Category — TV Commercials

One of the classic advertising strategies is to employ nostalgia. There are certain things from the past that a popular culture thinks fondly of, and drawing on these things for your advertisement can create a strong positive association.

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Possibly one of the most annoying commercials ever created has been given a Techno Makeover!

Cillit Bang has to have all the ingredients specially designed to irritate your eyes, ears and credulity, but considering the amount of air time it is given I guess we have to assume it has been successful.

The loud, brash, hypey advertisement has been made, shockingly, even more loud, brash and annoying. Yes, somehow they managed this feat, with … wait for it … a techno remix.
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When was the last time an advert made you go “wow”? For me, it was the first C4 ad from Citroen.

You might be able to tell my geek tendencies, yesterday was Superman, today it is Transformers.

Well, not the real Transformers, but I expect it was partly seeing this advert that made them sure they could pull the movie off.
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When I stumbled across this particular commercial work of art I was ecstatic. This clip seems perfectly constructed, with each of its elements intricately developed.

The visual aesthetics of the set design are flawless. The setting is in the midst of a one-on-one strip tease. The colors are vivid and the fabrics draping every wall are rich in satiny, cushioned texture. A beautiful woman, adorned in racy pin-up-era style lingerie slithers around one solo chair in the middle of the small room. As Screamin’ Jay Hawkins croons the classic tuneI put a spell on you, the lady dances before a gentleman who watches as she slowly dresses herself in fine clothing. And putting the finishing touches on her designer outfit and strutting towards the exit, the commercial comes to a close.

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It is a shame that this commercial was banned from airing before anyone ever got to be entertained by its ultra-realistic comedy. After all of the mind-numbing, insignificant commercials that society members are potentially forced to endure, one such as this begs to be seen by all. Below is another fascinating look into what commercials should, and hopefully one day will prove to be.

As clips such as this continue to be made, as writers like myself continue to promote their viewing to the masses, and as people hungrily yearn for more– hopefully one day the idea will catch on. That what society really wants, is exactly what ads like this one promote: raunchy, sexy, and humorous portrayals of a very identifiable reality.

Aside from language (and the incredible array of accents that accommodate them), the United States differs from other countries in one major way—sex.

The use of sex as an advertising tool is much more overtly demonstrated in other countries than in our own. Check out this list of eight sexy commercials from other countries that would never see the light of day in the United States. See exactly how other countries outdo the US in their ability to leave you hot, bothered, and begging for more. [Read more →]

This year’s E-Trade Super Bowl commercial featured a talking baby sitting in front of the computer doing stock trades. The commercial was a huge success for E-Trade on several fronts.

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Inspired by the original GEICO Cavemen commercials, ABC decided to launch a Cavemen TV Show. The show flopped miserably. The Chicago Tribune called it one of the worst 25 TV shows of all time.

Not surprisingly, the show was canceled. And GEICO decided they’d capitalize on the show’s failure by employing a little self-mockery. They aired this commercial during Super Bowl 2008:

The GEICO commercial positions the “real” Cavemen (from the GEICO commercials) as analysts of the “fake” Cavemen from the ABC TV Show, suggesting that the mistake was in using fake Cavemen who wore makeup.

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Victoria’s Secret decided to take a gamble this year and splurge for a $3 million plus commercial during the Super Bowl. The gamble paid off.

According to Nielsen Media Research, Victoria’s Secret’s lingerie commercial in the 2008 Super Bowl was seen by 103.7 million viewers, more than any other.

Why was the ad buy a risk?

Unless the game is close, a 9:45pm commercial in the Super Bowl runs the risk of being seen by far fewer people than a first quarter commercial which is the most consistent quarter for peak viewership during the Super Bowl. For lots of people, the Super Bowl “event” ends at half time. Unless, of course, the game is close.

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Commercials during your favourite TV shows are often called “a necessary evil”. To some extent that’s understandable - people need to make money and show paid ads during prime-time television is a great way to do so.

But do commercials really HAVE to suck? Isn’t there some way that we could actually make them better - better for the audience AND better for the companies pushing those ads? I say this because I figure that:

less people hating your ad = more people watching it = more people buying your product

As long as the ad agency remembers to put in a call to action and understands the basics of conversion, the above formula should hold true, correct?

So let’s look at how we can fix the bane that is TV commercials - and it’s quite simple really: find out WHY they suck and remove that irritant without compromising on the basic goal (i.e. sell stuff / promote your brand / etc).

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