In honour of November being Mustache Month for Prostate Cancer, here are two stories about how mustaches have screwed up commercial shoots for me. First case was a Mr. Clean commercial we shot. It was a typical Procter & Gamble commercial. Lady of the house uses Mr. Clean to leave her house looking bright and… Read More »
The Juno Awards was an annual private music industry awards ceremony for insiders, wearing tuxedos and gowns, until 1995. The organization that put it on was the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS). They had this crazy idea that they should be making money from it rather than losing or at best breaking even. Enter Jacques… Read More »
Which commercials do you believe? Too few! Many commercials are produced these days with little effort to maintaining the premise that their message is actually believable. Maybe we gave up trying to make them believable. But when commercials are more believable, they are more persuasive. There are three qualities that contribute to believability: expertise, trustworthiness,… Read More »
It is quite amazing how easy your job is. Just ask someone who doesn’t do it. At the same time, from your point of view, their job is amazingly easy. We get this every day in advertising because with digital tools it is not that challenging to make something that looks like an ad. But… Read More »
I have worked in both the US and Canada one thing I have found curious is that the markets have approached Diversity and Inclusion in two different ways. First the US: When I worked there twenty five years ago, there were quotas for “minorities” to appear in commercials. Clients required these quotas to be met… Read More »
We have seen a lot of commercials that just don’t sell. One reason can be the context of the message. By context, I meant the executional elements that round out the message and provide a framework for it. The strategy might be “Tide cleans clothes better.” But there needs to be an execution around that… Read More »
Do you get irritated by the TV news anchors always throwing in extra adjectives to sensationalize their news stories. Every story must be “astounding,” “gripping,” or “revealing.” It is a relatively recent phenomenon. The anchors do it to make the stories seem more important and more immediate for their viewers. Just a little spin to… Read More »
Ratings seriously are off for NFL games this year and there are lots of theories why. The tumultuous US election is one reason being offered. That was a wilder reality show than the average NFL game. And people love the spontaneity of those reality shows. But could that be the only reason? One of the reasons… Read More »
Be careful with translations. Relying on Google or any other digital translation can bring you problems, Not just small mistakes; but mistakes where the meaning is jumbled up and confusing. Effectively using a language that you to communicate with customers requires understanding the cultural context that it comes in. The title of this blog is… Read More »
PART V of V: 5 Advertising Mistakes Retailers Make Ever go into a car dealership and ask the sales guy to tune your engine? You don’t really think that he/she would know how to do it, do you? Sales people sell cars they don’t provide highly technical engine adjustments. The dealership has trained mechanics for… Read More »