Brand Marketing Tips by Steve Poppe » tv commercials

Super Bowl’s Boorish Ads.

Steve Poppe — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 13:18:57 +0000

Was it me or was there an awful lot of violence in the Surer Bowl ads last night? One glaring example was the spot where octogenarian Betty White was tackled in a Snickers spot and Tim Tebow’s mom was tackled in the next spot.

Then there was the flying Dorito piercing the neck of the snack thief, a spot where everybody kept hitting or slapping each other (I’m still beside myself with laughter) and an assortment of other “people tackling people” spots. I’m no prude, but this was just boorish.

Is this the result of the violent video game phenomenon — where the lowest common denominator for the American target is slapstick violence? Granted, there were lots of commercials that did not use violence as a humor device in the Super Bowl last night. And I know football is a violent game, but how many kids are going to slap one another at school today and giggle as a result of last night’s body of work? Most people will think I’m overreacting but those at the women’s shelter won’t. A pretty embarrassing night for me. PEACE!

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Ads. TV vs. Online.

Steve Poppe — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 13:56:00 +0000

Quick, think of the best online ad you ever saw. What is it? Thought so, you can’t. Okay maybe the BMW webisode or Whopper Challenge…but that’s about it. Know why? Because, for the most part, web ads aren’t that artful. Low cost, lacking in original music and idea, most leaderboards and rectangles are stilted, choppy and pretty ham-handed (whatever that means). The audio is usually sub-par and often stock.

McCann-Erickson was once the best shop in the world at creating original music for its clients. Today it’s a lost art; now agencies crow about buying music from the next Emo or House band. On the cheap. Music adds a richness and a tone to advertising;it becomes part of the story. Most people on the web don’t want audio in their ads.

The reason TV commercials still work better than any other advertising medium is the story telling. The casting. The stylists. Sounds design. Editing. TV commercials create emotional responses. Writing for a :30 must be perfect because the story is so short. Every word counts.

Digital advertising is a wonderful new medium in that gets consumer one-click away from purchase or inquiry, but today that ROI metric is overshadowing the potential artfulness of the medium. When ideas have to be bounced off the Flash editor, you know you are in trouble. Peace!

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DVRs

Steve Poppe — Mon, 07 May 2007 17:34:00 +0000

Digital Video Recorders, now reported to be in over 17% of homes with televisions are often vilified for making it easy to fast-forward through commercials, and deservedly so. I admit to shrinking shows I’ve recorded to 44 minutes, or so. But sometimes, I forget to fast forward and watch, especially if they are good commercials. Not many are, though, and that is a problem.

There is a DVR phenomenon worth noting that not everyone talks about, and that is multiple viewings of a program by different household individuals on different schedules. My house may watch “24” three times in a given week. And some people, my son for instance, like to keep shows on the hard drive and watch them over and over. “Kill Bill” Volumes 1 and 2 have been on the hard drive, along with the commercials, for months. These are cases of DVRs actually adding to commercial viewership, Mr. Nielsen.

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