I say all the time that creating a print ad is so much harder than creating a TV spot. In print, you have 1.2 seconds to nail your point before a page is turned or passed by. With TV, you get 30 seconds. That’s a lifetime to sell something. What is difficult in writing for TV is the temptation to let the bells and whistles of today’s technology take the lead – let the tail wag the dog.

If technology furthers the strategy, use it. But strategy is where the TV commercial begins. Which leads me to the other difficulty in writing for TV. All our lives we’ve learned to tell stories using words. Now you need to tell them with images, with words merely supporting them. So how do we use visuals in strategy to begin?

The big idea. What’s the main message that persuades and makes the product stand out? This is marketing 101. Determining a product’s USP.

The benefit. What is the benefit of the big idea and whom does it benefit? You have your product’s USP determined and you now need to think about how your target audience will want to hear it and what they’ll be interested in seeing.

Create visual elements that stick. Here’s where the personality of the brand shines bright. If the tone of your brand is rugged, dramatize that toughness with like imagery, typography, movement and sound.

Now you take that visual and tone to script. This is what we call a “treatment.” Use a narrative to tell the story. Much like a Cliff’s Notes version or the basic plot line of what happens. e.g. “Guy walks into a bar, gal comes over and says…” Once you’re happy with the scenario, put it in script form. Once you’re finally happy with your script, you’re off to storyboards. Now you can put technology to work for your script. The dog is now wagging the tail and strategy has not been sacrificed for the sake of cool effects.

Last Call, a dark and interactive horror film created by German horror channel 13th Street, just scored a top prize at the Cannes Lions. Owned by NBC Universal, 13th Street’s take on branding goes above and beyond anything we’ve seen lately.

Interactivity

The movie-turned-commercial is interactively groundbreaking; it uses new technology to allow the audience to participate in the film. Using voice recognition software, a select audience member is chosen to give instructions via cell phone to the protagonist in the story. Because each audience member provides different answers, each creates a unique film.

The great thing about this (or any) interactive campaign is that it allows the consumer to participate. It gives them something to latch onto that reinforces what the German Horror Channel is all about. It creates an active experience out of what would ordinarily be a passive one, allowing the consumer to have in depth interaction with the movie and brand.

Branding & Identity Strength

Zombies might not be your thing, but this stuff has some strength. In addition to the interactive movie-turned-commercial, a series of stationary was created. It seems that every aspect was thought out, taking normal stationary to interactive and creative pieces of advertising. It took 13th Street branding to an entirely new level, continuing along the path of interactivity (as you rip the envelope open, you also “rip off” some dead guy’s eyeballs).

Although it might be gory and gross, the movie and stationary have some mental staying power. They are brilliantly unique and again, reinforce what the German horror channel is all about: gore, guts, and scary stuff.

While the creativity is strong, there lacks a certain carryover. The 13th Street website lacks any resemblence of the strong brand identity that the movie, stationary, and overall brand have. If NBC had carried this over, the overall impact could have been staggering.

What do you think about the horror filled movie and stationary?

Images compliments of Behance.

I recently saw a commercial that made me laugh out loud (which is a rare thing). The product advertised was Old Spice Body Wash. The commercial (and a shorter version) appeared during breaks in comedy sitcoms – so I think it was perfectly targeted for the audiences that were likely to be watching. Take a look and see what you think:

We are always seeking the best ways to appeal to our clients’ target audiences. Do you think funny ads are more effective?

We were shocked and dissapointed to read about Brazil’s Conar (their self regulatory entity) launching a huge investigation into the Devassa Bem Loura beer commercial featuring Paris Hilton. According to them, the spot is too sexually provocative. After reading about all the investigations and complaints we were excited…er, expecting to see some crazy stuff in the ad, but then we watched the spot and now we’re just confused. It uses sex appeal for sure, but overly provocative and sexist? Really?! I mean this is a Brazilian beer commercial, they’re KNOWN for being particularly racy. And Paris Hilton in the little black dress seems to be wearing more than most models in Brazilian beer commercials (examples below). American standards are a bit more stringent, but if we can’t have foreign ads pushing the envelope, who will do it? Maybe those of us at the Cyphers Agency are just a little desensitized. What do you think? Does the spot warrant all the negative attention and investigation?

Some other risque commercials from Brazil:

One of the most expensive media buys a company can make, the superbowl is always paid close attention by hundreds of millions of viewers. And so of course everyone likes to give their opinions on what ads were good, bad, or just weird. We generally have to suspend our opinion on great strategic ads, because the superbowl spots are always more about entertainment that solid ad messaging. But we’ve pulled together a list of some winners and losers below, with the embedded ads. Let us know in the comments section which ads were your favorite.

Winners:

Google – With Google’s first-ever television media buy, it showed everyone how integrated it has become into our lives, and also emphasized all the different things you can do on Google. Add in some warm and fuzzy feelings at the end and you’ve got a recipe for success. However, we were confused that Google released the ad online before it aired during the superbowl. Why ruin the surprise?

Denny’s- There is nothing more captivating than screaming chickens. With an ad message tied well to the promotion, these ads were funny and strategic.

Dodge – This commercial speaks to men, and is enjoyable for women. With grabbing creative, this was an easy favorite.

Doritos – Lot’s of commercials and consistent messaging make Doritos a consistent superbowl success. We thought the ads this year were the funniest yet, and hope they can keep it up.

Losers:

Bud Light – Although the spot was entertaining, there was only one spot! We’re used to seeing several bud light commercials, and seeing much funnier ones than the Lost parody that they aired. Sorry Bud Light, but you set the bar too high, and our expectations were let down. Hopefully you’ll be back in full force next year.

Focus on the Family – This commercial sparked a lot of controversy before the superbowl for it’s strong anti-abortion message, which had everyone poised to pay attention. Yet when the ad aired, the abortion message was taken out, and so the message came across as weak. Without a strong value proposition the ad did little to attract supporters, and didn’t drum up any outcry from the detractors (which is sometimes a good thing).

What did you think about the superbowl ads? Which were your favorites?