Is Your Opener Pitch Unruly?
What do you do?
Such a simple question. One that pretty much kicks-off any brand new discussion you might have. Yet it is a camouflaged assassin.
At a highly unsociable hour to start the week, I listened to a radio report on London as a super-growth 44,000 worker-strong tech hub. Currently outpacing even Silicon Valley.
One contributor, Sarah Wood, co-founded a pleasingly successful global outfit called Unruly Media.
The Chair asked her what they did. After her delightful initial giggle – quite the disarming sales tactic – she replied;
a video advertising technology firm (um) and we take videos that brands have made (erh) and we help get them watched, tracked, shared across the open web
[host] So you distribute advertising just via the web?
Got it in one.
Their website on the day in question tells us;
Video ad tech company Unruly is the leading programmatic platform for social video advertising
My heart sank a little. “Leading”. “Video ad tech”. “Programmatic platform”. And I haven’t forgotten “open web”. Nor the fact that she so readily agreed with the host’s damaging summary. Surely the week would only get better.
I wonder if sector gossip kings Crunchbase simply copy ‘n paste PR for their label:
the ad tech company that gets videos watched, tracked and shared across the Open Web
Well. Where to start.
It falls down on all the classic levels. Only thinks on the What. Their perspective alone. Repeating the supposed SIC Code tag. If your lexicon leans on the dayglo 80s, it’s all sausage no sizzle.
Let’s look at some of their own language. Their website copy shows promise. They talk of their “super power” and “secret weapon”. A decent couple of stats interest. Yet offset with a hashtag I’m not too sure about (#DeliverWow) and testimonial of lame impact. Sadly standard marketingese;
Typically this won’t set them apart across their arena.
The elusive sparkle will come from language their clients would use. I’d bet the word “viral” features. My very first thought was;
You shoot the video, we send it viral.
A touch crude perhaps. But If you devoted just twenty minutes over coffee on this I know you’ll hit a winner.
There’s different platforms (sorry, couldn’t resist) from which to launch. Most notably if “viral” turns out a banned word.
And I always applaud the promise of improvement. A key yet under-utilised element of problem resolution;
video traffic way better than your last campaign
Yes, these are selling messages rather than marketing. Face-to-face you cannot recite on-screen text and expect to make an impact, expect to spark a conversation. When you’re asked that most deceptive of questions upfront, your opener is pure pitch.
How leading is yours?