The “formula” for successful advertising is pretty simple:
Don’t talk about the advertiser or the product until after you’ve made the targeted consumer want what’s being advertised.
This commercial pains me doubly.
1. In my radio advertising seminars, I love playing a Home Depot spot from years ago that does an excellent job of anticipating and overcoming consumer objections.
Whoever created this worthless 30-second blight…Well, I wouldn’t be surprised to hear that Home Depot has brought its radio advertising “in-house.”
2. The one line that best sums up the secret of successful advertising is the oft-quoted, “Don’t tell me about your grass seed; talk to me about my lawn.”
Yet here’s Home Depot, telling us about their grass seed.
Yes, theoretically they talk about “my lawn,” in the middle of the commercial. But by beginning with the name of the retailer and of the product manufacturer and the weight of the bag and the everyday low price, they squander the attention of any prospects in the radio audience.
Sad.
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Radio is, essentially, made up of a colony of penguins. Asking any of them to step out of line and actually learn how to cobble together some listenable and effective commercials is not on the list of stuff penguins really like.
Besides, I have yet to meet a penguin that could write itself off an ice floe.
The best thing to be when around penguins is a leopard seal.
Great points, Dan.
@Ronald T. Robinson: That’s a quite funny metaphor.