E NUN C 8

Do you sell to old folks?  Boomers? Seniors?  The people we are told have the most disposable income and leisure time galore to go out and spend money?

Are you in the advertising and marketing business?

Hire actors who know how to pronounce their words. Not their lines. Their words.

Hire actors who know how to E NUN C 8 (Enunciate.)

Hire actors who speak slowly.  And directors who let them. (Speak slowly.)

Lose the tunes.

PRINT ADS?

Large plain fonts with colors that contrast with the background.

Black on White.  Not Red on Black.

Navy blue against sky blue.  Not white letters on a sky blue sky running over the fluffy white clouds.  Skip the yellow on tan or the green on red.

I mean, “Seriously, Dude”.

“Hey, Ma, look.  I’m a graphic designer.”

“Hey, Ma, look.  I did the sound work on the new TV commercial.  I know you can’t hear the words, Grandma.  But that doesn’t matter.  Don’t you just love the music?”

Ever since Mr. Blandings finished building his dream house, advertising has been in decline.  Once John Hamm stopped drinking Bourbon on the job, the industry has been left for dead.

Can you really beat the Alka-Seltzer® commercial? “Plop. Plop, fizz, fizz, oh what a relief it is?”

Can you beat the brilliance of the demand pull advertising of the Lestoil® campaign?  15 second spots….”It’s so easy when you use Lestoil.”  Only there was no Lestoil on the supermarket shelves.  Customers looked for it, asked for it, and the stores ordered it.

Madison Avenue seems to have lost focus.  FORM FOLLOWS FUNCTION.

If the demographic can’t hear the words, if the demographic can’t read the words, the ad is no good.

There is an old canard. “Half of all advertising works. Only no one knows which half.”

I can tell you which half doesn’t work.  The half that buyers can’t hear. The half that buyers can’t read.

We already know that the Networks have been working hard trying to find programs that will appeal to the people who don’t watch television.  (Read that again.  Slowly.)

Would you walk into a 5 Star restaurant and tell a Michelin Chef to start serving meals that appeal to people who can’t afford to eat in a 5 Star restaurant?

That is what the Media is doing.  Attracting people who don’t watch television and driving away the people who do.  And the Ad Industry is paying for commercials that half the people don’t watch and the other half can’t hear.  Ad Revenues & the Media.

Warmest regards,

Slim

PS. If you find this article to be helpful, please don’t hesitate to send me a really tricked out i-Pad or MacPro (62 is the new 60) and to tuck a few dollars into the envelope along with the thank you note.  

If it’s not helpful, just ignore it and move on.  Just don’t ignore the market.

slimviews@gmail.com

Copyright © 2015 Bob Asken

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