The Rules: Exactly six words. In English. Only one entry per person.
The Winning Entry will be the one that is the most persuasive. If two are equally persuasive, the most creatively persuasive one wins. Remember, although it might be wildly offbeat, it does have to “sell” the teleseminar class.
Also Influencing The Judging will be the quality and quantity of comments other people make regarding specific entries. (Those comments will go in the “comments” field beneath this posting.)
Submit Your Entryby posting it as a “comment” on this posting.
Fine Print: If fewer than 20 people enter, the Judges Committee (me) reserves the right not to award a prize. So if you enter and you want to win, you’ll probably want to nag a bunch of other (less talented) people to enter, too.
The Winner Will Be Announced On This Blog, One Week From Today.
When a radio group brings me in to work with its entire air staff, often I’ll teach them my method for defining their Unique Listening Proposition.
The goal isn’t necessarily to come up with blockbuster ideas. Rather, the air talents, producers and programmers identify “mundane” things that occur regularly on their program or station and generate original ideas — alternative methods of delivering that each particular element in a way that makes more of an impact on the listener.
A visit to Singapore’s SAFRA Radio resulted in dozens of original ideas, including the Traffic Excuse:
Each day, the traffic reporter offers a new, original new excuse for the day’s big traffic jam:
“Traffic isn’t moving at all on Highway 27 south of the Pass. A flock of homing polar bears has built a huge nest on the exit ramp….”
Okay, readers: Got some good excuses for today’s (or tomorrow’s) traffic tie-up?
This commercial involves the story of half a million people. We know that because the opening line is:
“Who are we to argue with half a million people?”
Except…That’s not what the story is about. The story is about…uh, pre-owned BMWs. Not an interesting story. Not a good story. But despite the expectations raised by the opening line, that’s what this spot is about: pre-owned BMWs.
The second line indicates what the commercial really is about — and, I suspect, inadvertently offers a statement that could get BMW in trouble with the Federal Trade Commission:
“That’s half a million satisfied customers who have made BMW the leader in the luxury segment.”
This is just a hunch, but I suspect “half a million” is the number of people who have purchased pre-owned BMWs. That doesn’t necessarily equate to half a million satisfied customers.
Why do I get the feeling BMW made an unsupportable leap from “customers” to “satisfied customers”? Because in this spot they make the claim without supporting it. If 500,000 people who purchased pre-owned BMWs reported they were delighted with their vehicles and would recommend pre-owned BMWs to their friends, it would be been smart to say so in this spot.
Just a hunch, based on experience. Perhaps they were referring to such a statistic but don’t understand why they should cite it (i.e., to establish credibility).
But it doesn’t matter, because that’s not the horrific part of this commercial. The really awful part is…
…Actually, there is no really awful part. It’s all so extraordinarily innocuous that it has no impact at all — not even a negative one.
“…the leader in the luxury segment.”
Okay, that’s a joke, right? They don’t really believe there’s even one consumer who ever has uttered (or even thought) the words, “the luxury segment,” do they?
MRS. STUPID: Gee, Honey, what kind of car should we buy?
MR. STUPID: Doesn’t matter to me, Sweet Pea, as long as it’s one of the models in the luxury segment.
What is this commercial’s Core Message — the one thing they want the targeted audience to hear, to understand and to remember? Is it:
* Largest selection to choose from online? (Bonus points for the passive language, guys.)
* Comprehensive protection plan?
* All vehicles meticulously serviced by BMW technicians? (Does BMW have a less expensive program offering vehicles that have been serviced by BMW technicians but not meticulously? “All vehicles haphazardly serviced,” perhaps?)
* The vehicles go through — this is breathtaking — an inspection process? A rigorous (vs. a lax) inspection process?
Just when you think, “Well, at least they’ve run out of dumb things to say,” BMW surpasses expectations:
“Not to mention it offers something no other manufacturer can…”
This is Copywriting 101, folks. Saying “not to mention” before mentioning something is stupid. Not to mention it’s bad advertising.
The Call To Action? Visit a laughably clumsy URL.
The reason to heed that Call To Action?
“For details.”
Talk about your irresistible offers.
Here’s the entire message this commercial contains: “BMW sells used cars. Please buy one.”
