![]() Try not to make any loud noises or sudden, jerkwad movements. Remember, you must hold our interest carefully, like a butterfly alit on the palm of your hand. Think a wink and a nod, not a clown sharting its pants. No, not the braying idiocy everyone has come to expect from ads today. Short of that, a bit of humor might hold our attention. Relevant information, maybe, or a way to save time or money. Perhaps you could offer something useful. Potential buyers may listen more closely if you look and sound like an adult who has something worthwhile to say. If you’re smart, you’ll think twice about acting a fool. If you think about it, this is actually a much more productive mindset from which you can start.īecause now you have to wonder, how do you make amends? What can you possibly do to make up for being such a ginormous, inconsiderate tool? As the uninvited salesperson who disrupts us in the middle of doing things we enjoy-watching videos, reading the news, living our lives-you are a total asshole. (And most of you are.) In that case, to us, what you really are is an asshole. ![]() Unless you are an interruptive advertiser, that is. People who work in advertising need to forget their egomaniacal fantasies of being loved and admired like rock stars or Hollywood celebrities. See the latest Liberty Mutual Ad Review: Zoltar, hair plugs, and other bad ideasīelow: Clownish “humor” (I use the word loosely) and a brain-dead jingle make Liberty Mutual commercials some of the worst on TV. It’s so simple, you have to wonder how so many advertisers are botching the job so badly. “If it doesn’t sell, it isn’t creative.” -David Ogilvy To provide a good experience and oh, yeah!-also to sell the product. These are not the reasons why clients pay agencies.Ĭlients pay agencies to help them make their brands more visible, more well liked, and better remembered. Some have convinced themselves that they are creating works of art. Instead, they are focused on “being creative,” winning awards, and getting famous. I would argue that advertisers have not simply “broken” the social contract, but torn it to shreds, set it on fire, and scattered the ashes to the wind.Īs far back as 2009, agency owner Jeff Goodby wrote in Advertising Age, “ We are becoming irrelevant award-chasers.” Today, many agency leaders and creatives seem to have lost interest in their clients, the consumer, and the important job of selling. In an article titled “ Advertisers have broken their social contract,” former copywriter Aaron Bateman laments how the rise of digital ad tech has led to abusive tactics such as retargeting and a reduced focus on big ideas in favor of direct response marketing designed to bludgeon us into buying. It’s obnoxious, uncivilized, and anti-consumer. Day in and day out, our lives are interrupted by dumb ads and slimy tricks designed to invade our space, command our attention, track our movements, and badger us until we buy. No wonder “consumers are jaded” (as ad executives would say). Blocking them isn’t an option because it’s never the same number twice. Most of the numbers are disguised as local calls. Meanwhile, my parents, now in their 70s and 80s, get half a dozen phone calls every day from telemarketers peddling unsolicited offers and scams. TV commercials assault my ears with soundtracks cranked to what seems like twice the volume of the programming I have paid to watch.I reach into my mailbox and pull out handfuls of dreck-previously, living trees-that I don’t want, and that isn’t relevant to me.I click on a link that chokes my laptop with a glut of ads, pop-ups, and auto-playing videos that guarantee I will never see the content I wanted.Worse yet, it’s malicious-like a virus that’s infected our lives. A lot of it isn’t just bad, it’s galactically stupid. Isn’t it ironic? Marketing people are trained to think in terms of “consumer pain points.” But these days, advertisers ARE the pain point.Īdvertising today is more pervasive, annoying, and intrusive than ever. Yeah, no wonder even advertisers say they hate advertising. Tired of junk mail? Of too-loud commercials blasting your ears? How about those full-screen pop-up ads you can’t close until you play an asshole game of “Click the Tiny X If You Can Find It”?
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