I really don’t mean to pick on Aquarium of the Pacific. I featured one of their radio commercials here earlier this year.
But their current spot does so many things wrong that I just have to comment.
The opening line is the commercial for the commercial.
This radio advertisement’s opening line is:
“To learn how climate change puts our polar regions at risk, you don’t have to travel far.”
That’s wonderful news…to anyone who is thinking, “I wonder how climate change puts our polar regions at risk.”
No one in the audience, however, is wondering that.
No one is thinking, “Gosh, I sure would like to learn how climate change puts our polar regions at risk, but I’d probably have to travel far to satisfy that desire.”
So they begin with an opening line that disqualifies the entire radio audience. “Go away,” it screams, “this message isn’t for you.”
“You discover our latest exhibit: Arctic and Antarctic — Our Polar Regions in Peril.”
They’re talking about the polar regions, but the announcer is speaking over a vaguely island-ish music bed.
Yes, the advertiser is Aquarium of the Pacific, which at times might suggest an “island” theme. But this commercial is supposed to be about…well, the arctic regions.
“In this new exhibit, visitors will get up close and personal…”
C’mon. Does this copywriter REALLY need to be told to speak directly and personally to the listener? It doesn’t take a creative or sales genius to know that line should’ve been, “…you’ll get up close and personal…”
You can touch sea jellies.
Meet a real live arctic fox.
See the new Ocean Science Center.
The Aquarium of the Pacific has more than 11,000 living sea creatures.
Family entertainment.
Shark lagoon.
Colorful sea otters.
Hand-feed the colorful no-matter-how-times-I-listen-I-still-can’t-understand-this-word.
This place attracts thousands of visitors.
And what, again, is this commercial about? Oh, yeah: “How climate change puts our polar regions at risk.”
One of their two (which is one too many) Calls To Action is to call a vanity phone number…which I called during the time frame this commercial aired on the radio, and which connected me to a recording that says there’s no such mailbox on this system.
But by golly, this radio commercial does end with the client’s insipid jingle, so I’m sure the client is happy.
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maybe it’s just me, but I got the website loud and clear out of the spot, so I went to the website to find out more….which looks great.
The word you can’t make out is “lorikeets.” They’re Australian parrots. Precisely what I’d expect to find at an aquarium (?!?)
Lorakeets is the hand fed animal-fish-mammal? Hard to believe that this ad came from a large market. Who approved the music? I would have gone from the islandish to a cold arctic wind blast and then perhaps back to the islandish music at the end of the spot, but it’s a pretty weak spot
Truly a bad spot. Start out with the basic conceptual issue of getting folks interested in the polar regions when there are palm trees outside. If Dan is right and no one listening cares about climate change and polar regions, it doesn’t make sense to mount the exhibit in the first place. I don’t think people who don’t care can be persuaded in a radio ad to pay $25 to see it. But given this is California, appealing to climate change “types” makes perfect sense to me.
So this ad should focus on that for that particular audience, and other ads should talk about the cute critters.
But what they’ve done is say “we’ve got this great new thing, and well if you don’t want that, we’ve got this, this and this” and the impact gets lost.
The island type music makes no sense at all, unless it’s the same music they use for all their spots and people think “aquarium” whenever they hear it.
I also have a problem with the voice talent, who sounds unconvincing and trying very hard to get through the copy without stumbling. The copy is written to sound like an ad and does, as opposed to a one on one connection.
There’s also an actual mistake in it. In standard American English, when you say “up close and personal with the animals” we pronounce “the” with a short sound (like “thuh”). But when “the” comes before a vowel sound, we pronounce it as a long “thee”.
In the instant case he says “Thuh animals”…sounds disturbing and a distraction whether you consciously notice it or not. Perhaps a sign of viewing too many reality shows.