“Are you sure you sent us the right thing?”
One of my clients had purchased ad space in a restaurant’s menu. We had just delivered it when the restaurant called us back.
After a moment of panic and double-checking, we confirmed that yes, we had sent them the right thing.
“We’ve just never seen anything like this before. Are you sure you want to run this?”
“Yes.”
“But there’s no logo or nothin’.”
“Yes.”
“It doesn’t look like any of the other ads!”
“Yes.”
Why is it that so many people believe ads should look, sound, and read like ads?
Isn’t the point to NOT make it look like everyone else’s?
“The real truth is,” said Howard Luck Gossage, “no one reads an ad. People read what interest them. Sometimes it’s an ad.”
This restaurant is a popular location for blue-collar folks to frequent in our client’s trade area.
I can promise you not one of them wants to read an ad – in spite of the fact that several thousand each month get a menu handed to them.
All we had to do was give them something interesting to read.
How about you? Do your ads look, sound and feel like ads?
Yeah, but Tim…wouldn’t it be even MORE effective if you put the logo in it? Just kidding. Awesome. That’s all I have to say about that.
I must say you “Guys and Gal” are something else. Impressive, impressive, impressive.
Wait, I thought “make the logo bigger was mandatory”. Good for you to have such great clients like Francis Pass. I am jealous because this is a hard message to get people to understand. Make yourself different and special in what you and your company does…and then your messaging can reinforce those differences ..in different ways.
I love the ad!!!
I recently wrote two radio ads for a client who wanted to reach a younger demo. I did my job and sent it for approval. They took what I wrote and re-wrote it, only they made wordier, less interesting, and completely irrelevant to the audience they wanted. I’m waiting for them to be underwhelmed by the eventual lack of success their ad has for them.