Does Your Ad Seek Applause or Sales?

Filed Under Advertising, Branding, Business Development, Business Growth, Copywriting, Direct Marketing, Marketing Tools, Sales, Success

As the super bowl approaches and advertisers belly up to present the intellectual bullion of their respective agencies creatives while the public prepares to be wowed and entertained I can’t help but wonder what we will see.

Will we see originality, sure. Will we laugh, probably.

But the real question we should be asking ourselves is whether these ads will accomplish the clients goals? I say no, unless of course all clients want is a boost to their ego.

Why? Because these ads don’t really work.

If you were to ask advertisers to define the components of an ads originality they may refer to its style, freshness, liveliness, or imagination.

Some may say an original ad is any ad that is different.

But what does all this really mean? And, what does originality have to do with meeting clients objectives?

Advertisers preoccupation with “originality,” at times, can lead to the absurd. The author of Scientific Advertising Claude C. Hopkins once described this phenomenon as writers abandoning their parts. He said, “they forget they are salesmen and try to be performers.” “Instead of sales, they seek applause.”

One of the first men elected to the Copywriter’s Hall of Fame the legendary Rosser Reeves agrees and says, “writers will defend their quest for difference passionately claiming that due to tremendous market clutter, and in order to compete and get the attention of the consumer, the ad must be different.”

Sounds plausible, but what happened to selling the product? If the product is worth paying for then consumers would pay attention to it, wouldn’t they? And so, will the mere “difference,” “cleverness,” “the queer and the unusual” –actually sell more of the product? I think not.

So when advertisers drop the rumored $2.7 to $3 million premium for a 60-second spot during the upcoming Super Bowl at then end of the day I wonder if the investment will really be worth it to clients?

And don’t think savvy advertisers aren’t paying attention, Careerbuilder.com actually fired their agency last year because their ad didn’t score well on one of the viewer voting sites.

I mean lets get real here, when the party is over and all that’s left is the bar-be-que stain on your shirt sleeve and a little swill in the bottom of your glass will you really remember those ads? And even if you do, will they compel you to purchase whatever these advertisers are selling?

After all isn’t that really the goal?

I can hear the agency defendants already screaming, “but these are brand awareness campaigns not designed to deliver tangible results.” And to that I would say if the advertising over time does not deliver a boost in results to the bottom line given no drastic shifts in market dynamics then advertisers have failed.

So before investing in one of these “original campaigns” do yourself a favor and ponder whether the gross plundering of your shareholder’s nest egg is really worth the 60-seconds of originality…and a laugh?

Technorati Tags: Advertising, Brand, Claude Hopkins, Direct Response Marketing, originality, Rosser Reeves, Super Bowl

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