Scary Political Commercials BOO!

Dear Creative Types,

Today I write as a viewer not an “ad guy”.   Here we are just days away from Halloween and I have never been so scared in my life!  Scared to death of watching another political ad!  

Here in our nations capitol we are besieged by political advertising from Virginia, Maryland, The District of Columbia and West Virginia.  One evening recently the rest of the family was out and I decided I would eat my delicious frozen dinner in front of the TV.   I reached for the pile of remotes that control the various devices and shortly I was bathed in the digital light of my big screen.   As I took my first bite I was invited to look at graphic pictures of aborted babies by a candidate from Washington, D.C. running for a seat on Capitol Hill long held by Eleanor Holmes Norton.

I am not expressing my political views one way or another, however this sort of advertising is not only disturbing but frankly I think it may have cost the candidate votes.

I am not opposed to political advertising, in fact I have produced a few commercials myself, however I am opposed to political advertising that is assaulting. 

TO BE CLEAR before I start getting the nasty grams….  I am not going to disclose my political position one way or the other regarding the issue of abortion, taxes, big business or the environment.

My point today is to ask you my fellow advertising gurus to consider for a moment creating a message that is truthful, direct and NON-ASSAULTING.   I have been told that “Mud Slinging” is a great American tradition.   I am wondering if perhaps the greatest nation on the face of the earth might like to start a new tradition of enlightened, factual non inflammatory discourse that might actually allow the rest of Americans to vote for the best candidate not for the candidate with the ability  to out sling and out spend the other.

Just a thought,

~The Head Who~

All is Revealed

The fall television season is upon us.  We have been hammered with promos for The Event, warned that our favorite show has been moved to a “better night and time” and we have been told that if we miss a single episode of a new show we will be LOST (no pun intended) and never able to catch up.  Apparently there have already been football games touted as “the game of the season”.   Ladies and gentleman I give you marketing at it’s best.

What is the lesson we learn from the barrage of new programming promos from the networks?  FREQUENCY……HELLO!

As a marketing professional I have heard numerous clients say things like “oh I tried TV it doesn’t work” or “Radio and TV advertising is a waste so why bother, nobody watches the commercials”.  When I hear things like this I want to wrap my arms around that spurned advertiser and apologize for the media professional who led them down the path to poor results.

I can remember my little league baseball coach saying over and over again…”the more at-bats the more hits”.  This little pearl of wisdom applies to advertising.  If you are going to invest the money for radio or television then you better commit yourself to FREQUENCY.

The other part of the equation of course is the creative message. But I will save that for the next blog.

~The Head Who~

www.whodidthatmedia.com