What not to learn from Super Bowl commercials
Written by Tom Richard | | tom@tomrichard.comHow do you know which Super Bowl commercials are, in fact, super?
Sure, the commercials are funny, but how do you know when funny actually translates into money? As you are watching the Super Bowl and enjoying the commercials, see if you can figure out what the advertiser is trying to accomplish.
Only a few companies deliberately set out to score “brand awareness.” The rest focus on making a sale now, or making a sale in the future. Is it possible for a commercial to use humor and still generate actual sales? You be the judge by evaluating this year’s Super Bowl commercials.
You will discover many companies expertly using humor, but failing to lay the groundwork for actually making a sale. By looking at the individual components, you’ll see how easy it is to wrap everything up into one delicious little Super Bowl advertising burrito.
Start with humor. Humor is a valuable way to delight your audience, to bring them into your advertisement, and to begin to interact with your brand. However, if the audience does not remember your name and is not prompted to “do something,” then there is nothing super about the ad.
What are you going to add to your advertisement to “open the sale?” Opening the sale is interrupting and engaging the people that see your ad. Grab them, draw them in, and make them laugh.
After you open the sale and earn the right to ask the person to do something specific, ask for it. There is no value in hinting and hoping.
When you add value to the situation, you earn the right to ask for action. What value are you adding? For example, if you’re offering people low-low-low prices on your product, this may be valuable to them if they were already planning on purchasing something.
Unbelievable offers are born when companies are trying to add this value and spark some action. Logically it makes sense. If you make an unbelievable offer, then new customers will beat a path to your door. Right?
Unbelievable offers are unbelievable. When the offer is unbelievable, it kills your chances of making a sale. Change your unbelievable offer into a believable offer and you’ll be changing your unsuccessful advertisement into a successful advertisement.
With a believable offer in place, the only thing left is to ask the person to do something. The key here is to make sure that what you’re asking for matches what you’re giving. If you are giving a person five-cents off a can of peas, and you’re expecting them to drive through a foot of snow to your business, then your advertisement is out of kilter.
If you want to increase your advertisement’s response, then make it easier for people to respond. If you want to keep your offer believable by offering less, then make it easier for people to respond.
Successful advertising does not require that you give away the store; it requires your offer to match your ask.
How do you come up with these types of ideas, offers and asks? Watch the Super Bowl, stay in a student-mode, and draw your own conclusions from the commercials you see.
Some commercials will have you laughing out loud, but you will not even remember the advertisers name. Some commercials will be boring, but you will understand everything they are offering you.
The only way to figure out what works for you is to evaluate the ads, break them down, and keep the things you thought worked for you as a consumer.
The Super Bowl is the perfect time to study advertisements because it is one of those rare times when you actually stop thinking like a business owner and you start thinking like a consumer. The more capable you are of thinking like a consumer, the easier it will be for you to master your personal advertising.
Post your list of favorite Super Bowl commercials next to Tom’s list by going to boltfromtheblue.com and entering the word SUPER in the blueprint box.
