The Affari Edge Blog

I recently was asked by one of our favorite media reps to check out a restaurant that’s been open for about six months. The owner just doesn’t understand why they aren’t getting the business that they should. The media rep being one of the nicest guys ever thought maybe we could help put together a more diverse advertising plan to help grow this business.

Before setting an appointment with the owner, my business partner, Dave and I decided to give it a stealth try. We know from experience that the service greatly improves if someone knows you are there to observe their business. We wanted the unbiased, every day, customer-off-the-street service.

As we pulled into the parking lot, on first glance, the place should be destined for success. The restaurant is in a prime location for tourists and locals. In fact, based on location alone the place should be booming. The outside is clean, well-done and extremely presentable. They are also wise enough to have employees park in front, so it looks like there is a good crowd. People want to be where other people are.

As we entered the restaurant we were greeted by a very friendly hostess that promptly showed us to our seats. All seemed like a path to success until we took a winding turn into bleakness. Dave and I saw within about 10 minutes what the owner hasn’t seen in months. There was no life to the place. It was a dark pit of despair! About a third of the lights had either not been turned on, had blown light bulbs or no light bulbs at all. A couple of hanging lights were even missing lamp shades. None of the lights in the bar area had been turned on, even though people were sitting there. Adding to the dreary mood was a row of dead plants hanging mournfully over diners, several TVs that no one had bothered to turn on – adding more dark holes of gloom, and temperatures so frigid that other patrons were also visible shaking.

Okay, so what about the food and service? Isn’t that what really matters most of all? Sadly, not really! In Dave Dee’s blog on February 27, 2007, he talks about an overpriced meal and an under valued artist. He hits the nail on the head that people will put up with mediocre food with great atmosphere. So, when you have a combination of average to below average food and service on top of a sub-zero atmosphere, the only surprise is that the place is still open after six months.

We actually had to finally walk up to the hostess stand to pay for our over priced meal. As we were standing there, Dave asked the waitress who came out in time for her tip if this was the only location. She smiled and said confidentially, “For now!” I thought as my stomach began to churn, “Please don’t afflict this on anyone else.”

So I said ALL of that to make this point, if you own a business send the most objective person you know in WHILE YOU AREN’T THERE to get a true perspective of your organization. As bad as this place was, with the right guidance this place can be turned around and in just a short time it wouldn’t be a far-fetched idea that this place would actually have repeat customers. The owner just needs to trim a few trees to put a little light on the subject and hopefully he can finally see the forest.

P.S. Could someone please pass the Tums!?

So many times when someone finds out that I work in advertising they immediately start telling me how advertising doesn’t work.  It usually doesn’t take long to realize that once again advertising is getting a bad rap typically because of one of three scenarios:

1) An account executive was more concerned with meeting a quota than the client’s needs. 
2) They are copying what their competition is doing; only not as spending as much or doing it as well.
3) Someone they know had great success with a certain medium and since it worked for his business then it must for everyone.      

I hear this regularly, as often as every two to three weeks.  As a business owner, I feel their pain.  These stories time and again involve someone spending thousand of dollars only to have it be as effective as flushing it down the toilet. 

In many cases before we can even begin to share with someone how we can help, we have to gently break it to them that as much as we would like to be able to tell them that the wonderful, caring account executive that was there to “help” really just needed to meet a monthly quota. 

Don’t get me wrong, I love our account executives – most of them anyway!  I even understand that they have a job to do.  It just seems shady to me that an account executive would allow someone to advertise through their medium knowing that it isn’t the right fit.  We recently took over an account that had been placed directly by the client to the station.  First the account executive tried to convince the client that she didn’t want to lose part of her commission.  After she realized she was stuck with us, she confided that one of the stations she had convinced our new client to buy wasn’t really the right fit.  The client has seen some results, but nothing like they should have with the amount of money they spent. 

Over the years, we have seen time and again, that people think that they have to be where there competition is.  Often there is such a clutter of like-minded organizations that you can’t tell one company from another.  No matter what the budget, if you are late coming to the dance, you better make sure you have far better moves and be more strategic if you want to get noticed.  Don’t be afraid to break out of the traditional molds, if you really want to get noticed.  We’ll talk more about ways to do this in upcoming blogs.

Advertising is never a one size fits all proposition.  It’s very important to realize that just because a certain medium worked for one type of company; it won’t work for every one.  I realize this may be common sense, but we regularly hear about people spending money in the wrong place.  It would be very doubtful that a fine dining restaurant would use the same advertising plan as a car dealership that focused on helping to rebuild credit. 

So, the next time you hear that advertising doesn’t work, take a moment to realize that it’s true; it really doesn’t if it isn’t done right.