Over lunch the other day, the president of a top San Francisco ad agency told me a true story that I want to share with you.
A copywriter at her agency wrote a thirty-second TV commercial and showed it to her. She read it over and said, "It's a great spot, but isn't something missing?"
"What's that?" asked the copywriter.
"The product," replied my friend. "You forgot to mention the client's product!"
That's right. The copywriter was so wrapped up in creating an
entertaining commercial that he neglected to mention what the client
was selling!
The writer's teeny-weeny oversight, I believe,
needs to be understood in context.
You see, marketing materials these days have become less a medium of information and persuasion, and more a form of entertainment and fun.
In print ads, for example, you'll find "clever," supposedly humorous headlines that are more like cyphers than motivating communications.
An example.
Here's a headline from a recent Postmates ad.
In a word.......Yikes!
Of course, it's fine to have fun when you're selling, for example, Geico Insurance. Then it's okay to go with a cute, English-accented reptile as your spokesperson. But Geico has millions and millions of dollars to spend building brand recognition. You don't.
As an old boss of mine once said, "Nobody buys from a clown." Maybe you can pull off selling with puns and jokes. I'll stick with selling benefits.
