DIGITAL MEDIA GHOST
  • Publication
  • #GhostsWriteIt Spotlight
    • Writer Spotlight Submission
  • Services
    • Digital Strategy
      • Content Marketing
      • Law Firm Marketing
      • Social Media Management
    • Ghostwriting
    • Public Relations
      • Social Sabotage & Online Privacy
        • Social Media Policy Template
  • About
  • Publication
  • #GhostsWriteIt Spotlight
    • Writer Spotlight Submission
  • Services
    • Digital Strategy
      • Content Marketing
      • Law Firm Marketing
      • Social Media Management
    • Ghostwriting
    • Public Relations
      • Social Sabotage & Online Privacy
        • Social Media Policy Template
  • About
Search

Selling Love in 30 Seconds

2/10/2015

0 Comments

 
by Geoff Gillette

Marketing gurus have been trying for years to find just the right alchemical formula to make an ad campaign work. To create a sense of urgency in the viewer to click that mouse or pick up that phone and BUY BUY BUY!  And let’s be honest, sometimes it works. Sometimes they catch lightning in a bottle.

The big question though is why? What makes one campaign work and another flop?
If answering that question were easy, ad companies would be richer than the oil industry. But the reality is that many times it is a question of marrying your product with the right kind of branding, then figuring out how to present that branding in such a way that people fall in love at first sight and just have to have it.
Sometimes it’s a matter of capturing the cultural zeitgeist in just the right campaign. Look at Apple’s 2009 ads featuring Justin Long as Mac and John Hodgman as a PC. Apple had a product that worked exceptionally well, but had a price tag that made it hard for consumers to bite the bullet and shell out the extra cash.

Then along came the ads, which had Hodgman hamming it up at his nerdy best (the very epitome of uncool) and Justin Long as the handsome young hipster. Even though they were talking about computers, he made it sound cool. And without ever really hyping their product. He just made people WANT to buy them because it would (by corollary) make them cool as well. That was a campaign so popular that in 2010 Adweek declared “Get A Mac” to be the best ad campaign of the 2000s.

What made it work five years ago, though, may not be as successful today. At the time, being thought of as a hipster was still something of a mark of cool, whereas now it has taken on a more pejorative connotation. Hey, when the Simpson’s dedicates an entire episode to riffing off all of the bizarre quirks of hipster culture, you know your cultural relevance timer has begun ticking away.

So the key becomes finding what about your branding and product have appeal and packaging that appeal in such a way that it latches on to whatever meme or idea has currently bubbled to the top of our ever-mutating pop culture.

The recent Superbowl commercials certainly gave some ideas of what to/what not to do. Most people’s favorite commercial (according to Twitter) was the Budweiser Lost Puppy. It married the Budweiser Clydesdales with a cute little puppy and even had the very clever hashtag #bestbuds. Some people assert that the ad was schmaltzy (overly sentimental and emotionally manipulative) and that schmaltz sells. But that case can not be proved conclusively because of our second example.

The extraordinarily depressing Nationwide Insurance Superbowl Ad. Where the Budweiser ad engendered feelings of tenderness and that “awwwww” moment, the Nationwide ad just bummed people out. It created a torrent of negative responses against the company and did immeasurably more harm than good. It’s intent was clear, “Make sure your kids are safe,” but the execution was so poorly conceived that halfway through I wondered if I was watching a sneaky back-door trailer for the new season of The Walking Dead.

What’s your thought? Is there a single key ingredient to what makes you love a commercial or promotion?
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Picture
    Become a Ghostwriter!
    Picture
    Contribute to DMG
    Picture
    BECOME A GUEST CONTRIBUTOR
    Picture
    PROMOTE YOUR BUSINESS BY GUEST POSTING
    Picture
    ARE YOU A GHOSTWRITER? WE WANT TO KNOW!
    Picture
    DO YOU HAVE A GHOSTWRITING BUSINESS?

    RSS Feed

    Categories

    All
    Agency Spotlight
    Business
    Digital Marketing
    Ghost In A Flash
    Ghostwriting
    Media Relations
    Privacy Concerns
    Social Sabotage
    Technology
    Writer Spotlight
    Writing

    Advertising Disclaimer

    Archives

    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    May 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012

Find your domain and create your site at Weebly.com!
Digital Media Strategy
Content Marketing
Law Firm Marketing
Search Engine Optimization
Social Media Marketing
eBooks
Writing
Becoming a Ghostwriter
Blogging
Content Marketing
Ghostwriting Services
Guest Post Guidelines
Media Relations
Online Crisis Management
Personal Brand
Public Relations
Reputation Management
About
Our Team
Our Results
Testimonials
Contact Us
Locations:
New Orleans, LA
Nashville, TN

DMG University
Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions | Cookie Policy
Digital Media Ghost  @2020
  • Publication
  • #GhostsWriteIt Spotlight
    • Writer Spotlight Submission
  • Services
    • Digital Strategy
      • Content Marketing
      • Law Firm Marketing
      • Social Media Management
    • Ghostwriting
    • Public Relations
      • Social Sabotage & Online Privacy
        • Social Media Policy Template
  • About