{"id":3678,"date":"2010-01-04T00:05:15","date_gmt":"2010-01-04T08:05:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/?p=3678"},"modified":"2010-01-03T15:44:38","modified_gmt":"2010-01-03T23:44:38","slug":"real-men-of-genius-video","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2010\/01\/real-men-of-genius-video\/","title":{"rendered":"“REAL MEN OF GENIUS” CAMPAIGN: VIDEO TEST RESULTS"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"real<\/a>

One of 10 Interview Subjects<\/p><\/div>\n

For more than a decade, Bud Light has been running its “Real Men of Genius” campaign. (Originally it was called “Real American Heroes.”)<\/p>\n

Every year it wins big advertising awards \u2014 despite my contention that it’s a lame, ineffective campaign.<\/p>\n

“Lame” refers to the ultimate brand impact on the targeted consumer, not to the quality of the humor. Whether you or I think the spots are funny is irrelevant.<\/p>\n

Unless, of course, you’re a Big Ad Agency that covets awards. Unfortunately, the surest way to win a radio advertising award is to create an entertaining commercial.<\/p>\n

“Did it make money for the advertiser?”<\/em><\/p>\n

Who cares?<\/p>\n

Why For Years I’ve Labeled This A Lousy Ad Campaign<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bud Light has done some very good broadcast advertising.<\/p>\n

And some lousy advertising.<\/p>\n

I contend that the “Real Men of Genius” campaign is lousy because although many people find it entertaining, the entertainment has nothing to do with the advertiser.<\/p>\n

You could substitute any product or service for “Bud Light” without weakening the humor \u2014 which is the hallmark of a bad “humorous” ad campaign.<\/p>\n

Why This Bothers Me So Much<\/strong><\/p>\n

First, I dislike bad advertising, which I consider to be a form of malpractice.<\/p>\n

Second, it’s having a harmful effect on the entire radio advertising industry. Each year this campaign is held up as a paragon of effective use of the medium. Other advertisers are encouraged to follow suit with their own “creative” commercials that do nothing to sell the product or service.<\/p>\n

But Maybe I’m Wrong?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I know<\/strong> the campaign is a huge waste of the advertiser’s money. But when a friend of mine \u2014 a guy who’s real good at creating radio advertising that works \u2014 publicly implied that despite my condemnations he thinks it’s “not so bad,” I decided to put it to…<\/p>\n

The Test<\/strong><\/p>\n

I took to the mean streets of Santa Monica and West Los Angeles, vowing to find 10 good men, honest and true, who:<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0 Fit Bud Light’s target demographic<\/p>\n

2. Have heard at least one “Real Men of Genius” commercial.<\/p>\n

My question for each of them: “Who is the advertiser?”<\/em><\/p>\n

For a campaign that’s been running a heavy schedule for over a decade, at least 7 out of the 10 should’ve been able to answer, “Bud Light.”<\/p>\n

Here are the results….<\/p>\n

<\/param><\/param><\/param><\/embed><\/object><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For more than a decade, Bud Light has been running its “Real Men of Genius” campaign. (Originally it was called “Real American Heroes.”) Every year it wins big advertising awards \u2014 despite my contention that it’s a lame, ineffective campaign. “Lame” refers to the ultimate brand impact on the targeted consumer, not to the quality […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-3678","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized"},"yoast_head":"\n"REAL MEN OF GENIUS" CAMPAIGN: VIDEO TEST RESULTS - DAN O\u2019DAY TALKS ABOUT RADIO<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2010\/01\/real-men-of-genius-video\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\""REAL MEN OF GENIUS" CAMPAIGN: VIDEO TEST RESULTS - DAN O\u2019DAY TALKS ABOUT RADIO\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"For more than a decade, Bud Light has been running its “Real Men of Genius” campaign. (Originally it was called “Real American Heroes.”) Every year it wins big advertising awards \u2014 despite my contention that it’s a lame, ineffective campaign. “Lame” refers to the ultimate brand impact on the targeted consumer, not to the quality […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2010\/01\/real-men-of-genius-video\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"DAN O\u2019DAY TALKS ABOUT RADIO\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/DanODayRadio\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-01-04T08:05:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/RealMenThumbnail1.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dan O'Day\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Dan_ODay\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Dan_ODay\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dan O'Day\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/2010\\\/01\\\/real-men-of-genius-video\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/2010\\\/01\\\/real-men-of-genius-video\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Dan O'Day\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/afe504342187ed9676675802d9c9b19c\"},\"headline\":\"“REAL MEN OF GENIUS” CAMPAIGN: VIDEO TEST RESULTS\",\"datePublished\":\"2010-01-04T08:05:15+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/2010\\\/01\\\/real-men-of-genius-video\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":396,\"commentCount\":10,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/2010\\\/01\\\/real-men-of-genius-video\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2010\\\/01\\\/RealMenThumbnail1.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/2010\\\/01\\\/real-men-of-genius-video\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/2010\\\/01\\\/real-men-of-genius-video\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/2010\\\/01\\\/real-men-of-genius-video\\\/\",\"name\":\"\\\"REAL MEN OF GENIUS\\\" CAMPAIGN: VIDEO TEST RESULTS - DAN O\u2019DAY TALKS ABOUT RADIO\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/2010\\\/01\\\/real-men-of-genius-video\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/2010\\\/01\\\/real-men-of-genius-video\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2010\\\/01\\\/RealMenThumbnail1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2010-01-04T08:05:15+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/afe504342187ed9676675802d9c9b19c\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/2010\\\/01\\\/real-men-of-genius-video\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/2010\\\/01\\\/real-men-of-genius-video\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/2010\\\/01\\\/real-men-of-genius-video\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2010\\\/01\\\/RealMenThumbnail1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2010\\\/01\\\/RealMenThumbnail1.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/2010\\\/01\\\/real-men-of-genius-video\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"“REAL MEN OF GENIUS” CAMPAIGN: VIDEO TEST RESULTS\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"DAN O\u2019DAY TALKS ABOUT RADIO\",\"description\":\"Straight talk about radio programming, radio advertising, radio production...Well, you get the idea.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/afe504342187ed9676675802d9c9b19c\",\"name\":\"Dan O'Day\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/assistant\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"\"REAL MEN OF GENIUS\" CAMPAIGN: VIDEO TEST RESULTS - DAN O\u2019DAY TALKS ABOUT RADIO","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2010\/01\/real-men-of-genius-video\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"\"REAL MEN OF GENIUS\" CAMPAIGN: VIDEO TEST RESULTS - DAN O\u2019DAY TALKS ABOUT RADIO","og_description":"For more than a decade, Bud Light has been running its “Real Men of Genius” campaign. (Originally it was called “Real American Heroes.”) Every year it wins big advertising awards \u2014 despite my contention that it’s a lame, ineffective campaign. “Lame” refers to the ultimate brand impact on the targeted consumer, not to the quality […]","og_url":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2010\/01\/real-men-of-genius-video\/","og_site_name":"DAN O\u2019DAY TALKS ABOUT RADIO","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/DanODayRadio","article_published_time":"2010-01-04T08:05:15+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/RealMenThumbnail1.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Dan O'Day","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Dan_ODay","twitter_site":"@Dan_ODay","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dan O'Day","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2010\/01\/real-men-of-genius-video\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2010\/01\/real-men-of-genius-video\/"},"author":{"name":"Dan O'Day","@id":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/afe504342187ed9676675802d9c9b19c"},"headline":"“REAL MEN OF GENIUS” CAMPAIGN: VIDEO TEST RESULTS","datePublished":"2010-01-04T08:05:15+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2010\/01\/real-men-of-genius-video\/"},"wordCount":396,"commentCount":10,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2010\/01\/real-men-of-genius-video\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/RealMenThumbnail1.jpg","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2010\/01\/real-men-of-genius-video\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2010\/01\/real-men-of-genius-video\/","url":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2010\/01\/real-men-of-genius-video\/","name":"\"REAL MEN OF GENIUS\" CAMPAIGN: VIDEO TEST RESULTS - DAN O\u2019DAY TALKS ABOUT RADIO","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2010\/01\/real-men-of-genius-video\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2010\/01\/real-men-of-genius-video\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/RealMenThumbnail1.jpg","datePublished":"2010-01-04T08:05:15+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/afe504342187ed9676675802d9c9b19c"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2010\/01\/real-men-of-genius-video\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2010\/01\/real-men-of-genius-video\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2010\/01\/real-men-of-genius-video\/#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/RealMenThumbnail1.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/RealMenThumbnail1.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2010\/01\/real-men-of-genius-video\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"“REAL MEN OF GENIUS” CAMPAIGN: VIDEO TEST RESULTS"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/","name":"DAN O\u2019DAY TALKS ABOUT RADIO","description":"Straight talk about radio programming, radio advertising, radio production...Well, you get the idea.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/afe504342187ed9676675802d9c9b19c","name":"Dan O'Day","url":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/author\/assistant\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3678","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3678"}],"version-history":[{"count":24,"href":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3678\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3723,"href":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3678\/revisions\/3723"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3678"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}