TURN THE CAMERA AROUND

Nick Michaels
Copyright American Voice Corp. 2014 All Rights Reserved

I have been looking at a lot of advertising lately and there's something that is jumping out at me. Have you noticed that the focus of most commercials now is not on the product but on the user of the product? This is directly tied to the environment caused by the over communicated world. Along with turning the camera around, taking it off the product and pointing it toward the user comes a new look and sound. Instead of those very quick jump cuts that were very popular in the days of MTV's music videos, the visual pace appears to be slowing down and the tone in which the message is spoken is lower and slower. There are still a few holdouts, mainly retail local car ads and advertising for one-day sales in some retail stores. Those exceptions now stand out like a sore thumb and not in a positive way. They are a tune out factor. They are uncomfortable to watch, too loud, too fast and do not take into consideration the audiences feelings. They are packed with too much information, too many facts that the audience cannot absorb and do not engage the audience with emotion. Want your messages to work? Turn the camera around and tell a story.

IS YOUR SELLING SHOWING?

Nick Michaels
Copyright American Voice Corp. 2014 All Rights Reserved

I was looking for something on YouTube the other day and, as is often the case, a commercial started with that little timer in the lower right corner that says “you can skip this ad in 5..4..3..2..1.”  I normally skip ads as soon as I can but I didn't skip this one. While looking through the comments after watching the story, I noticed that Guy Kawasaki commented saying that he “watched the whole thing.”  It was two minutes and fifty-six seconds long and I wished it was longer.

It was an interesting story about a man named Ken Delmar who paints on Bounty paper towels. It reminded me of a similar thing I did for a client of The Drive in Chicago a few years ago. Here was proof that in the over communicated world in order for advertising to be accepted, it must detach from overt selling and become about emotional engagement.

This story managed to reinforce all the unique attributes of Bounty without ever appearing to be selling anything. Even though the overwhelming majority of Bounty users are never going to use it as a means for artistic expression, the story engages and entertains them, while getting the message across that Bounty was very absorbent. Is your message doing that or is your selling showing? You can view it by clicking on the link below.
The Man Who Paints on Bounty Paper Towels.