Television Commercials done right.

Hello Gang! It's my birthday today and I was thinking about taking the day off, laying on my couch and watching some TV. Then I came to my senses.

I have quite a collection of RSS feeds coming into my Google Desktop and a headline caught my interest a while back and I decided to save the post. It was on Charlie Cook's blog. The post was called "7 Reasons Most Video Commercials are a Waste of Money..." He has some very valid points but I think in order better understand TV's effectiveness you have to point out the differences between the types of commercials and the solution for poor creative.

His seven reasons for TV commercials being a waste of money are right on and can all be tied to creative. If you haven't heard it before, I'll say it again - Creative is key. Properly written, designed and executed ads that get the information across in a clever manner are better retained by a viewer.

I think, to better understand the effectiveness of a TV ad, you need break TV commercials down into 3 categories. Understanding that each category has a different delivery style, they all need to start with a good creative foundation to better convey the message

1. Toma ads.

2. Event/promotion based ads.

3. PSA type ads.

Each type of ad has a completely unique message and production needs to understand the specific delivery requirements for each type of spot.

Toma or Top-of-mind awareness ads are commonly the most creative. Developing these type of spots, a creative director, copy writer and a producer can have the most fun. You're not being pressed to get a bunch of time sensitive and/or price point information into 30 seconds. This gives you more time to send your message is a manner that will grab a viewers attention. Since this type of spot usually has a longer "shelf life" you can dedicate more time to production and concepting.

With event or promotion spots you are required to cram sale dates, calls to action, price points, specials and other need-to-know information into a short amount of time. A higher level of creative is often sacrificed to include the necessary promotional information. However, this doesn't mean that production quality has to suffer. Obviously this type of commercial isn't on air very long, but done right it will do its job and drive traffic.

PSA type spots typically deliver a soft sell and heart felt message. Creative for this type of commercial manifests itself in quality production. Properly written copy coupled with compelling visual is the key to success when producing these type of ads.

Properly executed creative needs to be done right. Think it through. Hire a competent creative director, copy writer and production crew. It may cost a little more than having a local network affiliate produce your commercial, but in the long run, you will get a better product.

 

Perspectives on Creativity

Post contributed by
guest blogger Jen Williams; media
consultant and marketing professional.

"I have my best ideas alone.

Yes, I’m all for teamwork and brainstorming sessions. I’m all for taking those great ideas, bouncing them around the conference room, and seeing where they land. But when it comes to coming up with something truly inspired – whether it’s as simple as a name for a promotion or as complex as a new business idea – I do my best work solo.

Everyone has hers or his own opinions about creativity and where it comes from. From Thoreau and Walden Pond to musicians and their muses, art has historically been known as a solitary pursuit. But as art and business have merged into commercial media, many agencies, marketing departments, newsrooms and editorial boards began modifying the creative process to fit popular business models.

So, amid team-building initiatives and group brainstorming sessions, a lot of individual creativity is lost. Research has shown that, despite its popularity, the concept of teamwork is overrated. Team members, one study showed, tend to work about half as hard on a team than they would work on their own. (http://www.info-arch.org/lists/sigia-l/0606/0097.html; http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06164/697891-28.stm)

Sure, great ideas sometimes hit me out of nowhere, when I’m in the shower or on my morning commute. There’s a lot to be said for the freedom of an open mind, allowed to wander behind a background of white noise. But for me, those random ideas tend to be abstract. Rarely do I have an actual “eureka moment,” when I’m compelled to pull over on the highway’s shoulder to write down that perfect new slogan for the project I’ve been working on.

More often, I’ll be in a meeting during which the team will conclude that this such-and-such needs a new tagline, and six people will look at me expectantly as if I’m going to pull something brilliant out of thin air. Instead, I’ll write down the task assigned and tell them to give me some time.

Then I’ll go in my office, set the phone to go straight to voicemail, turn off my email program, turn up the volume on the radio, close the door, stare at my blank screen a while, and start writing.

Free writing really works for me. When forced to be creative on demand, I find a blank screen especially daunting. I will put whatever words pop into my head on that page, just to have something there. Then I will start making lists. Lists of words I might use in the particular name or jingle or slogan or tagline or print ad. Yes, I’ll even tap into my handy dandy desktop thesaurus (Mac Users: I love Widgets!) and make lists of synonyms for words already on the list. Then I’ll try a
hundred different combinations of all the words on my various lists until something sounds good.

It doesn’t work every time. There are days when I can’t write anything worth a crap to save my life. If I’m at it for more than an hour or so, and the voice mail light is furiously blinking and people are lining up outside my closed office door waiting to talk to me, I’ll probably call it quits for the day and try again tomorrow.

But more often than not, I come up with something not half bad. And maybe, I’ll bring it to the next meeting, and someone on the team will think of some small way to improve it. Or a graphic design to illustrate it. Or a music bed to emphasize it. And then, team creativity kicks into gear and real brainstorming can happen.

But when you create for a living, the real idea has to come from inside you. On your own. It’s not some sort of muse-inspired work of art. It’s your job, and the designer or printer or producer or client doesn’t really care what you were thinking about in the shower this morning. You’re on deadline. Now get to work!"

Whether it is a collaborative effort or a force of one, the bottom line is; great creative is the key to a successful campaign. Without it, your message is just another meaningless diversion in the eyes of a consumer. Thanks for the post Jen.

 

Slipstream Marketing?

"Dr. Max Sutherland, a Marketing Psychologist and Professor at Bond University, has written about a concept he refers to as 'slipstreaming.'... The clever implementation of slipstream style marketing campaigns can allow you to blow by your competition by using the momentum of well-known and instantly recognizable campaigns. Slipstreaming references a collective audience memory, a kind of shared consciousness. Skillful execution draws ínstant recognition and an "Oh I Get It!" reaction without a lot of wasted setup or groundwork. "Give Me The Same Thing, But Different!"" *Credit SitePro News

I went on an advertising pitch recently. After doing some research on the competition and what they were doing differently, we presented our findings to the prospect. When it was all said and done, the head of the department said that they were not interested in what XXXX was doing. Wow, very interesting. That is like saying that Pepsi is not interested in what Coke is doing or Ford is not interested in what Chevy is putting on the street. I am glad to say that we didn't get the account.

Slipstream advertising can take many forms the article says. Imitation in the form of voices, caracter likeness, play on words, comedic product flaws, mocking famous endorsments and the list goes on and on. Saturday Night Live does this all the time by taking current events (public awareness) and twisting them into a message.

The concept behind what Dr. Sutherland calls slipstreaming, is to do what "they" are doing but only different and better. With the understanding that "me too" advertising doesn't work, the key is to figure out how to make your version different but still memorable using the existing awareness. I once heard that every movie that can be made has been made and we are just spinning out different version of the same thing.

If you perform your slipstream marketing correctly, it can be innovative and memorable. If done poorly, it comes off like "me too" advertising and extremely lame.

Its all about creative. Its all about IMPACT.

Call Impact Marketing Technologies today for more information on how you can take your marketing to the next level. 319-232-IDEA

 

How important is creative?

Creative is what drives the most memorable campaigns. Why do you rember the Bud Light commercials? Because they are creative. It doesn't get noticed unless you can remember the message but more importantly consumers need to remember the company that is delivering the message.

One commercial that I keep going back to is the "Terry Tate Office Linebacker" commercials from Reebok. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6238953685626218421 This link is the long form version of the spot that aired in 2004. I mean seriously, they are hilarious. "You kill the Joe, you make some mo" is one of the best lines in the spot. However, they didn't even mention the name of the company until the very end and it was easily missed in a URL for a website that you had to visit. Make me laugh, make me think, but dont make me go looking for who you are unless there is something really good for me at the end.