Brand Power and a Lesson in Advertising
Have you ever seen the ads on Canadian TV called “Brand Power“?
The first time I saw them, I was amazed at how cheesy and simplistic they were for modern television. In an age where shampoo ads have CGI kangaroos with attractive women playing volleyball all with a remixed hit single playing in the background, these ads create such a stark contrast.
Brand Power ads have ugly music, a normal-looking woman host, and no psychological “catch” to them — it’s basically a woman saying “you should buy this” and she clearly works for for a biased company (it’s called Brand Power® for gosh-sake).
But here’s the crazy part: the ads work. Anytime a Brand Power ad starts on TV, we at Well.ca see a big, noticeable spike in purchases of that product. There’s no other external advertising that I know of that creates such a spike on a specific product line.
People see the cheesy, corporate Brand Power ads and buy the stuff.
For me, this is a lesson in advertising. I think, sometimes, television has gone so far in advertising that I sometimes see ads where the entire goal seems to be to create a psychological association between the product and some desirable notion. This can be a good thing, sure, but should probably be done in addition to making your proposition.
The Brand Power ads are not a sales pitch. They are not a subtle psychological advertisement. They are a simple idea: “I am a biased spokesperson, but I am not here to play mind games: there is this product, it does this.”
And, crazy enough, it works. It works so well it makes me crazy.
Maybe consumers are sick of having their minds played with. Advertisers often feel that people don’t want to see advertisements, so they must disguise their ads as entertainment, sneaking the ad inside.
The lesson I am sending to you all you dudes who think about ads is to try this revolutionary new idea:
What if you tried making simple, low budget ads that don’t pretend to be anything but an ad? Be polite, clear, and don’t make crazy promises.
The lesson from Brand Power is that this seems to work better than the high-budget ads we’ve become used to. People will buy. Don’t just accept the common belief that ads must be complicated.
Honestly I find this difficult to accept — were it not for our stats…
?????
March 10th, 2008 at 5:43 pm
[...] Turns out I’m not the only one. [...]
March 10th, 2008 at 7:33 pm
This is very interesting and also reminds me of something I saw on 60 minutes this weekend…Andy Rooning talking about advertising in women’s magazines:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/03/07/60minutes/rooney/main3916981.shtml
March 19th, 2008 at 11:57 am
I wrote a blog post about Brand Power a while back, and the point I made was that consumers think these spots are paid for by an independent 3rd party, when in reality they’re no different than paid ads.
Consumers probably think that this Brand Power group have tested and researched the product, and are advocating it’s use. Some consumers are, of course, easily duped.
My blog post on Brand Power: http://studentpr.com/blog/2007/01/16/brand-power-helping-you-lie-better/
July 30th, 2008 at 8:26 am
Not to mention that girl..admittedly very attractive..is NOT a super model..or even close..she actually looks a lot like a ..OH MY..REAL WOMAN!
The girl next door is a LOT more convincing than Britney or any of her clones!
May 3rd, 2009 at 1:02 pm
The ads are also rather short, and strait to the point, but I do agree they look like there coming from an independent third part because of the brand power logo over different products.
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March 10th, 2010 at 2:59 pm
just saw a brand power commercial and they have a new girl,what happened to the original, she was better,sorry new girl but we like Jordon I think that’s her name my daughter and I had said that she would have a job forever because of endless products
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