April 26th, 2007
Grant Johnson, CEO of Johnson Direct, will speak on the failure of “killer creative” at the upcoming NEDMA Conference.
Take it away, Grant!
If you were to spend $2.6 million for a 30-second advertisement … and it didn’t sell any product, would you be happy?
I’m guessing “No!”
Once again, the Super Bowl ads were cute and funny (sort of) … but I’ll bet not one of them made anybody say “Wow, I’ve got to go out and buy that product!” or change their buying habits (although some might be a little less inclined to buy a Snicker Bar now).
The reason? As I frequently say: “Killer Creative Rarely Works!”
Remember the “wonderful” Mean Joe Green Coca-Cola commercial? It’s thought of as a classic. We all remember it because it made us tear up at how adorable it was when Joe tossed his filthy game jersey to the kid who had given him a Coke.
Maybe it should have been a laundry detergent ad, because Coke’s sales responded to this commercial by going down! When are companies and their agencies going to wake up?
Sometimes you just have to “ugly” down your creative and concentrate on remembering what works … the basics. Funny and cute don’t sell product. The basics of sound marketing do.
What do you think? Do you agree or disagree with Grant?
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April 27th, 2007 at 9:35 am
I agree wholeheartedly with Grant. The most effective ads are the ones that make you go “hmmm,” and not laugh out loud or be appalled. They’re the ones make you smirk, and realize that you may have a true need for that product or service.
One of ad mogul David Ogilvy’s famous quotes comes to mind, when he said, “A good advertisement is one which sells the product without drawing attention to itself.”
Ad budgets would achieve a much higher ROI if some of the big-time agency creatives would focus more on the benefits of the products and services – and the true purpose of advertising – rather than winning entering and winning Clios. This is apparent in the DM industry too, where there are far too many “beautiful” packages that are missing key elements that make up great DM.
The best selling books on advertising, marketing, and direct mail from the 60s and 70s have some GREAT stuff in them, and I highly recommend spending a few hours on a Sunday morning with one!