Advertising Is Education

If advertising can be said to be education, here is a commercial with many lessons.

The most admirable advertising teaches us first to feel, then to think, perchance to buy.

In this commercial from Hong Kong's prestige watch maker Solvil et Titus, we learn the significance of gift-like acts. Indeed, depicting the gift via the abstraction of an ink drawing gives genuine depth to the message.

In this love story about Audrey and Tom, we learn that messages can transcend class. Audrey departs with parents in a luxury car, while Tom remains in the care of a local policemen who rides a bicycle. Perhaps the kindly policeman is the boy's father, or perhaps he arrived at the behest of the store owner. We don't know.

With repeated viewings, we learn to appreciate the power of nuanced messages. This message can be likened to "rich media" with its many layers of meaning as we notice further details that enrich the story.

There are indeed many lessons to learn from this commercial. Remember them forever.

Copyright © 2014 by John Eighmey. All Rights Reserved.

Living Up To Advertising

Advertising is serious business. Better advertising is based on the core values of the company. These values can serve as the basis for enduring relationships with customers.

This 1971 classic Schlitz beer commercial shows how the brand stood behind the values of hard work, family and friendship. Archetypical stories reminded consumers to make the most of their lives.

Unfortunately, the brand lost its status as the number one beer in America.

In the kinds of cost-cutting moves that have become commonplace throughout industry, the company behind the brand failed to deliver on its core values. A series of product modifications designed to reduce materials costs and struggles with labor to reduce manufacturing costs took the "gusto" out of the brand. One might even say the company management took the "gutso" out of the brand.

By the end of the 1970s consumers came to recognize that Schlitz beer no longer lived up to the brand promise so admirably communicated by the advertising. This is an important lesson from a generation ago that remains strikingly significant today.

  Copyright © 2014 by John Eighmey. All Rights Reserved. 

Adventageous Advertising

The challenge of making a holiday commercial is to meld a message with an emotional or heartwarming story line.

Indeed, brands often try to out-do each other and their past-years' work attempting to wrap an emotional punch around a selling package.

Here, Samsung takes a light-hearted approach to charm us with the fun of the season.

The commercial succeeds as a personal story featuring actors Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard who are really married to each other.

It is a product line commercial and the advantages of Samsung technology are easily and clearly demonstrated throughout. As a window on their lives, it is also a celebrity endorsement commercial.

Copyright © 2014 by John Eighmey. All Rights Reserved.