Super Bowl Commercials - WTF??!!
- Thread starter sablebrush52
- Start date
The good news is that this business plan will eventually put these advertising agencies out of business. What you describe is akin to severe onanism.
the biggest success in advertising in my opinion has been in selling their own worth. And in presenting a pseudo psychological scientific explanation for their ability to successfully manipulate. To claim successes that there is zero clear evidence for. Beyond putting the name of the product in a persons head. Or in other words beyond creating awareness or at least boasting awareness of a product. Though there are a few clear examples of advertising turning people away from products. I think you pretty much hit the nail on the head with a lot of how they work. And there is a new wrinkle as well. Which is that in your day and even in my day advertising was more likely to be a career end game, where as now it's often seen as a stepping stone a way to pay the bills being somewhat creative and hopefully getting some attention on ones self. The thing is that as long as companies feel like that's the thing they need to do to remain competitive the industry will chug along.
Ads are, by and large, a business expense, therefore ....... deductible, by and large. Businesses do measure sales up ticks which can easily be matched to ad buys. That's why products ads are targeted to various demographics. So time slots vary in cost. We old folks are targets on certain shows at certain times of day. So called "prime time" shows are aired during drive time in my area. Ergo, it is harder to target specific ages. Ad buyers and sellers do not have an easy time of it any longer. Three networks, delayed showing and such made things much tidier years ago.
true but the big question is how much the things they charge extra for have any effect. Essentially is what they do really significantly more effect then if they just had you go on t.v. and tell people what the product is and it's name and how to get it. Although I think that would turn into one of those ads that gets popular and watched for entertainment.
The one thing that is certain is the best job advertisers have done selling anything is selling their own value, whether it's deserved or not is the question I raise.
That all depends on how the "extras" add up. If they're just a cool looking ramble, not much if at all. If they add up to a memorable construction that leaves a highly favorable impression of the product, then it's money well spent. What's interesting is that the pong commercial appears to have been pretty effective at generating interest because it was constructed to engage its target audience in a way they to which they could relate.
And, that wasn't by accident.
there is certainly a difference between advertising to a specific sub set of interest then to the population at large. You really have to know the audience for the one to work.
To distract even more one of the worst advertising things I remember was from the late 90's and movies would be advertised at different times on different shows. And several movies would get ads that made it look like a rom com or an action movie depending on the demographic target.
I’m late to this party…but, due to some a-holes at Richard’s Sporting Goods, I wanted to bitch about something.
The problems with the commercials are many. But, there are three things which stand out to me. 1. No one can tell whoever came up with these ideas that they suck or they’ll get dragged into HR and likely fired for being too mean. 2. Millennials are smarter than all of us, especially you old timers “boomer” ? and they consider their “creativity” to be beyond your comprehension and have been entitled to label their stupidity as your lack of understanding. 3. Anything proposed that was probably worth a shit was nixed because it didn’t pass the “offensive” checklist and somewhere, some Karen would have made a fuss that would lead to that companies products getting yanked from shelves somewhere and then idiotic letters from those companies CEO’s further supporting the absolute bullshit.
That conversation could go on for a while. But, I guess in the end if they’re reaching the audience they want to hook ?
. What I’d be interested in seeing are the metrics they’re using to calculate that ROI….
But - I have to say I actually thought the halftime show was very well done. I get some people were turned off by the “genre. I might be one, but I liked it.
OK, rant over for now ?
The problems with the commercials are many. But, there are three things which stand out to me. 1. No one can tell whoever came up with these ideas that they suck or they’ll get dragged into HR and likely fired for being too mean. 2. Millennials are smarter than all of us, especially you old timers “boomer” ? and they consider their “creativity” to be beyond your comprehension and have been entitled to label their stupidity as your lack of understanding. 3. Anything proposed that was probably worth a shit was nixed because it didn’t pass the “offensive” checklist and somewhere, some Karen would have made a fuss that would lead to that companies products getting yanked from shelves somewhere and then idiotic letters from those companies CEO’s further supporting the absolute bullshit.
That conversation could go on for a while. But, I guess in the end if they’re reaching the audience they want to hook ?
. What I’d be interested in seeing are the metrics they’re using to calculate that ROI….But - I have to say I actually thought the halftime show was very well done. I get some people were turned off by the “genre. I might be one, but I liked it.
OK, rant over for now ?
People have remotes if an ad in the middle of something they are watching disturbs them. So, ads are carefully crafted to appeal to the demographic with the money and, hopefully, an interest in the product. Ad agencies are peopled by well educated, creative types. Once an ad idea is accepted, then develiped, people are brought into "rate" the ad and how it impacts them. These ads are not usually developed in a vacuum. Devices are strapped to the viewer to measure such things as eye movement, respiration, and etc.
Then, the quirky owner f some companys, shows up on TV sharing the camera with monkeys or some such, spounting his/her own "homespun" script and sells billions of dollars worth of merchandise. Highly educated and paid ad folk go home and gargle their guns.
Then, the quirky owner f some companys, shows up on TV sharing the camera with monkeys or some such, spounting his/her own "homespun" script and sells billions of dollars worth of merchandise. Highly educated and paid ad folk go home and gargle their guns.
The ad agencies I worked with did a lot of research before presenting a campaign to a client. This stuff isn't born in a vacuum.
One of the things that used to drive me nuts was how the Agency people would go into a huddle to discuss every little decision that had be be made while on set so that no one person would have to take responsibility. Drove the costs through the roof. And they would send out a small army to do what a few people could have done better. There were also "creatives" who would disappear while we were making the spot, usually off getting loaded, laid, and buying clothes. They would reappear to nix something they had asked for so that they continue to party hearty on the sponsor's dime while avoiding having to return to their dysfunctional families. They always rode out the clock.
Every once in a while I'd meet someone who was truly amazing, gifted, insightful, really smart. But the vast majority of Agency folk were just empty shells who weren't worth spit and knew it.
And that's just the good side of them.
One of the things that used to drive me nuts was how the Agency people would go into a huddle to discuss every little decision that had be be made while on set so that no one person would have to take responsibility. Drove the costs through the roof. And they would send out a small army to do what a few people could have done better. There were also "creatives" who would disappear while we were making the spot, usually off getting loaded, laid, and buying clothes. They would reappear to nix something they had asked for so that they continue to party hearty on the sponsor's dime while avoiding having to return to their dysfunctional families. They always rode out the clock.
Every once in a while I'd meet someone who was truly amazing, gifted, insightful, really smart. But the vast majority of Agency folk were just empty shells who weren't worth spit and knew it.
And that's just the good side of them.
I had a similar experience with FOX when we were working on a $1.2M pilot (more than was spent on the X-Files pilot as I recall) in 1997 featuring puppets I designed. Every executive put in his or two cents to be able to claim credit if something worked, but, not enough to claim responsibility if it didn't. It was incredibly frustrating.
My problem with the ads are they are inherently deceptive and some just outright lie or depend on technicalities to mislead. All the electric vehicle ads for example show people apparently driving on road trips - which is fine if your road trips are under 300 miles. They don't tell you about the limitations of electric vehicles such as you have to stop and recharge the batteries and the costs involved with that or the length of time you have to sit and wait for a full charge.
And it's not just electric vehicles. I saw an ad the other day for a Hyundai Santa Fe claiming it was the first of its kind for several features that Subarus have had for many years.
And it's not just electric vehicles. I saw an ad the other day for a Hyundai Santa Fe claiming it was the first of its kind for several features that Subarus have had for many years.
It's just another example of the rot that has infested America.
I learned that on that project. One of the producers, who worked on Seinfeld, assured me working with FOX would be the worst of my experiences and it would only get better. It was a brutal year and half project. But, it actually got shot, which was a miracle. Unfortunately, FOX was in turmoil at the time and someone from Comedy Central took over our greenlit project—what was to be an airable pilot that went straight to series became a $1.2M test that never saw the light of day. But, it was an interesting experience. What started as a telephone conversation between my friend and me brainstorming became a reality of sorts. Miserable people, a lot of these TV execs.
A very tenuous career choice. They usually work with other people's moneys and if they've been successful . . . they are expected to be successful. Failure is no longer an option. Back in the day, when a studio was owned be a person, not a corporation, things were a bit easier I'm assuming. If you were John Ford you could have a lousy production now and then, the studio head might even, consciously, allow him to make a "stinker". But, not too many. The studio owners were, from my limited knowledge, despots, sometimes benevolent but, most often demanding and controlling. Now, it's boards and demanding shareholders. demanding investors, bored and demanding audiences which are scattering to the internet, fleeing the theaters.
You folks in the creative arts business have my sympathy. Your customers are shelling out big bucks and expect a return on every investment.
The people who create these ads know that 97% of viewers are stupid. Than God I’m in the other 5% .
What they "know" is that hitting the target market is "iffy" and that many are in competition for the limited moneys available. Also, they "know" people are not tossing their moneys around, particularly in the present. So, they strive for those available dollars, are well paid pros when successful and, gone like the wind when not. It's not a commercial market where past performance is anything other than the "bar" and a successful ad-man better be beating that bar each and every time or, they'll be asking you if "you want fries with that?"