This week in television ad land

We haven't talked about television very much because in most cases it just isn't a good buy for rural & small business. But there are certainly lessons to learn from what the big guys are doing with their ads.

Let's start with my favourite ad of the last couple of months. It's a Jeep ad using pop music as support. People who have attended my workshops know I despise pop music in ads because you remember the music but never the vendor. In this case, the ad is so well done that I remember the vendor just so I can reference it successfully to others.

So take a look at the "Rock Me Gently" Jeep ad. Why does this ad work so well?

First off, the acting is great. The guy has so many terrific expressions that actually match what's going on. And they have done a great match between generations. The guy is young to appeal to a 20 - 35 audience but used music from a generation older. They have made the music an integral part of the ad, not just background music. (and the music sticks in your head altho not sure that's a positive attribute) And laugh! Oh my goodness, after watching it 50 times I still laugh when I see it. And humour is the #1 way to get people to remember your ad. Jeep has found humour that is great to participate with, without being rude or disgusting.

Kudos to the creative team. Positive genius!

Now, the medium success on Canadian television. Aviva Insurance is starting to advertise and went big with the buy. They are on American Idol, Family Guy and some other huge audience spectaculars. Primarily, not sure the buy is worth it. So much of this audience group is outside of their target market. But hey, more people will see it even if they won't care. Maybe a really targeted buy to some specialty channels would have been a better use of the money. It isn't all about being on the biggest shows, it's about using the money sensibly to hit your specific market more often. For every hit on American Idol, no doubt there could have been five hits on a specialty channel.

The ad talks about changing insurance. They have tried to go for humour but it falls down. Mildly amusing at best. The big issue is the colour choices for the banner at the end that identifies the company through logo and website. You can't read the website address and the yellow just overwhelms the screen. You instinctively watch the announcer rather than reading the text in the bright yellow box. Yellow is the most conflicting colour to the human brain so maybe not the best choice for so much screen space.

But bravo to the folks at Aviva that built the survey that supports this ad campaign. It is amusing just walking through, but when you select the "relief" button you can really see that someone has a great sense of juxtaposition. The yellow is still really hard on the eyes so folks will probably rush through it, but at least the exposure and more of the story are there.

And last, and certainly, least - the new RONA split 15-second spots. I've only seen one of them, but in that one they share information that isn't even correct in an attempt to sell more of their product. In the front end 15-second, you get a question. In this case "Can you use the same drywall in all rooms". In the back 15-second, they give you the answer (after you have sat through other people's ads). In this case, they answered "no". Well really, of course you can use the same drywall in all types of rooms. You may not want to, but you can. And in my opinion, split 15s just make people watch the ads in between with more vigour while they wait for the answer. So other advertisers should be thanking RONA for this less than clever sales tactic.

What's the big learn from today's rant?

1. Know your audience and the audiences around them. Jeep does a great job reaching a broad audience base by using music that is now multi-generational.
2. Humor is your friend. Especially when you can do it without being disgusting.
3. Make sure you use great talent. Whether it's your actors or your designers, great talent shows. Jeep has used a terrific creative team and a brilliant, funny actor. Aviva has used some good ideas but the visual team (or the corporate folks with the final say) have mucked it up with the insistence of using so much yellow.
4. Don't use yellow if you don't have to. It hurts the brain.
5. Be smart with your buy. Target your audience and use the methods that reach them with as little spill into useless audience as possible.
6. Don't stretch the truth in your advertising. You'll get caught and it's a negative mark on your brand.

Navel gazing doesn't deliver your message

We've all been there - the website that was obviously designed by internal staff that doesn't come close to being user-friendly or correctly informative.

It's not that there's anything wrong with an internal team of web or graphic designers, writers or tactical planners, other than the fact that they are internal (translation: they are too close to their subject matter).

Being close to the subject matter often makes creative teams susceptible to building websites and marketing materials that only do what the company wants, without taking into consideration what the consumer needs. RONA's website is a good example. They have obviously used some internal categories for sorting their product. User-friendly? I think not.

The initial strategy for the website should be tested with an external audience if it can't be built by an external team. Sure, internal teams often are an economical choice, but if the end product doesn't speak to the consumer then you have not only wasted that internal money but you have lost potential sales.

So how to avoid this issue?

Don't make assumptions about what the consumer knows. Build your website with logical navigation - logical for someone who doesn't know anything about what you do.

Start your messaging with what is in it for the consumer. Count the number of times you use the company name or the word "we". Then compare it with the number of times you use the word "you". For many companies, "we" far outweighs the use of "you". That's the sure test of navel gazing. It isn't about the company, it is about the consumer. Check your current marketing materials and see if you have fallen into this trap.

In our current "it's all about me" society, all your marketing materials should demonstrate the value to the consumer immediately. For websites, you have about three seconds to make your point.