Innovative Advertising Ideas Generation Tool

He soon discovered that those tips, which came instinctively from years of experience, were an inspiration to businesses who had never understood the possibilities or options that were available to them.

'In that time, I've spoken with hundreds of SMEs wanting to create an advertising campaign of some sort, and really struggling with the processes of advertising creative and media selection and very small budgets,' said Rudy.

'We started out looking for a way of educating SMEs about advertising and the first thought was to write a book. But there are hundreds of great advertising books on the bookshelves which for one reason or another just don't get read by SME proprietors. SMEs tend to be focussed entirely on their product or process and really just can't get a handle on the advertising process because they don't have the requisite knowledge or experience. On top of that, the world is getting busier each year and when you're very busy and have little discretionary time, reading books is one of the first areas that suffers."

''We needed to develop a product that caters for small to medium enterprises - a product designed for people with an inherent short attention span - something that would help develop powerful advertising campaigns without huge expense. And we needed something that was quick, fun and educational all in one.

"So we looked for a different medium and eventually hit on the idea of a card-based system which we've evolved into AdPack. As we've progressed the concept, we've found it's a medium which fits nicely with the way people think, and doesn't get you bogged down."

''Interestingly, the tool we developed for SMEs has been very popular with corporates and agencies too - we've sold AdPack into some of the biggest companies in the country and it is getting terrific results as a brainstorming and team building tool.

'It's great to get the team involved in coming up with advertising concepts but so many times I've facilitated sessions like that and you realise that the staff have no concept of how advertising works or how much it costs or how to define the most appropriate medium. They'll come up with rockets going across the screen in a television commercial and it's just ad hoc thinking. The cards give you a snapshot of the medium or concept and help to define limits or boundaries which help to put the ideas within a workable context.

'Though adpack has been positioned as an in-house, hands-on tool for generating advertising ideas, it is not a substitute for an advertising agency. Adpack provides many ideas to promote a business but it will never be a replacement or substitute for the real thing. Adpack is a great stepping stone for those people who cannot yet afford or simply don't want to afford an ad agency. In fact, adpack is even a great tool for helping marketing professionals break the mental marketing block.

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