A radio commercial that begins this way almost always is the result of incompetent copywriting.
“________ is almost here!”
That’s a weak opening line even when the product or service being advertised is related to the thing that’s “almost here.”
In this case, however, there’s no connection between the cliched beginning and the product:
“Labor Day is almost here. And Living Spaces is your destination for amazing bedroom deals.”
Huh?
Is there a cultural tradition of shopping for bedroom furniture on Labor Day?
It’s idiotic. Why not…
“The new school year is almost here. And Living Spaces is your destination for amazing bedroom deals.”
“Arbor Day is almost here. And Living Spaces is your destination for amazing bedroom deals.”
“St. Swithins Day is almost here. And Living Spaces is your destination for amazing bedroom deals.“
Yes, at the end of the spot they say that the sale ends on Labor Day. But that’s not what the commercial is about. They don’t even declare it a “Labor Day Sale.” There’s no connection between the Labor Day mention in the opening line and the Labor Day deadline that’s dropped at the end.
Let”s eavesdrop on the creative meeting responsible this idiocy.
“We want as few radio listeners as possible to hear this commercial. Anyone have any ideas?”
“Let’s start by telling people that Labor Day is almost here.”
“What does that have to do with our sale?”
“Nothing at all.”
“Genius! We’ll lose 99% of the audience from our very first words.”
“Then let’s have the announcer rattle off a bunch of gibberish, to drive away the remaining 1%.”
“I love it! I’m going to give all of us a big raise.”
“And then we could…No, maybe that’s overkill…”
“What is it? Speak up!”
“Well, we’re going to have the announcer speak over some inane, pointless music, right?”
“Of course. We are professionals.”
“Let’s make it a vocal jingle, so that throughout the entire radio commercial the voice over person has to struggle to be heard over the singing.”
“You, sir, are going to go far in this business.”
“Oh, pshaw.”
“By the way, Guy Fawkes Day is almost here. Let’s go out to a very expensive lunch and charge it to our client…whoever they are.”
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Dan…Heard a lot of these types of commercials on our local radio station. Lazy and/or uneducated copy writers=forgettable ads. As you know, in most small markets the copywriters are the salespeople. No wonder the client says their advertising doesn’t work.