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Comic #3

Meat and Potatoes of the Newsletter:

How to Win Direct Mail in 2026

Previously, I worked for a direct mail startup where I oversaw 200 accounts who spent more than $250k on direct mail and direct mail software.

Now, I manage a 7 figure direct mail spender.

What Works in Direct Mail?

Exclusive/ Great Offer:

Don’t even bother with direct mail if you don’t have one. A great offer looks like 20% off, a free service with a larger service booked, or a BOGO. It needs be valuable enough in tandem with your product that it makes someone take action.

A BOGO is specifically great for things like ice cream or food where the deal will likely be shared between 2 people. This doubles your foot traffic and the opportunity for word of mouth.

Try framing your offers as exclusive. “Use your $50 gift card before it expires,” or “Existing customers get 20% with code: AGAIN”

Re-Targeting

Re-targeting is a must.

One direct mailer will not work unless you have a spectacular offer and existing brand awareness. Even then, if you’re going to send direct mail, DO IT! Keep sending it month after month to the same people and it will work.

Multi-Channel Re-Targeting

Other household channels like email, streaming (OTT/CTV), display, and audience matching on social media can be effective in solidifying brand awareness in the house. Then, target the mailbox with a great offer or valuable content.

Regional Targeting

Consistently blanketing a region works.

Event promotion, restaurant coupons, and seasonal home service offers are examples of what can work on a monthly/ recurring basis.

Neighborhood divisions, zip codes, school districts, and counties are all common targeting areas.

Direct mail is often regional, but it doesn’t have to be.

What are some strategies that work for national brands?

Data Base Targeting

Obtaining someones address at the same time as a transaction is easy, so do it.

From there, it only costs $0.50 - $2.00 to send a cheap 5x7 reminder up to a personalized “handwritten” (robot written) envelope.

American Giant takes this to the next level.

They send their customers a catalog every Christmas. The catalog matches the quality of their clothing, it must cost them quite a bit. But it feels a bit like getting the toy catalog as an adult.

What is your brands Toy Catalog?

People enjoy skimming through a catalog IF they have signaled themselves as a potential or loyal customer.

Referral Network and Reviews

Direct mail is a great way to drive your referral network and reviews.

A mailer reminding satisfied customers of your referral bonus and a QR code reminding them to leave a 5 star review can go a long way.

Viral Market Targeting

Target ‘viral’ markets and areas that match your brands existing feel/ world.

Ski brands could do this in Crested Butte, camping brands can do this in Duluth, and a streetwear company could do this in Brooklyn.

From here, use known demographics that match your customer base.

By targeting these areas and your target demographic you are inherently hitting innovators, people who lead categories, have audiences, and they influence those around them just by proximity.

Think about where the “coolest” people who might use your brand are. That’s your ‘viral’ market.

Look-alike Audiences

Look-alike audiences find new potential customers that match demographic data from your existing customer archetype. This can be segmented out by age, income, travel frequency, activities, credit card data, and much more.

Physical Content Distribution

I would like to see more brands do this.

Companies like Hubspot are already providing great value to customers and potential customers with their content machines - why not send a physical copy of the content?

People are signing up to hear from you, show up in a way more memorable way than email.

TLDR; Direct mail works. You just need to be consistent and strategic in your targeting methods.

Dessert of the Newsletter

If the article is the meat and potatoes this is the dessert.

My favorite ad this week:

The ad itself isn’t anything special, but it’s the publicity stunt the festival organizers pulled that I want to highlight.

Justin Vernon AKA Bon Iver announced that his “Eaux Claires” festival was returning for the first time since 2018. He’s always performed at the festival in the past, but this year his name wasn’t on the set list. Fans panicked… until they saw “Bon Dylan.”

Justin Vernon will still perform, but he’ll be covering Bob Dylan songs under the stage name “Bon Dylan.”

The stunt attracted a lot of social media attention and sparked conversation in forums like Reddit and even earned media with MSP Mag and Milwaukee Mag.

Side note: I like how all of the artists names are the same size and listed in an equal manner. Doing this also created more buzz and anticipation.

BOOK CLUB

I’m launching an advertising and business themed book club. Please shoot me an email or DM if you’re interested! (David@pothosadvertising.com)

For now I will just share what I’m reading, what I want to read, and I’ll highlight one of my favorite books of all time each newsletter.

CURRENTLY READING
Permission Marketing - Seth Godin (1999)

Project Hail Mary - Andy Weir (2021)

I’m almost finished with this. I can’t wait for the movie!

READING NEXT
Purple Cow - Seth Godin (2002)

The Design of Everyday Things - Don Norman (1988)

Stories That Stick - Kindra Hall (2019)

HIGHLIGHT
Writing That Works - Joel Raphaelson and Kenneth Roman (1992)

Lessons from the book I love:

• Use plain english when explaining complex topics

• Write so you won’t be misunderstood

• Write how you talk

• Remove words you don’t need

• Write short paragraphs and sentences

• Layout is important

Other Substack articles I liked this month:

NextPlay: New Product and Company Ideas

Art Direction Library: Inside Vogue Italia, January 1998

What I’m watching:

Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die: I told you this movie would only return to this section if it was good. Well, here it is. If you like Black Mirror you’ll love this. I thought this movie was going to be the highlight of this section… That was until I saw Train Dreams.

Traitors: The finale of “Traitors” is this week. I’m not a huge fan of reality TV but this game + reality TV’s super stars creates a fun watch.

Train Dreams: This might be the hardest I have ever cried watching a movie. The narration tells such a real story. It explores how technology changes industry, immigration injustice, and leaves you with a desire to live every day to the fullest.

Random Picture(s) from this month:

GUESS THE BRAND

The game where I give you 3-6 words as clues and you “Guess The Brand!”

Star

Land

Slipper

ESPN

Click Here for Answer (posted Wednesday morning)

P.S. Thank you for reading. Please let me know what sections you like and dislike.

It is the week following the Super Bowl. I’d be a pretty crappy ad man if I failed to publish this week.

I talk about my favorite ad during Sundays game somewhere in this newsletter.

Enjoy!

Refer a friend and get a $5 audio or ebook credit!

How to participate:

Use the “Share” button on any post to be automatically credited. Send the post via text, email, or social media.

Comic #2

If you haven’t caught on by now the comics are going to be very stupid!

Time for the meat and potatoes:

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Are Super Bowl Ads Priced Correctly?

Rachael Higgins with Because of Marketing published this breakdown:

Yearly breakdown of Super Bowl ad cost

1967: $37,500

1974: $100,000

1995: $1 million

2017: $5 million

2020: $5.6 million

2021: $5.5 million

2022: $6.5 million

2023: $7 million

2024: $7 million

2025: $8 million

2026: $8 million reportedly ($265k per second)

The deals broadcasters sign

All of these deals include regular season games each week, prime time matchups, playoff matchups, and other marquee matchups like Thanksgiving and Christmas.

All of these deals are 10 year deals that began in 2023.

Fox: $2.2B per year, Super Bowl 2023, 2025, 2029, 2033

CBS: $2.1B per year, Super Bowl 2024, 2028, 2032

NBC: $2B per year, Super Bowl 2026, 2030, 2034

ABC/ ESPN: $2.7B per year, Super Bowl 2027, 2031

Amazon: $1B per year, Thursday Night Football, no Super Bowl

*Super Bowl based on game year, not NFL season year

I’m trying to put a value on the Super Bowl broadcasting rights here.

Fox got 4 Super Bowls in their 10 year deal, but they gave up their Thursday Night football primetime rights to Amazon which the NFL turned around and sold for $1B.

Based on these deals, some back of the napkin math and estimations lead me to believe the broadcasting rights for a Super Bowl could be purchased for about $7B-$10B if someone like Apple, Amazon, or Netflix came calling.

It might be a little more complicated than this, because they have a loyalty to their long time broadcasters, and I’d guess the NFL would only sell the Super Bowl to someone who is broadcasting games all season. ESPN deal aside, broadcasters are paying $5B - $7B per Super Bowl, but this isn’t considering the other games they are broadcasting.

Why doesn’t the NFL just broadcast it?

They know broadcasters can make money with their streaming services and other entertainment products. The game is worth more to broadcasters than it is to the NFL. Symbiotic.

But, do broadcasters make their money back on ads alone?

How Much Do the Broadcasters Make?

First let’s look at the total ad spend on NFL TV Broadcasts: NFL Ad sales total $4.5B annually across entire 2021/22 season.

TV Advertising spend in the NFL grew to nearly $6.8B by 2024/25.

The NFL’s media deals are worth about $10B annually when looking at the 5 broadcasters I laid out above.

Now we see why Amazon wanted to stream a game. The advertising makes back about 70% of your media investment into the NFL, you just need subscribers to make up the difference.

This is why other broadcasters are creating streaming services, Amazon is just ahead of the game in combining their streaming service with other offerings.

In 2023 Fox earned nearly $600M on advertising sales during their Super Bowl.

In 2025 Fox increased their revenue by $200M bringing it to $800M.

In 2024 CBS earned close to $700M in advertising sales. The overtime earned them an extra $60M.

Keep in mind this is just the advertising revenue. This includes none of the extra network boost from the gravity of the super bowl in weeks before and after the game.

Broadcasters are earning back about 30-40% of their annual deal when they get to broadcast a Super Bowl.

So, we’ve determined that broadcasting the Super Bowl, and the NFL for that matter, is a winning proposition right now. Especially if you can build a subscription base for a streaming platform.

For proof the NFL’s media deals are in favor of the broadcaster, see here that the NFL is looking to update the deals ASAP as they are ‘undervalued.’

To me, this begs the question, are Super Bowl ads priced correctly?

Well, let’s start by trying to understand what similar inventory could be worth.

What else could you get for $8M?

We have a great list thanks to this Digiday article:

• “1.6B programmatic digital display impressions

• Nearly 5 years on a wall scape on Interstate 95 in Miami

• A prime-time spot on network TV every single night for four months

• 667 million impressions in an airport terminal takeover”

Now it’s my turn to get fun with it:

• 4-8 Kim K instagram posts

• 20+ New York Times full page ads

• 12 weeks on the Sphere in Las Vegas

• A Wimbledon Sponsorship

How Many Impressions Does a Super Bowl Ad Get in Comparison?

There is an “Opportunity” for 127M simultaneous, engaged, and social viewers. That’s if everything goes perfectly. After that you can expect further social attention if all goes well.

Kim K’s posts get an average of 1.4M likes, Wimbledon had an overall viewership of 69M last year, and the New York Times has nearly 12M subscribers.

All of these advertising opportunities are viable, but they require proper strategy and execution. The campaign needs to turn heads. The ad space alone won’t push product.

Super Bowl ads are priced appropriately for their draw and social appeal.

However, their relevance in the advertising industry makes them LESS effective in the real world.

Is it worth $8M for all of the brands buying ads?

Brands that kill it often get earned media. However, this is the case across all high value ad space (as made clear in my Oscar Mayer campaign below. I really should pitch that to them. Kidding… unless?)

A Super Bowl Ad isn’t a right or wrong option for a brand.

It’s all in the execution.

Let’s take a brand like Oscar Mayer for example.

You wouldn’t be surprised to see them show up during the Super Bowl, and you might not even be surprised if they had a “winner.”

But, if Oscar Mayer showed up with 4 Kim Kardashian posts, leaning into the fact they were skipping the Super Bowl in favor of said posts, that could create more buzz than any one ad on the big day.

Sometimes we see business who aren’t ready to scale and we never hear about them again. Sometimes we see agencies create an ad to please the industry,

But sometimes it’s a perfect storm.

We made clear the ads are priced accurately, that was the goal of todays newsletter.

We’ve seen a number of successful Super Bowl ads over the years… Let’s save the question of “Is it worth it for the brands buying ads?” for another year, and leave it at if you’re ready, sometimes.

TLDR: Super Bowl Ads are priced correctly when compared to “similar” products, but that’s the point, nothing is similar to a Super Bowl ad. I also explore how brands can use other mediums to show up in a big way.

Dessert of the Newsletter

If the article is the meat and potatoes this is the dessert

My favorite ad this week:

To me Budweiser won the Super Bowl. Made OF America was GOLD. Free Bird in the background was the cherry on top.

Agency: BBDO

Some runner ups are: Pringles, Project Hail Mary, and State Farm even though they under performed my high expectations.

BOOK CLUB

I will be launching a book club. Please shoot me an email if you’re interested! (David@pothosadvertising.com)

For now I will just share what I’m reading, what I want to read, and I’ll highlight one of my favorite books of all time each newsletter.

CURRENTLY READING
Permission Marketing - Seth Godin (1999)

Project Hail Mary - Andy Weir (2021)

READING NEXT
Purple Cow - Seth Godin (2002)

The Design of Everyday Things - Don Norman (1988)

Stories That Stick - Kindra Hall (2019)

HIGHLIGHT
Hey, Whipple, Squeeze This (3rd edition) - Luke Sullivan (2008)

This book airs out all of the dirty laundry in a way that makes the bad parts of the industry seem desirable. But not so fast, you need the skills and work to earn your keep in the industry.

It teaches lessons through first hand anecdote and story in what feels like mad-man style advertising offices. We learn about the creative process, what media channels are worth the investment, and how to develop a career in the industry.

The book focusses heavily on copywriting, which helped me appreciate the copywriting I do for my job.

It’s a must read for any advertising professional or anyone looking to get into an adjacent field.

Other Substack articles I liked this month:

Commonplace Zines: Quarter Size Zine Template and Tutorial
Branding Bullsh*t: 2026 Super Bowl Ads - Winners and Losers

What I’m watching:

Olympics: I’m enjoying the slope style skiing, curling, and hockey so far.

Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die: I’m seeing this movie tomorrow in a pre-release. If it’s as good as Rotten Tomatoes says (92%) it is the movie will return to this section in 2 weeks.

Super Bowl: This is obvious, I already talked about it, but what a boring game from a sports perspective.

Random Picture(s) from this month:

GUESS THE BRAND

The game where I give you 3-6 words as clues and you “Guess The Brand!”

Mermaid

Seattle

Roast

Click Here for Answer

P.S. Thank you for reading. Please let me know what sections you like and dislike.

Maybe more exciting for you, there is a new referral bonus.

Refer a friend and get a $5 audio or ebook credit!

How to participate:

Use the “Share” button on any post to be automatically credited. Send the post via text, email, or social media.

I still love to read comics in the newspaper. Why not create a comic for my publication. Hopefully my readers will look forward to my comic strip!

Comic #1

I know, it’s stupid.

Time for the meat and potatoes:

Bogg Need Not Describe Their Target Audience

Going viral was only a matter of time for the Croc looking beach bag. Bogg took advantage of existing customer archetypes to build their audience.

They didn’t need to spend money world-building, running ads that showed a young mom getting in the car with a yoga mat sticking out of a Bogg bag. The audience was obvious.

The bag is a great example of solving a problem your customers don’t know they have. Everyone has more totes than they can count on their hands, but the Bogg bags design makes it more useful than its counterparts.

Kim Vaccarella, Bogg founder and mom, built the bag out of a genuine need for a more durable daily bag.

How did Bogg go viral?

By turning lemons into lemonade.

In 2012, only 4 years after opening, Bogg received a 45 foot storage container of functional but visually damaged bags. This was their first viral moment.

Instead of discarding the bags they decided to donate the bags to Jersey Shore residents after Hurricane Sandy. The waterproof bags were helpful during the tragedy. Rumblings of who provided the bags and where to get them began on Facebook.

Vaccarella was building their social media presence and growing their retail base alone until they crossed $1M of revenue in 2018.

In 2020 we all know what happened. Covid hit.

Bogg was able to stay open as a manufacturing company.

At the wrong time Bogg was in the right place.

Nurses and moms started to endorse the bags for their washability. They started to explode on Tik Tok and Instagram.

Then, “Peleton moms” picked up the bags. From there Bogg had a 2 year backlog.

Bogg was becoming a viral sensation and a “must own” for busy moms and young women.

Going viral does not mean going national.

Bogg was ready to take the step from viral new kid on the block to a national brand in 2024.

The Bogg founder had this to say about advertising: “Before now, it just wasn’t something we did because it was easier to take the free and organic path.”

In mid- late 2024 Bogg landed major retail deals with giants like Dick’s Sporting Goods and Target.

Slim Marketing Budget

Bogg increased their marketing budget by $4M in 2024, bringing their total budget to $4M.

Yes you read that right. Bogg did not spend any money on paid advertising until late 2023.

Bogg looked to grow as a national brand in 2025 with an $8M marketing budget.

They increased their usage of tactics like email marketing and true social media buys. They did make sure to set aside 5% of the budget for influencer marketing.

Thick Profit

Even with the increased marketing spend Bogg is spending less than 5% of their 2025 revenue on marketing.

Bogg is projecting a 2025 revenue of $175M.

Bogg turned down an offer to be bought out by a publicly traded company in 2023. Instead inking a deal with Electric Feel at a valuation less than $50M!

Vaccarella has an NDA prohibiting her from sharing what the public offer looked like, but I have a feeling she offered a HUGE discount to maintain majority stake of the company.

How can Bogg expand into the “Not so obvious” market?

I think a great place to start would be athletes. Moms will be excited to buy their kid a matching Bogg bag to bring to practice. All the hockey player needs is a little push (and maybe a bigger bag?)

This is where college athletes come into play. Sponsor a few colleges and have players get off the bus with a Bogg bag.

Bogg has already landed licensing deals with pro leagues to begin growing into the sports market.

Another place Bogg can look to grow is globally.

I think the European market would love the small size of the bag.

TLDR: Bogg went viral by remaining optimistic during tough times and focussing on their minimum viable audience until they were ready to scale nationally.

My favorite ad this week:

Progressive: Improv Night at The Laugh Box

Agency: Arnold Worldwide

BOOK CLUB

I will be launching a book club this year. Please shoot me an email if you’re interested! (David@pothosadvertising.com)

For now I will just share what I’m reading, what I want to read, and I’ll highlight one of my favorite books of all time.

CURRENTLY READING
Permission Marketing - Seth Godin (1999)

Project Hail Mary - Andy Weir (2021)

READING NEXT
Purple Cow - Seth Godin (2002)

The Design of Everyday Things - Don Norman (1988)

Stories That Stick - Kindra Hall (2019)

HIGHLIGHT
The Search - John Battelle (2005)

This book is written by tech journalist John Battelle. It tells the story of Google’s IPO and its impact on marketing and society.

As someone born in 2000 this book was doubly insightful.

It helped me understand what Google went through to become a verb in the dictionary by the time I was 6. Before I read this book I would have guessed that “Alta Vista” was a vacation destination in California. Speaking of California, this book helped me understand the conception of Silicone Valley as we know it today.

The book also has some incredible business and marketing advice that holds strong more than 20 years later.

The cadence and perspective John uses to tell the story make this an easy read.

Other Substack articles I liked this month:

Logo Histories: Sildamin Logo, 1981
Embedded Brand Strategy: Where does Lululemon go from here?

What I’m watching:

Avatar 3: I am getting sick of the explosions and gun combat. What I really liked about Avatar were the fantasy cultures and creatures. The story that is being told is powerful but I’d like to learn more about the culture that is being ripped apart by missiles and assault riffles.

Australian Open: I’m starting to understand how old people can watch golf.

Other Topics:
ICE OUT OF MN

Random Picture(s) from this month:

P.S. Thank you for reading. Seriously please let me know what new sections you like and dislike.

Subscribe now

SEO and Online Research:

1. SEM Rush - Competitor Analysis. SEO, social media, and other online insights.

2. Hootsuite - Social Media management and analytics

3. Google Analytics - Online search insights

Data:

1. Data Axle - Data lists and services

Digital Direct Marketing:

1. Mail Chimp - Email marketing

2. Twillio - SMS and voice carrier

3. Salesmsg - SMS and voice carrier

4. Constant Contact - Email and SMS marketing

Direct Mail:

1. Lob - Automated direct mail logistics

2. Postcard Mania - Print and direct mail services

3. SendJim - Automated local direct mail

Design:

1. Adobe - Graphic design, video editing, website development etc.

2. Cap Cut - Video editing

3. Figma - Website development and graphic design

4. Canva - Graphic design

5. Wayback Machine Internet Archive - Historic website extracts

6. Elementor - Website builder

Customer Relationship Management:

1. Hubspot - Deeply integrated CRM

2. Go High Level - Highly customizable CRM

3. Monday.com - Manage and automate flows

Automation:

1. Zapier - Automate your workflows

2. Asana - Coordinate and automate

3. n8n - Complex workflow automation

AI:

1. Claude - Simplify marketing tasks

2. Chat GPT - Get the ball rolling

Subscribe now

Did I miss any tools that you swear by?

Let me know in the comments.

P.S. Only part of marketing is mastering these tools. You need great input to get great output.

David Lammers works with a national agency while he grows the newsletter and PothosAdvertising.com

With more than 5 years of experience in the industry, David writes about the ideas and experiences of a junior in the modern advertising landscape.

Subscribe now

The podcaster reports that ESPN+ ad breaks are extending longer than the over the air broadcasts ad breaks.

This is something that ESPN does know is happening.

Is this intentionally malicious?

It wouldn’t be a surprise to see Disney sucking every last dollar out of their already paying subscribers, especially considering the current Youtube TV blackout.

But, this might simply be a function of OTT/CTV ad delivery.

Oftentimes when I’m watching a live broadcast over the air, I notice that ad breaks are cut short.

There are many reasons why the live broadcast might get off schedule.

I’ve seen broadcasters continue their analysis INTO the ad break and acknowledge this happening. I’ve seen broadcasters cut off mid sentence by the ad break.

I’ve also seen broadcasts come back from an ad break early. Sometimes the game is in progress and they need to recap what was missed. Or, they come back early to squeeze in a feature story or ad read.

Ultimately, the producer on set has the control to bring the broadcast in and out of ad break any time they see best fit.

Here are some anecdotes from ESPN broadcasters:

How do broadcasters know when to cut to break and what do they do during break?

Ad reads out of a commercial break.

Live events are unpredictable, unlike streaming a re-run, which OTT/CTV inventory was initially designed to do.

This can put OTT/CTV ads at a disadvantage during live events, considering most of their inventory are targeted 30 second ads that can take a few moments to load while the over the air broadcast is carefully curated.

Broadcast TV often includes contract clauses that allow for ads to be cut short or skipped altogether.

Publishers provide make-goods (a similar value ad) or a repayment credit if the ad doesn’t run in full.

Broadcast TV also has remnant spots when inventory isn’t sold out.

It feels like the ad that gets cut short is one you’ve already seen. I’d wager these are remnant spots.

Broadcast TV is old and hard to target.

You might see local ads take over the national broadcast for a moment in an attempt to make a national broadcast more targeted and allow the local channels a chance to sell some inventory. This can cause a delay in the live broadcast due to different inventory requirements or delays in the transfer.

During broadcast ads many ad agencies deploy tracking software to be sure their ads run as planned in each market.

If a discrepancy is found the advertiser can request a reduced rate or a make-good.

side note: you don’t see this happen during re-runs or movies on cable where ad breaks have a perfect allotted time.

More notably the Super Bowl, where each ad break is carefully curated and where make-goods don’t exist.

Broadcast TV falling behind the action is not an option. Relying on a make good or cutting short a remnant ad is part of the game.

How is OTT/ CTV different?

OTT/CTV ads are targeted and different for each viewer.

This is why advertisers like OTT/CTV, but it’s still catching up during live events, literally and figuratively.

Many advertisers buy OTT/CTV without knowing where or when it will run, they just know WHO it will target.

Ad agencies can’t track each ad break as easily since they’re all different.

With OTT/CTV a full ad delivery is required, that’s actually one of its primary selling points, a guaranteed targeted household impression.

Cutting one of these ads short could make for big problems if a publisher was caught doing this.

Once a broadcast is behind, it’s easy for a broadcast producer to cut an ad to catch back up, but OTT/CTV doesn’t share the same luxury.

The main difference is the live broadcast is curated by a human, where OTT/ CTV fills expected ad time with targeted ads.

Technically speaking, the stream actually can fall behind and pick up where the action begins, but this means the feed is no longer live.

‘Live’ streams can have trouble catching back up to live - especially when they can’t cut ads and want to make sure viewers don’t miss any of the action.

Disney isn’t in a situation to cut these ads short, unless they want to shift the paradigm of OTT/ CTV advertising for live events. Until that happens I expect viewers to get the short end of the stick here.

What’s the solution?

The age old answer would be for streaming services to begin a remnant-like program or include contract clauses for live event ads. However, OTT/CTV was supposed to be the end of broadcast specific sales and discounted remnant spots. It allowed for full priced targeted ads to be delivered during any broadcast.

OTT/CTV advertisers pay to target a specific household, not a specific broadcast.

Some advertisers like Comcast are beginning to sell “premium” inventory for live events.

I think streaming services need to re-evaluate how they are selling live event inventory.

They could have a pool of advertisers on performance based contracts, where the publisher only gets paid when a business result happens for the advertiser, such as a call or app download.

This allows the publisher to run these ads when the broadcast is running behind, and it doesn’t create a problem if this ad is cut short.

P.S. I think Disney knows this is an issue, doesn’t have an immediate fix for it, and would rather upset viewers than advertisers.

David Lammers works with a national agency while he grows the newsletter and PothosAdvertising.com

With more than 5 years of experience in the industry, David writes about the ideas and experiences of a junior in the modern advertising landscape.

Subscribe now

I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again.

I don’t think print media is dead, it just needs a renovation.

If you already know how to buy a print ad and you still clicked on this article I am grateful for your unconditional support.. feel free to scroll past the basics.

Here’s everything you need to know to place your first print ad.

“Do you have availability for (ad date)?”

This is the first question you should ask the media representative.

If your representative hasn’t already clarified, you can ask “flat rate or CPM?”

Almost all media companies offer Flat Rates for printed content.

What is a Flat Rate?

This means that the listed price is what you’ll pay for one ad, delivered to everyone.

What is a CPM?

CPM is fancy marketing speak for “Cost per Thousand Impressions.”

If a newspaper delivers 5000 papers and a 1/4 page ad is $550 the actual cost to run the ad would be $2750.

I use this tool to help me with CPMs: Clickz CPM Calculator

What is Circulation?

Circulation is simply how many homes the newspaper is expected to be delivered to on any given day.

By now, your representative should have shared the circulation for the dates you requested.

If not, request it! And let your media rep know you mean business.

What’s a Rate Card?

Just like it sounds. It’s a pricing sheet.

You’ll see prices for every size the newspaper offers

Here’s an example of a flat rate card

Notice the frequency discounts.

I wasn’t able to find a CPM based rate card for a print publication.

The point I want to get across is that you’d want to know the circulation of the eNewsletter before committing the the purchase.

Ad Sizes

Thankfully these are pretty straightforward. I’m sure you can guess what ‘Full Page’ and ‘1/4 page’ mean. 1/8 is traditionally the smallest size.

A “Double Truck” is 2 full page ads right next to each other.

There are some terms like “Spadea” or “Section Front” that usually refer to more prominent positions. These unique sizes vary by publication so it’s hard to offer general advice.

You’ll also see ad sizes be referred to in columns. This might need its own section.

Columns

A full page is 6 columns wide by 20” deep (usually)

6 columns = 10” (usually)

What is a Creative/ Ad Copy?

Simply the design or image that you’d like to run in the paper.

Ad Spec?

Ad spec is the size the design should be.

The media company should be able to resize designs for no charge.

That should be it.

Oh, and some money.

The invoice is usually sent after the ad runs.

Tips and Tricks

Tear Sheets

If you aren’t a subscriber to the newspaper, you can request a digital screenshot of your ad running in the paper. It’s called a “tear sheet" and your rep can easily share it.

Media Pairings

Try these media pairings with your newspaper campaign:

• Digital Display in same community

• Direct Mail to arrive on same day of paper OR ask about Inserts

• OOH/ Billboards to dominate a community

• OTT/ CTV (Streaming services) paired with your digital display audience

Frequency Discounts

Be sure you ask your representative about frequency discounts.

You can get your ads up to 50% off if you run more than 3 in a week or 6 in a month.

Annual Contract

On the topic of discounted rates; annual contracts oftentimes yield a discounted rate as well as free advertising called “value add.”

Ad Specs and Creative

Let your media rep create some mock ups for you.

It’s always good to have other people thinking about how to improve your campaigns.

Cost Per Lead Programs/ Remnants

I saved the best for last.

Media companies usually save this for their best clients, but it never hurts to ask how you can qualify.

Maybe you’re already one of their favorite clients.

When media companies have unsold ad space they look through their client list for large players in the community/ broader market. They run ads at no cost up front for those companies.

This can be a Cost per Lead or Revenue Sharing agreement.

CRM and sales data is shared and cross referenced with the newspapers subscribers.

You might call this symbiotic..

Thanks for reading!

PS: Become best friends with your media reps.

David Lammers works with a national agency while he grows the newsletter and PothosAdvertising.com

With more than 5 years of experience in the industry, David writes about the ideas and experiences of a junior in the modern advertising landscape.

Does this make me a nerd?

She was assigned with finding classical music in current media.

Right up my alley.

She was struggling to get started. My first thought was the funeral scene from Grown Ups.

What song was Rob Schneider singing?

Ave Maria

and just like that, we were on a roll.

Ave Maria has been used in countless other movies, usually in a serious context, like in Batman:

The song is religious in nature, setting up the Grown Ups scene for the punchline.

The Riddler makes the same song feel grim and unnerving.

Both scenes use the song to flatten the mood before opening the movie back up to its original context.

Die Hard uses Bach to set a luxurious and professional scene.

The server’s offer of champagne helps to set the scene.

I’m no movie critic.

I’m embarrassed to admit that I have seen Grown Ups the most of the movies above.

Maybe I’m not qualified to talk about scene settings and film study.

So, let’s get into some Advertisements

In the ad below Samsung hired David Backham ahead of the 2012 London Olympics.

The well known Beethoven song allows the viewer to participate. Creating the feeling of ‘wait… where have I heard that before.’

This leads into the triumph that is the symphony while showcasing their state of the art phone.

Of course, we’ve got to include something from Apple

The Apple ad uses the upbeat William Tell Overture to tell a story of human innovation.

The song’s tempo helps us follow the fast moving story.

The song insinuates that we will eventually reach a climax/ resolution.

Instead of pinning up the Macbook as humans greatest invention they describe the Macbook as the tool that enables the creation of humans greatest inventions. A smart move on Apple’s part in my opinion.

Honda also used the William Tell Overture in an advertisement.

At least they tried:

Had it been done right, this would have been an incredible stunt.

Similar to the Apple ad, the song was supposed to show speed and innovation.

One of the most famous uses of the song in advertising came from the 1960’s:

“get a lark get a lark get a lark today”

Damn it’s catchy.

If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.

“Also Sprach Zarathustra” makes pooping look euphoric

This is exactly the feeling Pampers wants to portray.

The slow motion helps tell their story as well.

Pooping is kinda their jam… gross.

Nike used Mozart's Lacrimosa to display triumph and heartbreak

The song perfectly plays both sides of the aisle.

As the winning team it allows you to bask in the glory of victory.

As the losing team it describes the feeling of victory slipping through your fingers at the last moment.

It captivates the viewer. They are invested in a story that demands a resolution.

The whole ad looks like something that Artbutmakeitsports would publish.

An iconic print ad first aired as a TV spot utilizing classical music

Maxwell utilizes the Ride of the Valkyries in its 30 second spot.

The image on the thumbnail became an iconic print ad in itself.

Great ads can tell a story with one standalone image but the story needs to be fully conceptualized

and producing a complete TV spot can help in this process.

Music is often used to set a tone, as in the Die Hard example.

However, in examples like Samsung’s David Beckham commercial, it benefits the advertiser that everyone knows the melody.

There are plenty of songs from these eras that were forgotten about, just like there will be plenty of songs of current that are forgotten.

A recurring theme in the songs we discussed is suspense and resolution

This makes them perfect for advertising and entertainment.

Selecting the right song

The song might not actually matter as much as you think, like in the Maxwell example.

It’s the story that matters most.

However, in the Apple example, the song guides the story all the way through the resolution.

How do you choose the right song?

Wouldn’t you like to know…

In my opinion, the song accompanies a story you’ve already created. Start with the feelings that you want to invoke and the story you want to tell.

The song needs to chaperone your story.

PS: Certain pieces of classical music are timeless. The same things that make them timeless make them perfect for advertising and media.

David Lammers works with a national agency while he grows the newsletter and PothosAdvertising.com

With more than 5 years of experience in the industry, David writes about the ideas and experiences of a junior in the modern advertising landscape.

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A Letter to Elon Musk

JOUR 4259 (001)

12/10/21

Dear Elon,

You hold so much power, and society agrees. 56% of people believe that business leaders have a greater responsibility to speak out on hotly debated issues.

In a recent poll you accumulated close to 4,000,000 votes. That’s a lot of people! To reach as many people as you did with that Tweet it would cost $3,800,000 at a standard $.0.97/ click.

With great power comes great responsibility, and I feel that you need to be responsible for more. When you look at the Wicked 7 issues we can see that you don’t progress any of the issues with your personal or corporate brands. In fact, you contribute to and create issues surrounding War, Climate Collapse, and Corruption.

You created an illegal coup in Bolivia to gain the right to their Lithium supply. When you were asked about the political revolution, you replied “We will coup whoever we want.” Statements like these show that you are adding to the Wicked 7 issues. Corruption and War are apparent. But, if you own the most popular electric vehicle brand, how are you contributing to climate collapse? I’m sure you already know the answer to that question, maybe you’re wondering which example I might use.

As I’m sure you already know, electric vehicle demand for lithium will surpass the supply of all lithium by 2025. This is a shame because not only will we be reverting back to oil when this happens, but now we will have most if not all of our lithium supply in hard to recycle electric vehicle batteries. This would be bad news for the electronics industry.

But, this would be even worse news for the tens of millions of Americans that suffer from depression and other mental health disorders. Recent medical studies have shown that lithium is a great treatment for bi-polar and depression. In fact, it’s approved by the FDA and millions of Americans are currently taking it to prevent their bi-polar and depression. The rising lithium costs are only going to make it harder for people with mental health disorders to get the treatment they need, and we already know how hard it is to get affordable drugs to consumers in America.

Securing the world's least expensive and most convenient supply of lithium to put it all into car batteries seems against everything good. Even you have said yourself that cars are going to be obsolete in about 20 years.

Unless this is a master plan to cure depression with all of your lithium and make retail investors rich in the meantime I think what you’re doing is pretty fucked up; all while keeping a straight face under your mask.

What are the Wicked 7?

I wrote this as a college student. While organizing computer files, “A Letter To Elon Musk” caught my eye, so I figured it might catch yours, too.

This isn’t what I traditionally write about. but I wanted to share it.

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David Lammers works with a national agency while he grows the newsletter and PothosAdvertising.com

With 5 years of experience in the industry, David writes about the ideas and experiences of a junior in the modern advertising landscape.

The people love the commercials.

In 2022 Advocado ran a study that showed 42% of viewers watch the Super Bowl for the Advertisements rather than the game itself.

But what makes the ads so good? Well, not all of them are good. Each year there are around 80 ads.

But only 5-10 of those ads stand out.

What if you flop?

How can you justify the expense?

A Super Bowl ad costs $8M this year - A $1M increase from 2024.

Making a Super Bowl ad is different than making any old ad.

How can you make a GOOD Super Bowl ad?

First, let’s revisit some of America’s favorite Super Bowl commercials:

1984 - Apple (1984)

“You’re Playing Like Betty White Out There” - Snickers (2010)

“Lost Dog” - Budweiser (2015)

“They Usually Go For 2” - Budweiser (1996)

Mean Joe Greene - Coke (1979)

And my personal favorite - The Force - Volkswagen (2011)

Each of these Ads keeps you watching; some without a word. But why?

Undeniably, the circumstances are to an advertiser’s advantage. Super Bowls are memorable moments. You’re likely with friends and there’s always the possibility for once in a lifetime sporting plays to happen; you can barely afford to look away.

There are 2 things you can do with this advantage. First, you can blend into your surroundings with ads like Coke’s Mean Joe Greene. Or, you can disrupt the experience with ads like Apple’s 1984.

With the privilege comes pressure. Viewers don’t want normal ads. They’re expecting you to step up.

Here are 5 things the best Super Bowl ads do better:

1. Easily immersive stories

   1. The stories develop right in front of you. You’re thrown right into an easy to follow setting.

   2. It takes 2 seconds to understand the predicament in the Mean Joe Greene ad. The kid wants the jersey.

2. Satisfying or Hilarious Conclusion

   1. Each ad dangles a conclusion in front of the viewer like a carrot.

   2. In Budweisers’ Lost Dog, everyone knows the dog will come home. But seeing the Clydesdales guide the puppy up the driveway could put a lump in anyone’s throat.

   3. As for a hilarious conclusion, “They usually go for 2” is a great kicker.

3. Emotion, Humor, Heartstrings

   1. Budweisers’ Lost Dog certainly had every room in America filled with “Awwww.”

   2. Snickers introduces an easy-to-laugh-at concept with their Betty White cameo.

   3. Humor can be a simple punchline as well - like in VW’s Force.

4. Constant Action and Dialogue

   1. Similar to the action on the field, once you’re captivated by a story, it’s hard to look away.

   2. Apple’s 1984 interrupts the normal cadence and creates a scenario that needs answering.

5. Easily Sharable & Group Palletable

   1. Great Super Bowl ads are meant to be consumed by groups of people. This is why they get talked about first at the party, again at the water cooler, and again on top 10 lists.

   2. Make your ad easier to recall with movie stars or salient mascots. “The one with Betty White” is easier to remember than a brand name.

You probably noticed that most of these ads use more than one of the five keys to success; the more the merrier.

Once you have a good ad - Don’t forget why you bought the spot

Each of these ads undeniably showcases the product. If you’re going to fork over millions of dollars for an ad spot, don’t be scared to flaunt what you got.

Apple and VW both do a great job announcing or introducing new products and features - while the rest of the ads do a great job of incorporating their products into notable situations.

Eyes will be peeled to see how advertisers outdo each other again this year.

I look forward to seeing the usual heavy hitters like Coke, Doritos, Burger King, etc.

I’m also excited to see if there are any new advertisers on the block.

A great Super Bowl ad can be the reason a Unicorn grows its horn.

In 2005 Go Daddy’s first Super Bowl commercial aired to mass controversy. It was banned from running a second time.

Experts estimate that the controversy earned GoDaddy another $11.7M in free publicity on top of their paid spot.

The growth of the company skyrocketed after the publicity. They initiated a 700% hiring increase over 7 years, their active site rate grew by 136% the year following the ad, and you can see their revenue growth explode on the graph below:

In 2011 Go Daddy sold for 2.5B

They are now publically traded with a market cap near $30B.

We could tell the same story about Apple

Their market cap was hovering around $1B in 1984 and 1985 when their iconic Super Bowl ad aired.

Great Super Bowl ads aren’t the only reason these companies became household names.

You still need a great business with differentiating factors.

Both of these businesses took advantage of a strong industry.

A great Super Bowl ad brings national awareness concurrently.

Every national brand needs national awareness. However, some brands allow themselves to scale slowly, and some brands never need to run a Super Bowl ad.

As we showed above, the return on investment can be dramatic. It’s a high-risk ad spot. You have to be in the right position as a company to take advantage of the high reward. Your brand must demand national awareness and possess the infrastructure to serve an influx. Then, you better deliver on promises.

PS: Super Bowl Ads are a mainstay in modern America. Immerse groups of people with emotional stories if you want to make a great Super Bowl Ad.

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David Lammers works with a national agency while he grows the newsletter and PothosAdvertising.com

With 5 years of experience in the industry, David writes about the ideas and experiences of a junior in the modern advertising landscape.

Then, he clicks the Apple Intelligence button

It removes all of the personality from the email and replaces it with corporate buzzwords.

Good writing has personality.

Good employees have personality.

The manager looks proudly at the office pleb.

Apple flashes “Write Smarter” across the screen.

*End Scene*

Does anybody enjoy reading corporate speak?

What a shame it would be for a business to lose one of their most unique employees to AI slop.

Innovation happens when unique thinkers work together.

Eventually, all business correspondence will look the same if it’s revised using AI.

What differentiates your business?

People buy things from people they like.

Everything you buy is probably purchased from somebody you like or a brand you like.

Why would you buy something from somebody you don’t like?

In rare cases, someone you don’t like may be the only one providing a service you need, but capitalism works hard to prevent that.

There is a time and place for AI

AI can be extremely effective and do jobs faster and better; it’s a good application in those cases.

Right now AI is in its infancy stage. There are thousands of applications we haven’t discovered.

In my opinion, writing and communicating isn’t AIs’ strong suit.

Unfortunately, that’s one of the main things companies want to see it do.

Engineers aren’t good marketers - vice versa

Silicon Valley has had this issue since its inception.

Early investors forced Google’s founders out of the CEO position. According to investors the company had no business plan.

Engineers don’t often think about how they might sell a product.

This isn’t always an issue. The intended or first use for innovations doesn’t need to be the final use.

Marketers will find the best use for products. Hopefully, they are allowed to do this with AI.

The best use cases for AI are yet to come, we just have to find them.

PS: AI’s best use case is yet to be uncovered and I don’t think it’s text generation.

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David Lammers works with a national agency while he grows the newsletter and PothosAdvertising.com

With 5 years of experience in the industry, David writes about the ideas and experiences of a junior in the modern advertising landscape.

Then the first comedian came out.

At one point he was talking about his troubles at work. Before you could adjust, he was deeply in the middle of a joke about his sex life, sparring no detail. Then, he was polling the room about their favorite Chicago eateries.

This made everyone in the room uncomfortable. What was he going to do next?

One morning when I was going for a run, a car slowly pulled up behind me. Was this it for me? Am I going to be kidnapped… Then, all of a sudden, they put their blinker on. What a relief, they were waiting for me to cross the street before they turned.

Criminals don’t use blinkers.

Intentionality matters

Telegraph your moves.

Seth Godin released a podcast on 8/21/24 about a similar topic.

He discussed privacy. The main problem with ‘privacy’ is that people don’t like to be surprised.

Should it be okay for our data to be sold? When our data is sold, products are less expensive and experiences are more targeted. We like and understand that.

When does it become too much? Seth Godin says it’s too much when we are surprised.

Where do we draw the line as advertisers?

Consumers realize that targeting is a necessary evil.

You can get as hyper-targeted as the consumer will allow.

In its easiest fashion, a completed form allows you to target the customer with that information.

How else do we allow targeting as consumers?

Let’s look at the data Google collects. We understand they are

1. targeting us on every keyword we search

2. keeping a log of our searches and websites we visit

So, it’s not surprising for Google to serve up advertisements based on our most recent keyword search, and it’s not a surprise for advertisers to retarget us based on our recent web activity.

But, it does come as a surprise when advertisers target you based on private conversations or images we take.

The line is where you set it

Customers expect a certain level of targeting. It’s only unwelcome or ‘creepy’ when you make it that way.

PS: Telegraph your moves. Otherwise, you’ll be seen as an awkward comedian, a kidnapper, or an unwelcome advertiser.

David Lammers is a marketing strategist in the home service industry with a national agency while he grows Buried by Ads and PothosAdvertising.com

With 5 years of experience in the industry, David writes about the ideas and experiences of a junior in the modern advertising landscape.

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But now advertisers are changing the way direct response TV ads look. Gone are the days of traditional direct-response ads with aggressive calls to action and 30 minute long demos.

TV advertising used to be a completely separate channel from traditional direct response ads. It has always been a brand awareness play.

But, Amazon and other services are changing that.

Let’s look at the most expensive TV advertising inventory: the Super Bowl. Companies only invest in a Super Bowl ad when the rest of their business is ready to scale. Because they know it will bring eyes to the business, not direct sales.

Wanamaker’s famous quip “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don't know which half” was true until the 21st century when PPC began to dominate advertising.

What seems like such an obvious innovation today was once groundbreaking.

“The Search” was written in 2005 by John Battelle about how Google and its competition shaped the online advertising market. The book was written shortly after Google’s IPO, but as we know today that was just the beginning of the story.

In the book, Pay-per-click advertising was a revelation. Previously a CPM rate card was the only way to look at ad sales. Even Google used a CPM model when they launched AdWords… which is laughable today.

So who invented PPC advertising? When Bill T. Gross launched GoTo/Overture they introduced a PPC model that changed digital advertising forever. Google would soon adopt this business model and face legal trouble pre-IPO because of it.

The PPC model is effective in intent-based advertising channels.

Television is not intent-based. The only intent I have is to sit down and watch my entertainment.

As an advertiser, how do you feel about Amazon including an Amazon-branded CTA on your ad? By the looks of it, Geico, State Farm, and a few others have agreed to try out the new click-through strategy.

On one hand, they are helping because users can quickly learn more about your product. However, on the other hand, they are imposing their brand and logo onto a placement you paid for.

We all know nobody wants TV ads. In a perfect world Amazon would keep our television show rolling, or in the example of their Thursday Night football games, the entertainment would continue with a talking panel or on-field interviews.

But of course, this can’t happen. Advertising makes the world go round, especially TV.

I think Amazon found a creative way to get their logo on advertising they didn’t pay for.

I don’t believe anybody will pick up the remote and click OK to learn more.

Even if someone wanted to learn more, wouldn’t they just Google the product on the computer in their pocket? Surely that would be easier than surfing the web via the TV remote. And if I wanted to buy the product, do they think I would enter my card or contact information using a TV Remote and that goofy TV Keyboard!?

On top of this, I am watching TV to be entertained, why would I postpone my entertainment to learn more about a product that was forced in front of my face? Especially if it’s a live event like Thursday Night Football.

Of course, Amazon wants to make money and please shareholders, so why not copy what’s working for other companies like Facebook and Google?

Google created an advertising environment where clicks = revenue for its advertisers. And it worked, they are worth more than $2T right now and countless businesses rely on PPC traffic to bring home the bacon.

Facebook has adopted the model as well, it drives great revenue for them. However, advertising innovation is knocking on the door of Meta, and they better let it in. But, that’s a story for another day.

Pinterest is top of funnel in nature. Users go there to explore ideas and options. Recently, Pinterest began exploring lower funnel options as well: Pinterest Performance+

Pinterest has intent data that other platforms do not, so it does make sense. However, I hope Pinterest and its advertisers both understand that Pinterest’s intent data is just the beginning of a long decision-making process.

Advertising is an art that cannot be copied.

Advertising Platforms Need to Understand Their Role.

There are different roles to play in advertising. If all ad units look the same, how can we create effective advertising strategies?

TV advertising is not about clicks or direct sales. It’s a top of funnel marketing channel.

TV ads have long been about brand awareness. When you wanted to sell something on TV you would create an infomercial or a Direct Response TV ad. We now have better channels for direct responses, and as Nike recently proved, we need more than just direct response ads to run a successful business.

The superpower that modern TV ads (OTC / CTV) have does lie within the internet connection, but it is not the ability to click through, it is the targeting ability.

As an advertiser, I still want to use TV ads for brand awareness.

But now, I don’t need to make a full buy to get my brand on the big screen. I can finally target individual households.

As a large advertiser, I can even make different versions of ads for different households or promote different products in areas I know will succeed.

Advertising products need to understand their place in the market. Not every product should be bottom of the funnel. Products need to be top of the funnel, otherwise, we can never get to the bottom of it.

PS: Until TV Advertising can understand your intentions like a search engine (or using data from a search engine) I think they should keep their hands off PPC models.

David Lammers is a marketing strategist in the home service industry with a national agency while he grows Buried by Ads and PothosAdvertising.com

With 5 years of experience in the industry, David writes about the ideas and experiences of a junior in the modern advertising landscape in an industry dominated by traditional media and advertising concepts.

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Airlines are a great example of how strategy and branding can drive business success.

They are all buying and utilizing the same products from Boeing, Airbus, Rolls Royce, etc.

The only differences between the major airlines are simple branding and strategy choices like territories, maintenance, brand position, offerings, capabilities, etc.

Below I’m going to callout a few brands by the criteria above to help me explore strategy in the marketplace:

Delta

• Price - $$$

• Comfort - 1st Class, Comfort+, Economy w/ seat selection, Economy

• Entertainment - Live TV and seatback entertainment on each seat

• Free Amenities - Headphones, Beverage & Snack, Entertainment, WiFi

• Territory - ATL, East Coast, MSP, and LAX

• Service - Free Carry On & Personal Item, Beverage & Snack service included

• Brand Position - Premium

Spirit

• Price - $

• Comfort - Big Front Seat, Economy w/ seat selection, Economy

• Entertainment - BYOD (Device)

• Free Amenities - Paid WiFi

• Territory - Hubs on East Coast, Sprawling Westward in Chicago, Las Vegas, and Dallas

• Service - Paid Snack & Beverage Service

• Brand Position - Ultra Low Cost

Southwest

• Price - $$

• Comfort - Economy only

• Entertainment - WiFi, BYOD (Device)

• Free Amenities - Wifi, Drink, Snack

• Territory - Large hubs on each coast, Chicago and Denver

• Service - Free Carry On & Personal Item, Snack and Beverage service included

• Brand Position - Logistics

We can identify each brand by its offerings and logo. If you fly a lot, you can probably identify each airline just by their offerings.

There are plenty of viable strategies to succeed in the marketplace.

Each company operates with a different strategy. Each company carries thousands of flights a month.

But That Can’t Be All It Is

The only differences between these flight carriers can’t be the bullet points above. That would be far too easy; and the airline industry has a reputation for being cutthroat.

When you look at the logo of each of these flight carriers, you already have a deeply rooted connection for and against them.

Each time you fly you’re not only judging your experience, you’re also judging the person arguing with the gate attendant while you walk to get lunch. “I wouldn’t wanna be that guy” you whisper to your travel buddy. You take note of the airliner operating the gate.

So why do Delta, Spirit, and Southwest post profits historically while other airliners can’t figure it out?

These businesses all operate with different strategies. But, there’s one overarching commonality, expectations.

In their advertising, they show what it’s like to ride with them. Of course, the affects are dramatized, as good advertising does.

The image was part of a campaign by Hales picturing Delta’s Cabin Service.

The image captures so many of their amenities without a single word of copy. The seatback experience, the clean cabins, the roomy windows and overhead bins.

It doesn’t take long to realize who’s paying for the billboard below. You don’t even need to see the logo to know, for the same reasons you knew which airline I was referencing above when I showed a yellow plane with no logo.

Spirit doesn’t have a proper ‘logo’ - another place they cheaped out. But props to them for “Owning a Color.”

Don’t F*ck It Up

Some of the main reasons we travel are for work or with/ for family. Naturally, there is a lot at stake. Factor in the hundreds or thousands of miles you plan to travel that day and things can get stressful. The expectations you set for us better be spot on.

How Do Airlines Find a Position?

First, it’s important to realize that they all have a unique offering. No airlines are trying to offer the same products in the same way.

Next, they all stand firmly on their position in all of their operations. It’s not just the marketing team that offers a premium proposition, and it’s not just the maintenance team going above and beyond. From top to bottom Delta’s employees understand what sets them apart and why customers decided to fly Delta.

They realize that they are part of the charade, without their participation the curtain peels back and the paychecks slow down.

A good strategy is easy for employees to understand. You can only expect employees to get behind your strategy if they understand it.

When you have a good strategy in place this makes your marketing claims and messages much more effective - because they are actually true.

A deep rooted loyalty

Airlines do a great job at harboring brand loyalty.

Strategic territories, Skymiles, great experiences, avoiding bad experiences, offers or discounts, etc. are all reasons customers might consistently choose one airline over another.

Generalizing the Learnings

The airline industry is a great place to look for successful differentiation strategies because the margins are thin and they all start with the same shell of a product.

What do airlines do that we should do?

• Obsess over customers

• Lean into a position and strategy

• Differentiate where you can

  • How can you make the same product look different? Every airliners Boeing 787s looks different inside and out.

  • How can you add value? By increasing productivity with logistics? By reducing availability/ increasing ammeneites?

  • How is your offering different than direct competition? Show that in your marketing

PS: What makes certain airlines great is their ability to consistently stand out in a busy market. When you see a glimpse of their logo, you notice. And you start to think about every good or bad experience you’ve had with them.

David Lammers is a marketing strategist in the home service industry with a national agency while he grows Buried by Ads and PothosAdvertising.com

With 5 years of experience in the industry, David writes about the ideas and experiences of a junior in the modern advertising landscape in an industry dominated by traditional media and advertising concepts.

I wanted to read the book slowly, especially considering the challenges Donald lays out for you after each chapter.

I applied the learnings to my brand as Donald asks. That wasn’t easy, all I wanted to do was keep reading.

In reading, Donald helped me create the first iteration of my one-liner.

“Differentiating Brands That Serve Homeowners”

You’ll see the one-liner above the fold on my website pothosadvertising.com

You’ll also notice the one-liner in my Substack bio.

What is the StoryBrand 7-Part Framework?

It’s a format that helps you tell concise, believable, and hard-to-forget stories.

He lays out the magic formula on page 21

Donald writes that too many brands position themselves as the hero in the storytelling process when in reality your customer should be the hero of the story.

If you want to learn more buy the book for yourself or visit Donald Millers’ website storybrand.com

My Learnings

The Automatic Rolodex

When your message is clear and concise customers file your brand in the automatic rolodex in their brain.

They probably don’t need your service now, but you need to differentiate your brand and describe what you do effectively so they file you in the category where you belong.

Donald Miller later writes about the effectiveness and necessity of a drip campaign to maintain this effect. Remind your customers you exist frequently by adding value.

Sportsmanship creates tension

Seth Godin recently spoke about Sportsmanship in a podcast. He argues that it exists in our marketplace. Just like a high school football game nobody wants to see a powerhouse continue to run up the score on the small guys.

Donald Miller spoke about a similar idea without using the word Sportsmanship.

Donald breaks a problem down into 3 motives that drive tension. External, Internal, and Philosophical.

External problems are usually quantitative. Such as sales or wins on a football field. For a mechanic, this might be a check engine light or noises coming from your car.

Internal problems are why it matters to a certain individual. I can’t get to work tomorrow if my car breaks down.

Philosophical problems are what I compare to sportsmanship. In the mechanic example, it’s unfair that anybody wouldn’t be able to get to work.

What problems do your customers face?

If you want to satisfy your customers and turn them into repeat customers be sure to offer resolve for all 3 of these tensions.

Roofing companies often only offer resolve to the leaky roof. Where they fall short is understanding why the client needs the repair. Maybe it’s leaking into the baby’s room or prohibiting access to an external door. You must also understand and address that it’s unfair for anyone to have the roof over their head leaking.

Calls To Action Are Patiently Waiting

Be sure that your call to action is clear and concise. Then, blatantly and aggressively plaster it on your marketing material. We all know this but we can use a reminder. Never create an ad that leaves the viewer or customer questioning what action they could take to advance the process of a transaction.

What Donald Miller helped me learn is that Calls to Action are just patiently waiting. When a customer is ready to move forward be sure they know what to do.

When your call to action is patiently waiting customers can easily use their automatic rolodex to solve their problem with your business.

Fear is Salt

You need to tell people what happens if they don’t solve their problem with you.

However, too much fear and the recipe starts to taste a bit unsettling.

People Want to be Taken Somewhere

Where can you take people? Every good story shows a character being brought somewhere by a guide.

Cast a clear vision about where you can bring your customers otherwise they will choose someone else to take them there.

If You Confuse, You Lose

Donald Miller makes sure to drive this message home throughout the book.

You stand no chance without a clear message.

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If you’re reading this on substack you’re already applying a best practice.

This inspires me to continue writing.

PS

Thanks for reading! See you next time.

I learned to always add a PS at the end of longer marketing communication. Sometimes this is all people read. But if they’re interested, they scroll back up for more.

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I started my fully remote position with a marketing agency in 2022, and these days, I only visit a commercial office space during a client visit.

American companies are saving up to $10,000 per employee annually. On top of this, I am saving time and money on the lack of a commute, estimates of employee savings are between $4-6k per year.

What am I missing out on? I might never know…

Because of these changes, we are seeing beautiful real estate be redeveloped. Such as Gannett’s own Milwaukee Journal Sentinel building. Which was redeveloped into an apartment complex in 2022.

Or, the historic Washington DC Post office, once the Trump Hotel, with new owners now struggling to find a better use for the building.

These beautiful buildings were once used as a hub for brand and business. The buildings helped to drive brand growth, employee retention, happiness, and most of all, revenue.

However, the mail is still delivered in Washington DC, and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is still delivering a paper and increasing their digital readership. Although the buildings helped, these buildings do not seem mandatory for brand success.

Because of modern economics, Commercial real estate is in a tough place.

Especially in big cities like New York and San Francisco. With Yahoo’s analysts predicting consequences 20 years down the road in the Bay Area.

Some brands are completely tied to their locations.

Some brands are completely tied to the real estate they own. At a macro level, let’s look at McDonalds, regarded as a great investment not only for their competencies in the restaurant industry but more so for the real estate holdings that come with each of its franchises.

McDonalds real estate holdings are worth more than $40 Billion.

With a market capitalization of more than $200B at the time of writing this, their real estate holdings make upwards of 20% of the business worth at any one time.

It’s an accepted reality that gas stations with the best real estate near the interstate can charge more for their gas.

So we determined that great real estate can drive success for business that serve commodities like food and gas.

How can brands use a location to not only sell their physical products but also sell the entire strategy that is their brand?

Take each McDonalds location for example. You expect a certain experience when you visit any McDonalds, it’s familiar. That experience is sometimes enhanced by on brand additions like a Kids Play Place.

Buildings Drive Brands

Red Rocks Amphitheater drives more than $700 Million into the Denver area annually according to an economic study.

The same study shows that the venue provides 7,000 jobs and more than $210 Million in income.

The venue pulled in more than half a million ticket-buying guests who traveled to Colorado for the Venue in 2022. In-state guests from Colorado brought the annual paid guest count to 1.4 million.

The venue is doing a great job of scaling the business, now offering Yoga on the Rocks, Hotel and Attraction partners, and Tours.

Their unreplicable real estate has driven them to be the 4th busiest music venue in the world. Achieving an annual paid guest count of 1.65 Million in 2023.

To grow this large, you must leverage your real estate into a great brand.

Red Rocks doesn’t advertise much. Their product sells itself. When they do advertise it’s on brand; you need a powerful brand to consistently be ‘on brand’.

Here’s a list of a few more buildings that drive brands:

Lake Superior Trading Outpost in Grand Maris

St Paul Brewing

Sweet Marthas Cookies

Oracle Park (Giants MLB Stadium)

United Equipment Company

Pacific Wheel in Santa Monica

Restaurants by the Eiffel Tower or other tourist attractions.

Any Golf Courses in Florida, Colorado, or other landmark locations with unattainable views.

How do they please investors with limited scalability?

A smart investor usually says they want a MOAT around their business. What does that mean? Nobody can touch their profit model. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a better moat than something like Oracle Park.

Brands like this excite me. Why? They have a differentiating piece that nobody else can easily attain. When investors talk about a moat, how about unreplicable real estate?

Using your brand, you can create digital real estate as well. Examples of unattainable digital real estate would be domain name, first party data, readership or users, etc.

Now, I love it when brands can combine their unreplicable physical real estate and convert it into digital assets.

In our Red Rocks example, they built a concert venue that could not be recreated, they created additional value with more product offerings. Now they have more than half a million Instagram followers and an online brand that would not have the same intrinsic value without the brand they built.

Liquidating Assets

Brands like this can survive on the aura that once was after a real estate sale. They can also capitalize on the aura that is by franchising/ creating other locations that don’t quite have the same charm.

Brands can also use their building or geographical location to scale, and bring the feel of their flagship location nationwide. Think Five Guys, Patagonia, Texas Roadhouse, or any brand that uses a location as a brand name and blew up… Cisco, Kentucky Fried Chicken, California Pizza Kitchen, Adobe.

Scaling out of your roots in a certain geographical location, or selling off these buildings may not hurt in the short term, but in the long run, these locations and buildings are tied to brand success.

If you do have to sell a flagship building, or scale out of a geographical location, be sure you replace and or maintain what differentiates your brand.

After selling this real estate, or scaling into a broader, less accepting market, how can brands differentiate themselves? Sure, the culture built by the local community and flagship building will withstand a few generations of employees. But, when you get rid of the flagship real estate it takes more effort to maintain the brand strategy. In the case of United Equipment sales, they could still sell and rent equipment without the building, but their real estate differentiates them.

What am I missing out on by working from home? I find it hard to believe my whole life will be from a remote office. Although we are all saving money in the short term, what are we losing in the long term?

Working from home will never go away, nor will maintaining a central hub that represents both brand and business.

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Keith was a project manager at a local roofing company. He had just finished my roofing project and wanted to give me a heads up.

Keith had done this for so long that I had no second thoughts about who might be installing my roof when hail damage occurred.

More on this conversation later.

Private equity is buying into the roofing industry aggressively.

Josh Sparks, one of the leading experts in home service acquisitions by private equity, has this to say in a recent article: “Hundreds of millions of dollars of private equity are flooding the roofing industry today.”

Private equity funds are buying roofing companies with the expectation that the employees will stay in place and maintain and increase their current output over time.

While growth is always the mindset for a successful roofing company, annual revenue projections can be very difficult to make, especially in areas where weather can drastically change your workload.

On top of this consolidation, we had already seen a major step back in the number of construction companies in the United States.

As the Wall Street Journal reported in 2017, “By the Commerce Department’s count,” wrote Justin Lahart, “there were about 368,000 construction firms operating in the U.S. as of 2014 (the last year with available data). That compares with about 530,000 in 2005 and is the lowest number on record going back to 1977.”

I pulled the above quote from this incredible Matt Stroller article. In the article, he details the consequences of consolidation in housing markets across the nation.

He does a great job talking about the macro effects of consolidation on the homebuilding and land-purchasing industries.

What Matt Stroller uncovers is that home builders are essentially middlemen, collaborating with equity funds to get favorable land deals, to which they subcontract all of their construction.

One more quote from Matt Stroller: “Here’s D.R. Horton in 2023: “Substantially all of our land development and home construction work is performed by subcontractors.””

In the article, Matt talks about the Cartel or Mafia-like collusion between some of the top homebuilders in the nation.

See below the quote from Toll Brother (Market Cap: $13B) CEO Doug Yearly:

“And then, we're doing joint ventures with either Wall Street private equity or with our friends in the home building industry, the other builders.”

With private equity entering the roofing industry, one might expect these larger corporations to play nice with each other, especially at the national volume they hope to achieve.

Roofing companies owned by private equity funds will play to win a majority of the above-mentioned subcontracted business that these homebuilders can bring to the table.

The invisible hand has already begun to play its part in this.

“Not so fast,” says the free market.

The new builder and homebuilder market will be huge for these national roofing players. However, nobody who lives in and owns their home wants their roof installed by an equity fund! They want their roof installed by a roofer, preferably a local one.

Experienced roofers with knowledge of the business are quitting their roofing jobs, but they’re not leaving the industry.

My cousin and his business partner, whom I mentioned at the beginning of the article, are prime examples of this. The repercussion? They started their own company, and I built these roofers their first website.

You can see my work at TopTierMN.com.

Like all websites, this is a work in progress.

Our next step is a photo shoot, a new phone line, a truck wrap, business cards, direct mail, more apparel, and the list goes on.

I’m so excited to help these roofers get their work done (better)

When they first called me, they were already installing roofs under their LLC. All of the obstacles most business owners face were taken care of.

There was no second-guessing their operating system that was already proven.

They started a roofing company from ‘scratch, and their first obstacle was a domain.

We purchased the domain together during an in-office visit. Although there are better domain registrars, we used GoDaddy because I knew they were already familiar with the service. Thank you, Super Bowl commercials.

With the power of local word-of-mouth and referrals, you truly do not need a website. It was an added luxury for them.

The main reason they called was for a professional email tied to their domain.

What did I learn from this?

The consumers who can get ahold of the real roofers will choose them any day over a larger private equity fund. Even if they can only reach the roofer via personal cellphone.

Equity funds and consumers do not align in the industry. The consumer doesn’t care about how many locations a roofing company has, how robust the website is, how many sales representatives they have, or how much revenue one or the other generates. The consumer wants their roofing project completed by someone they can trust.

Professional email, website, professional video, etc. can all contribute to that trust factor. But what it comes down to is doing what you say you’re going to do and providing social proof that you have done that recently.

I don’t think the consolidation in the roofing industry is a good thing.

It might pay off in the short term for equity funds, but it won’t pay off in the long term.

Many of these brands will lose all of their local connections and trust, spoiling what these businesses and brands worked hard to build.

The invisible hand of the free market will create roofing companies where they are needed.

Brands and strategies will be built from the ground up. The story about consolidation in the roofing industry is far from over.

I am excited to build the Next Generation of Home Service Businesses with my friends and colleagues.

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People couldn’t believe the offering either; was he really going to guarantee a cash offer to any home on the market?

The billboards became a local attraction, driving social media engagement (or enragement?) and even prompting an annual costume contest.

But at what cost? Do the advertising efforts pay off?

What is it about these regional campaigns and ‘local celebrities’ that create more buzz, attention, and organic traction than any national campaign?

It’s not just Kris Lindahl:

In Milwaukee, it’s Gruber Law

In South Dakota (and beyond), there’s Wall Drug

In Alabama, it’s Shunnarah

(Comment your favorite local advertising celebrity below)

In each one of these cities, there are plenty of billboards for national restaurant chains, gas stations, and convenience stores. Sometimes there are more billboards for McDonalds than there are for the ‘local celebrities.’

What came first, the billboard or the McDonalds?

This kind of advertising is expected from large national brands like McDonald’s. That’s not to say the advertising is not effective, but it’s nothing notable to see the same McDonald’s billboard for the fifth time while on a road trip. EXIT NOW.

When we do finally decide we’re ready for a burger and fries, the same way we expect the McDonald’s billboard before the exit, we expect the same McDonald’s experience we get everywhere else.

National brands are expected to show up. Each time they show up where they are expected to, the consumer is satisfied and is likely to become more loyal.

Good national billboard advertising is still possible, but often times it’s just an extension of their larger messaging attempts.

In some cases, brands use out of home advertising as a host for a larger marketing initiative.

Very rarely do you see a national brand heavily rely on out of home advertising as the main catalyst of a marketing initiative. Instead of recreating the out of home campaign, they reproduce the individual campaign on other, less expensive to produce channels.

“Why is it so common to see our skyline dominated by familiar faces on a regional level?” I asked a rep for one of the top three billboard companies in the USA.

For an advertising volume of 100+ billboards annually, budgets will be well above 7 figures, but discounts can be as high as 60% off of retail costs, especially when filling ‘unsold’ inventory.

This would explain the frustrating phenomenon of Kris Lindahl being on three interstate billboards right in a row. Nobody else was buying ad space in the area.

Not considering any discounts, Kris Lindahl’s 600 billboards in 2020 would have retailed anywhere between $20Mil-$28Mil based on a rate card obtained from a representative at one of the top three billboard companies in the USA.

The billboard rep explained why national out of home advertising campaigns are so rare. They shared that when new products are released nationwide, the advertising is rolled out in ‘key’ markets. For example, Anheuser-Busch might select Miami, LA, and New York as key markets for a new beverage flavor.

This rollout can work great for national brands. Using their ‘key’ market rollout as the main catalyst of their marketing initiative. It can be especially effective to use key markets to tell a story about what rollout could have looked like in each market using a multi-channel marketing approach.

This approach leaves room for the “real-life Better Call Saul” in markets where they leave unsold inventory.

It’s not fair to say that national brands are missing a potential opportunity to generate organic local media, discussion in the community, and social media traction by simply blitzkrieging any given market with their advertising, like Kris Lindahl.

If the national brand were to do this, would the local reaction be the same? Would costume contents for Volkswagen's next electric vehicle take place if they simply made grass billboards in each market?

The national brand would have to carefully curate the campaign for each regional market.

National brands are stuck. They are expected to show up but are often overlooked when they do.

Local brands are stuck. The locality of their brand constrains them.

For example, a law or real estate office cannot maintain the same level of locality and trust while expanding their offices geographically. However, as revenue continues to climb, there is always the expectation of constant growth. They must find a way to scale in place.

This creates the perfect storm for a local celebrity; high ad spend and market saturation being the best option for scale.

This is especially true when national brands start to back away from less photogenic or ‘instagrammable’ OOH inventory.

When a local brand shows up where they are not expected, it’s notable.

Once these local companies are on their way to or well past market saturation, their main effort should be reputation management.

Do people know and like you?

I started to explore the economics of a regionally dominant OOH advertising campaign. Is it really worth it?

Kris Lindahl’s real estate business has certainly seen a surplus in organic Google search volume over the past decade.

You can see the term ‘Kris Lindahl’ peak in the summer of 2019.

The billboards were a catalyst for this increase in search volume, as you can see below.

I do also assume that the 38% of queries regarding his ‘net worth’ were from Minnesotans so inundated with his messaging that they had to know what kind of ego-centric millionaire would plaster his face all over their city.

So we know that people are seeing Kris Lindahl’s ads, and they know who he is, but was business booming?

A Star Tribune article writes, “The Minneapolis ad executive who handles Lindahl's media buys, Tracy Call of Media Bridge Advertising, argues that the omnipresent ad campaign "is not ego-driven." It's practical — and effective.”

In 2018, Kris Lindahl had 30 agents and 964 transactions. Transactions moved up to 1,250 in 2019.

“The bottom line: Lindahl said the billboards helped his company reach 2,000 transactions in 2020. He has also grown from 100 agents at the start of the year to nearly 300 now.” Axios Twin Cities has the data to prove its effectiveness.

Kris Lindahl processed 1,560 transactions in 2023.

Since 2017, Kris Lindahl has certainly achieved market saturation. They have scaled back on the billboard budget, but they’re still an aggressive player in the market.

In the case of Kris Lindahl, the advertising campaign exceeded their expectations, and Kris himself says the billboards are going nowhere “while they still work.”

However, managing their reputation will be imperative if they want to continue to scale.

Locally, when brands can manage the new attention and ridicule with a strategic response, this strategy shows a proven ROI. If everyone is going to know you, a majority of those people need to like you.

You can find the game in each of my newsletters.

2/10/26

Clues:

• Mermaid

• Seattle

• Roast

Answer:
Starbucks