Why Bother creating boring limp ideas and marketing?

The marketing madness and idea stupidity, continues.

Let's see why that is.

All thanks to a company called Bother. 

(And the name itself 'Bother', is, as you'll soon see, rather dim and unoriginal on the choice and selection scale.)

BOTHER.

In essence, their angle is...

We bother (about taking care of the shopping) so you don't have to.

And what was the genesis of the thinking here?

Of many being bound together by an unrelenting burning, yet basic irritation of running out of this and that around the home, so wanted some solution to that. 

Is that a burning marketplace desire for a problem that needs solving that hasn't already been solved? 

There's a business with 57 people.

There's mention on the website of the business being backed and supported by a few well known businesses. 

To what capacity, that's not clear. 

Whatever proportion has been invested by the owners piling their own money into the business, or if it's loan or VC backed, there could be a long waiting game in the money being returned, based on the communication and marketing evidence. 

Whatever the case, there's a lot that needs re inventing and recreating. 

Let's touch on a few ideas.   

Take the promotional flyer to do with their business that's popped through the letter box today. 

What's the opening thrust here?

"£15 off your first shop"

Hmmm...

Anything to do with the rise in the cost of living? 

Don't know. There's nothing on the flyer to say that. (Tis a good idea to address the current conversation going on in the minds of one's audience) 

And below that money off your first shop...

There's an image of a list of products.

And... that's it.

Nothing more. 

No compelling story.

No personality.

No reason why. 

So let's see what's on the other side of this promotional piece.  

Mercy me... A headline!

Wow!

Let's dig in.  

"Finally, an eco-friendly way to shop that doesn't cost the earth" 

Now how many times have we heard a version of that cost saving thrust? Nothing new or exciting.  

And below that, a Here's how this works sequence of images along with some copy. 

Nothing mind blowing about it.

Nothing earth wobbling or amazing.

Nothing immediate or instant to have you get your mind racing or to want to make you whip out your money to be part of it.  

How could they apply some proper intelligence to the flyer without resorting to no thinking?  

There are multiple angles to choose from.

One angle is to take a leaf out of David Ogilvy's masterpiece book on ideas and advertising.  

Cleverly named... OGILVY on ADVERTISING! 

Now there are many ideas and angles you can be inspired by in that masterpiece book, if you care to look.   

One such inspiration is an ad to promote Guinness beer.   

And, it was masterfully done via promoting a guide to oysters. 

More specifically...

GUINNESS GUIDE TO OYSTERS!   

 

Now what's that got to do with anything?

Well, by educating and informing people about the various kinds and types of oysters, and by positioning Guinness as the Beer of choice, the connection between the two made people buy more quantities of both beer (Guinness) and oysters!

Oh, and here's what's said about the direct connection between beer and oysters:

Oysters and beer are a remarkable pair. The brine from the oyster not only complements and highlights aspects of the beer, it's washed clean by the beer's crisp carbonation, inviting you to eat another oyster (and another oyster and another oyster and…)      

So how can we transition the idea and employ something similar to Bother and their offering?  

Bother's Guide to The Most Run Out of Popular Products at Home

And then...

Listing 9 or 12 popular products, giving each one a diagram and a real life story and reasons why they run out quickly, etc. And, the different target groups of users can be represented in each different 'square or block'. 

That's not the only idea.

It's an angle.

And it's way better than the £15 off your first order version on the flyer.   

It's informative.

It's entertaining.

It's engaging.

It has personality.

It'll have some people who'll keep that flyer up on the fridge where they can see it.   

Clever, creative, intelligent marketing thinking always outperforms lazy thinking marketers and owners.    

Let's move on:  

Now at least there's a link to a website on the flyer.

I click it and lo and behold, an immediate visual that's as drab as the flyer.

Much of the website is like that.

Now you'll have to wade through the website to see that there's some (at last!) personality inside the minds of those running the ship, but it's locked way inside a rather long pdf that you might not necessarily see where it's located at first glance. 

So what's really missing here with this business? 

I'd say it's about actually solving a core burning need, and doing it in a way that no-one else is doing it. 

Because it seems to me that anyone one of us could sign up to Tesco or Sainsbury's or Ocado, and get the delivery service Bother are trying to compete with. 

And that's a big deal for many.

They want to know why should they switch from Tesco and the rest?  I know I'd want to know that.

How much of an advantage is it for a customer to switch? I know I'd want to know that. 

How much are the comparative money savings? I know I'd want to know that.

Their reasoning and rationale for the business are way too meh for me to want to dive in and test. That could be true for millions of others, also. (That's something to pay very careful attention to here, people at Bother)     

In the website info, there's a line about the owner having a mission to want to rid the world of boring shopping.  

Hmm...

You see, I've no idea how they plan to do that because they've given no real evidence of demonstrating how they're doing that. 

There's no 'amazing or 'astounding' or incredibly novel', going on at work here.

And if their way or methodology of taking the boring out of shopping, is equally represented in the way they've presented their case in their communications, that business isn't going to go very far.   

It takes bold thinking and courageous acts to create a business. 

And yet, bright ideas and proper strategic thinking is put on hold for the ridiculous and untested. 

It's how fanciful, yet crappy communications and marketing, brings down good businesses.

Will Bother be around over the next 5 years? 

Not if they carry on doing what they're currently doing in the way that they're doing it.      

I for one, am not going to bother, bothering about Bother and employing their services.  

            

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