When Ads are Better Than the Shows

Sometimes an advertisement comes along that just makes me think …

“Why aren’t the shows this good?”

I know some of you will be looking quisically at your screens right now wondering what I was on as I wrote this. Keep with me folks!

What do you get when you combine Jerry Seinfeld and popular culture icon Superman? Comedy advertising gold is what you get.

In 2004 this unlikely pairing came together for a series of short ads that just blew me away. You know what? They weren’t even on television. I saw them online, as did thousands and thousands of others.

There’s more – the ads work as ads even though they are very light on the selling. Check them out, see if you agree.

So what is the idea here? They don’t bang the drum, hardly any reference to the actual product at all.The thing is in this world of Tivo, the web and extreme cynicism towards the hard sell, advertisers have to try extra hard. So what they do to slip under the radar is use comedy and product placement. If you walk away smiling and thinking favorably towards their product then they have won a small victory. Re-enforce this a few times and they might just change your buying behavior.

Does it make you want to run out and sign up to american express credit cards?