Larry Fuss sent me a note:
It just keeps getting more ridiculous… “all your yogurt needs” from a Wal-Mart ad.
Some marketing genius, probably at an ad agency, probably got paid big bucks to come up with such a compelling message!
Here’s what raised his ire.
Notice to copywriters of radio advertising, TV commercials, print ads:
Aside from food, water and oxygen, consumers don’t have “needs.”
They have wants. Desires. Things they’d really like to obtain. Things that might improve their lives.
But no needs your advertiser can fulfill.
If you are running any spots that refer to “all your _______ needs” and it was created in-house:
1. Change the copy.
2. Re-record the commercial.
3. If the person who did the copywriting wasn’t forced to refer to “your _______ needs,” have a conversation with that person.
4. If that conversation proves fruitless, have a conversation with the person who hired that copywriter.
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Not long ago one of the stations in our market ran an ad talking about how the local minor league baseball team “can serve all your summer entertainment needs.”
The one time I used it deliberately was many years ago, with a recalcitrant client and a young sales rep who wanted “something creative” but kept refusing to sign off on our ideas. So I finally wrote a script with every ad cliche I could think of, starting and ending with “make ___ your headquarters for all your ___ing needs.” The client, of course, pronounced it the best ad he’d ever heard.
almost as useless as “you heard right!” Oh, really? I didn’t mis-hear? Because my ears are prone to hearing completely different things.
It baffles me how people still use ad-speak in advertising. I always go back to this…. If I was sitting at a bar and wanted to communicate the commercial message to the guy next to me, what words would I use. Which brings me to one other thing…WHY DO PEOPLE YELL IN CAR ADS?????????