Stella Artois brings a largely residual advertising medium back to life in this stunning short documentary about wall painted advertisements. All while beautifully capturing the emotions and perspectives of a shrinking group of skilled painters that continuously struggle to keep their trade alive, Stella Artois exposes a largely unsung side of advertising.

It is mesmerizing to think of how quick we have forgotten about a medium, that no so long ago, was an industry standard! Although this form of advertising is virtually obsolete, I think that it can connect with consumers in a highly relevant way, as they will tend to recognize & appreciate its artistic merits, rather than see it as a mass-produced commercial message of limited value. At the end of the day this medium also serves as a valuable reminder that advertising is an art in itself! Enjoy the video and let me know what you think! Can such a medium still be used successfully in this day and age? Is it of any value to the industry? What is your take on the subject?

In my opinion, no amount of advertising can compensate for a bad product. At first, the increased amount of advertising might lead to several new purchases, but, once the customers discover that the product is not what they say it is, doesn’t work right or doesn’t compare to the competition, they will not repeat a purchase. Companies will have lost their trust, and once that trust is lost it might never return. Remember that the majority of profits will be generated with repeat purchases. Once the consumer is loyal to a brand, he will generally continue buying the products (therefore increasing revenues), and the company will be  spending far less money on convincing him that the product is good. In other words, reapeat purchases generate revenues long after the initial costs of convincing (converting) the customer  have been amortized. Give a great product to your customers and everybody will be happy. They will continue buying and enjoying your products and your company will stay afloat.

David Ogilvy (founder of the Ogilvy & Mather’s advertising firm and one the most historically renown figures in advertising) truly embodied this idea in his book “confessions Of An Advertising Man”. He states: “Good products can be sold by honest advertising. If you don’t think the product is good, you have no business to be advertising it. If you tell lies, or weasel, you do your client a disservice, and increase your load of guilt…” All in all, companies should make sure that they have a product that stands by their words. Doing so should presumably increase their reputation and consequently lead to an increase in sales. If they know that their product could be better, they shouldn’t advertise to compensate. Instead, they should be thinking about investing the money in refining and developing it. Everybody will benefit!

Microsoft had one big problem: They weren’t listening to their customers. While this model could work in the past (because nobody could really express their anger efficiently), this has changed. In this day and age, it has become more important than ever to listen to your customers. The social networking & publishing tools of the internet let anybody publish their opinion and talk about their brand experiences to the rest of the world. As Jeff Jarvis brilliantly states in his book “What Would Google Do?”: Today, when you lose a customer, you don’t lose just that customer, you risk losing that customer’s friends. And thanks to the internet and blogs and consumer rate-and-review services, your customers have lots of friends all around the world.”

Not listening to their customers meant that they weren’t satisfying their needs, expectations and desires. If your product doesn’t meet the customers needs, they will stop buying your products and eventually all their friends will too. The important thing to remember is that it’s all about the customer: At the end of the day he is the one that will be buying your products, so it seams logical to try and please him. Unfortunately, many companies still haven’t understood this idea. Fortunately, Microsoft finally has.

Their previous product (Windows Vista) was a blatant failure. How did they attempt to make this one better? They listened to their customers and added the features they wanted. Jeff Jarvis states that “Your worst customer is your best friend”. He is quite right. Today’s publishing tools have given your customers the power to tell you what you are doing wrong. All you have to do is listen. Your product will inevitably get better and this will help you in the long run. Remember, that your customers have a lot of friends, and if they like your product, they’ll spread the love. This is a two way model, so embrace it.

More importantly, Microsoft finally understood that in our present market you can’t compensate for a bad product with more advertising. A bad product will inevitably lower you reputation and will definitely have negative impacts on your business. Advertising is of no use until you product meets expectations. If the quality of your product isn’t there, don’t waste your money on advertising, invest it in developing a better product. Once you have a good product, then start promoting it. Furthermore, a good product becomes advertising in itself. People will eventually become so loyal to your company that they will embrace it and spread the love. Don’t believe me? Look at Apple. They understood all this a long time ago.

Microsoft’s latest advertising campaign demonstrates all these ideas brilliantly. I firmly believe that these changes in their brand strategy will pay off. It took them a bit of time to adapt but they are finally moving in the right direction. Now, all they have to do is keep it up.

Check out their latest campaign here:

Windows 7 Collaboration Campaign