Late night television watching is fun, until you try to fall asleep. Then they guys advertising the mesothelioma legal help start screaming, Billy Mays get in on the fun and someone starts hawking Sham-Wows. Pretty soon you’re dreaming peacefully of relaxing on a beach in the Caribbean and you’re jolted awake by the screaming.
When I was in high school I took a marketing course. We learned that commercials are a couple of octaves (?) higher than regular programming so that people will notice when they’re on. My teacher told us to pay attention to babies when commercials are on, because we probably don’t notice the change in volume. At the time, my sister was just a baby, so I experimented with her. Sure enough, she’d get alert whenever some commercials came on.
But most people by the time they’re adults seem to learn to block commercials out, so this doesn’t really help anyone grab the attention of viewers. So they decided to use the guerilla tactics. In your face at 3 am, scaring the ever-loving crap out of you when you’ve fallen asleep with the television on. I really can’t stand that. I don’t think most people can stand that. Of course, people do know who Billy Mays and the Sham-wow guy are, so that’s something. They at least get their brand out there.
But then so do spammers on the Internet. Sure they’re spamming your comment box and email inbox, but for every million deletes they get 1 click/1 link so that’s good enough for them. If the guys screaming on television can get one person to pick up the phone, well they’ve their jobs. Right? I don’t know if that’s more effective than actually getting the attention of a couple of people who are so impressed by your message that they spread your message for you and get people to buy that way. I’ve seen some pretty low-key, but highly effective, commercials that I’ve actually discussed with people in the real world.
The most interesting ones, I think, without the in-your-face tactics, are Geico and Free Credit Report.com. The lizard (I don’t care for the pile of money with the eyeballs) and the rock band really get attention and keep their brand in people’s minds. This kind of advertising is the exact opposite of the screeching howler monkeys, because most people like the Gecko and only a few dislike it. So the more people that like it the better. They’re going to think about insurance and what’s going to pop in their mind? Same thing with the cute little band for the credit reports. They’re going to remember that group fondly and not as the noise maker that scared them half to death in the middle of the night.
I think this goes for all kinds of marketing techniques. Memorable for the subtlety is, I think, most effective. It might be more fun to be in-you-face, but it’s certainly not endearing. Just my opinion, of course.
Sphere: Related Content
This entry was posted in Miscellaneous and tagged marketing opinion. Bookmark the
permalink. Both comments and trackbacks are currently closed.
Lizzie on AC
Subtle and Cute
Late night television watching is fun, until you try to fall asleep. Then they guys advertising the mesothelioma legal help start screaming, Billy Mays get in on the fun and someone starts hawking Sham-Wows. Pretty soon you’re dreaming peacefully of relaxing on a beach in the Caribbean and you’re jolted awake by the screaming.
When I was in high school I took a marketing course. We learned that commercials are a couple of octaves (?) higher than regular programming so that people will notice when they’re on. My teacher told us to pay attention to babies when commercials are on, because we probably don’t notice the change in volume. At the time, my sister was just a baby, so I experimented with her. Sure enough, she’d get alert whenever some commercials came on.
But most people by the time they’re adults seem to learn to block commercials out, so this doesn’t really help anyone grab the attention of viewers. So they decided to use the guerilla tactics. In your face at 3 am, scaring the ever-loving crap out of you when you’ve fallen asleep with the television on. I really can’t stand that. I don’t think most people can stand that. Of course, people do know who Billy Mays and the Sham-wow guy are, so that’s something. They at least get their brand out there.
But then so do spammers on the Internet. Sure they’re spamming your comment box and email inbox, but for every million deletes they get 1 click/1 link so that’s good enough for them. If the guys screaming on television can get one person to pick up the phone, well they’ve their jobs. Right? I don’t know if that’s more effective than actually getting the attention of a couple of people who are so impressed by your message that they spread your message for you and get people to buy that way. I’ve seen some pretty low-key, but highly effective, commercials that I’ve actually discussed with people in the real world.
The most interesting ones, I think, without the in-your-face tactics, are Geico and Free Credit Report.com. The lizard (I don’t care for the pile of money with the eyeballs) and the rock band really get attention and keep their brand in people’s minds. This kind of advertising is the exact opposite of the screeching howler monkeys, because most people like the Gecko and only a few dislike it. So the more people that like it the better. They’re going to think about insurance and what’s going to pop in their mind? Same thing with the cute little band for the credit reports. They’re going to remember that group fondly and not as the noise maker that scared them half to death in the middle of the night.
I think this goes for all kinds of marketing techniques. Memorable for the subtlety is, I think, most effective. It might be more fun to be in-you-face, but it’s certainly not endearing. Just my opinion, of course.
Sphere: Related Content