Say you\u2019re watching your favorite show, and it\u2019s time for a commercial. But before the commercial is played, you see, \u201cWe Will Return To Our Show In 30 Seconds.\u201d What would you do?
\nWould you sit thru the commercial? Would you fast forward if the show had been recorded? Would you see if you could find a snack in half a minute?<\/p>\n
TV execs are hoping you\u2019ll just sit and watch.<\/p>\n
This season, there will be some new techniques for commercial breaks, all of them designed to get you to watch, or engage you. Some shows will only show one 30 second spot at a time. Some shows will be using the actors in character, so that maybe you won\u2019t notice they\u2019ve gone to a commercial.<\/p>\n
Well, of course, none of this is new.<\/p>\n
Forty years ago and more, actors from TV shows were making pitches in character for hundreds of products\u2026everyone from Dick Van Dyke to the Flintstones.<\/p>\n
Actually, network execs have been saying for sometime that they\u2019re worried about folks flashing forward on their DVRs. Hmmm. Let\u2019s think about that for a minute. Which TV spots would you NOT want to fast forward thru? Isn\u2019t there one particular time of year when TV commercials actually make headlines?<\/p>\n
That January Football Game.<\/p>\n
Why?<\/p>\n
Why are THOSE spots watched, and talked about, and remembered, and discussed, and replayed?
\nCould be that they\u2019re just a tad bit more creative than the norm? Could it be that here are a group of advertisers who understand that the way to engage the audience is to also entertain them?
\nWhy does that happen just in January?<\/p>\n
Ok, there are actually some pretty good spots the rest of the year.. I like PC vs Mac, the E*Trade baby, and IKEA. But just like radio, TV spots don\u2019t have to be funny. They just have to be memorable. They just have to show their benefit to the consumer.<\/p>\n
Make it relevant, and they will watch.<\/p>\n
Folks will watch \u201cTV\u2019s Funniest Commercials Part 8?, but they will remember Mean Joe Green and the kid with the Coke bottle because it touched them. And that\u2019s going to sell a whole lot more product than Smiling Bob could ever dream of.<\/p>\n
\u2013That’s a wrap.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Say you\u2019re watching your favorite show, and it\u2019s time for a commercial. But before the commercial is played, you see, \u201cWe Will Return To Our Show In 30 Seconds.\u201d What would you do? Would you sit thru the commercial? Would you fast forward if the show had been recorded? Would you see if you could … Continue reading And Now, A Word From Our Sponsor<\/span>