Have you ever watched or read an advertisement and wondered what it was for?
Ads for big companies often aren’t very good examples to follow.
The purpose of those ads may not be to get customers or generate sales. It may be to please other audiences, like the board of directors or stockholders, and project a positive “image” to the general public. This is an expensive, long-term, indirect approach that most businesses can’t afford. Most businesses need results NOW. (Especially when the economy might be entering a recession.)
The approach of these “image” advertisements is often to be clever — to “suggest” the benefits of a product or service or to drill the name of the company into your subconscious mind.
A current “clever” advertisement has a father dragging around a bear trap on his leg. The message is he is “trapped” by a bad decision to not have internet service in his home. “I’ll get by. It’s not that bad.”
Did you get the connection? Do you feel motivated to get Xfinity mobile and home internet services? It seems to me that persuading any Americans who don’t already have home internet service is going to be a hard selling job, requiring persuasion beyond what’s included in this ad — anyone who has been through the COVID pandemic and doesn’t have home internet just isn’t interested.
Progressive Insurance has another series of current “clever” advertisements. Adults are portrayed as children being told they don’t have to behave as their parents used to tell them to behave. “We can’t keep you from becoming your parents, but we can save you money by bundling your home, auto and more with us.”
Got it? Did you find it a little insulting? (I did.) Maybe Progressive intended you to be insulted so you will remember the ad. Do good thoughts of Progressive come to your mind when you think about insurance?
Confused customers don’t buy.
According to marketing teacher Dan Kennedy, “The safest path to success in advertising is to be very, very clear about your message: what you sell, why they ought to buy it, and what you want them to do next.”