be Specific. Why say the shoot will take several days when you know it will take four days? Why quote the client “about $10M” if you know it’s actually $9,765? If you know the specifics, use them (you know you’ll have to do it later anyway).
6. Be Clear. I know this sounds redundant, but it deserves its own point. If what you’re thinking in your head doesn’t make it unscathed into your reader’s head, you have not achieved your objective. Look critically at what you write (before pressing “Send”) and edit yourself ruthlessly. If it’s not as clear as it can possibly be, rework it.

A very good and short book on writing that everyone should own is The Elements of Style by Strunk and White and it’s available from Amazon here for under ten bucks, last time I checked.