Advertising the Brand – Radio and TV Spots – Production Matters
By Tom Gauger
When you talk to as many ad agencies as I have, you kind of get the feel for where they are coming from in a matter of minutes. Some have fancy web sites with great flash intros and others are more plain, but the bottom line is, each like in any business, try to differentiate themselves from the rest of the other agencies bidding for the same work. Some obviously do a better job then others and some have an edge, while others take the comfortable “We’re easy to work with approach.” The Creative Underground makes some very unique points – at least they form their arguments in a compact and succinct way.
The Creative Underground says that, “The greatest risk is doing what’s already been done because what some might call “safe” is often very cliché for the business category. The messages sound too familiar. The visuals look ordinary. We don’t call that safe. We call that dangerous to a brand’s success. Money won’t solve your branding issues. Some believe that the more you spend on media for your advertising, the more you sell. Favoring frequency over all else (especially quality) won’t endear you to an audience that’s already getting bombarded by hundreds of messages a day.”
They go on to say, “When branding, aim for the heart not the head. A terrific brand connection can make a person laugh, cry or feel angry, excited, confident, enlightened, inspired, sexy, smarter, etc. And from that response, it can cause them to take action. It can even cause them to buy a more expensive product.”
When branding for the heart what do you do in your advertising? Are you using the same old tired lines and production music that puts people to sleep or sounds so much like everyone else’s that you can’t or aren’t doing anything to differentiate your product or service? Is your advertising rehashed radio and cable in-house department commercial second rate stuff? You’d better look at your advertising and find ways to not only grab the heart of your listener, but ideas that are not cliché and that will definitely stand out from all of the messages that are bombarding your potential buyer.
At ReelMusicianPro.com finding creative ways musically and with voice overs is always our main goal and it should be for anyone working on your radio or TV spot. Aiming to not only be different, but with purpose and aiming for the heart should be your main thrust in advertising. Sure you should have your name and telephone in there that magical three times, but your advertising better have more going for it than that. Your message better be hitting in such a way as to leave your listener with an emotional appeal that locks in your product or service and you can’t do that with radio and cable in-house voice over and production guys. That has to be carefully thought out and worked out from the start to the end. Think about what and how your advertising is hitting your potential customers today and make the necessary changes to really create a company product or service that is valued by your customers.