How to make TV Commercials

that sell
(based on Ogilvy on Advertising)

Ten kinds of commercials which

are found to be above average In
their ability to change people’s
brand preference.

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 Above average

1. Humor. Conventional wisdom has always

held that people buy products because they
believe them to be nutritious, or labor-
saving or good value for money- not
because the manufacturer tells jokes on
television. Claude Hopkins, the father of
modern advertising, thundered, ‘people
don’t buy from clowns.’ But this has
changed.

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2. Slice of life. In these commercials
one actor argues with another about
the merits of a product, in a setting
which roughly approximates real
life. In the end, the doubter is
converted- your toothpaste really
does give children healthier teeth.

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3. Testimonials. The most effective
testimonial commercials are those
which show loyal users of your
product testifying to its virtues-
when they don’t know they are
being filmed. The interviewer
pretends to find fault with the
product and the loyal user rises
to its defense with far more
conviction than if you simply asked
him what he thought of it.
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When you pick loyal users to testify,
avoid those who give such polished
performances that viewers would
think they were professional actors.
The more amateurish the
performance, the more credible.

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4. Demonstrations which show how well your
product performs are above average in their
ability to persuade.
Demonstrations don’t have to be dull. To
demonstrate how strong paper-board can be,
International Paper spanned a canyon with a
bridge made of paper-board- and then drove a
heavy truck over it.
The Paris office of Ogilvy & Mather
demonstrated the strength of a client’s glue by
applying it to the soles of the announcer’s
shoes and hanging him upside down from the
ceiling- from which position he delivered his
sales pitch. 6
5. Problem solution. “ This technique is as old
as television. You show the viewer a problem
with which he or she is familiar, and then
show how your product can solve it.

Example: 1 ‘Train’ matches in Madras striking

quickly.
2. Shampoo for split ends.

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6. Talking heads. This is the derisive name
given to commercials which consist of a
pitchman extolling the virtues of a
product. Agency people find them non-
creative, and are sick of them, but several
advertisers still use them because they
are above average in changing brand
preference.

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7. Characters. In some commercials, a
‘character’ is used to sell your product
over a period of years. The character
becomes the living symbol of the
product- like PUF in Godrej or Gattu in
Asian Paints.

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8. Reason Why: Commercials which give
the viewer a rational reason why they should
buy your product are slightly above average.
When Maxim Instant Coffee was launched,
the commercials said Maxim was superior
because it was freeze-dried. Nine of out of
ten advertising people will tell you that
consumers don’t give a hoot about how
products are made. They may be right, but
the process of freeze-drying was sufficiently
new and interesting to persuade many
viewers to try the coffee.
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9. News. Commercials which contain news
are above average. But even when they
have news to tell, which is all too rare, some
copywriters underplay it, or leave it out
altogether. They should be boiled in oil.
Products, like human beings, attract most
attention when they are first born.
For an old product, you can create
news by advertising a new way to use it, like
using baking soda to keep refrigerators
smelling sweet. Even the word ‘new’ may
attract attention.
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10. Emotion. Researchers have not yet
found a way to qualify the effectiveness
of emotion, but I have come to believe
that commercials with a large content of
nostalgia, charm and even sentimentality
can be enormously effective.
Emotion can be just as effective as any
rational appeal, particularly when there is
nothing unique to say about your problem.

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 Below average

1. Testimonials by celebrities. These are below

average in their ability to change brand
preference. Viewers guess that the celebrity
has been bought, and they are right.
2. Cartoons can sell things to children, but they
are below average in selling to grown-ups.
They don’t hold the viewer as well as live
action, and they are less persuasive.

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3. Musical vignettes, with a parade of fleeting
impressions, were once fashionable, but are
on their way out. Entertaining, perhaps, but
impotent if you want to sell.
Q: Is this valid in India?

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 Sixteen tips

1 Brand Identification. Research has

demonstrated that a shocking percentage
of viewers remember your commercial,
but forget the name of your product. All
too often they attribute your commercial to
a competing brand.
Q: How many ads you saw violate this tip?

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2. Show the package. Commercials which end
by showing the package are effective in
changing brand preference than commercials
which don’t.
3. Food in motion. In commercials for food, the
more appetizing. You make it look the more
you sell. It has been found that Food in
motion looks particularly appetizing. Show
chocolate sauce in the act of being poured
over your ice cream, or syrup over your
pancakes.

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4. Close-ups. It is a good thing to use close-ups
when your product is the hero of your
commercial. The closer you get on the candy
bar, the more you make people’s mouths water.
5. Open with the fire. You have only 30 seconds. If
you grab attention in the first frame with a
visual surprise, you stand a better chance of
holding the viewer.
When you advertise fire-extinguishers, open
with the fire.

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6. When you have nothing to say, sing it. There
have been some successful commercials which
sang the sales pitch, but jingles are below
average in changing brand preference.
(Is India different?)

7. Sound effects. While music does not add to the

selling power of commercials, sound effects-
such as sausages sizzling in a frying pan can
make a positive difference.
A commercial for Maxwell House was
constructed around the sound of coffee
percolating. It worked well enough to run for five
18
years.
8. Voice-over or on-camera? Research shows
that it is more difficult to hold your audience
if you use voice-over. It is better to have the
actors talk on camera.
9. Supers/subtitles. It pays to reinforce your
promise by setting it in type and
superimposing it over the video, while your
soundtrack speaks the words.
But make sure that the words in your supers
are exactly the same as your spoken
words. Any divergence confuses the viewer.

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10 Avoid visual banality. If you want the viewer
to pay attention to your commercial, show
her something she has never seen before.
You won’t have much success if you show
her sunsets and happy families at the dinner
table.
11 Changes of scene. Hal Riney uses a great
many scenes without confusing people, but I
can’t, and I bet you can’t either. On the
average, commercials with a plethora of
short scenes are below average in changing
brand preference.

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12 Mnemonics. This unpronounceable word is
used to describe a visual device repeated
over a long period. It can increase brand
identification, and remind people of your
promise. Example: the car driving through
the paper barrier in Shell commercials.
13 Show the product in use. It pays to show the
product being used, and, if possible, the end-
result of using it. Show how your diapers
(nappies) keep baby dry. In a commercial for
motor oil, show how the pistons look after
50,000 miles.

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14. Everything is possible on TV. The
technicians can produce anything you
want. The only limit is your imagination.

15. Miscomprehension. In 1979 Professor

Jacoby of Purdue University studied the
‘miscomprehension’ of 25 typical television
commercials. He found that all of them
were miscomprehended, some by as many
as 40 percent of viewers, none by fewer
than 19 percent.

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If you want to avoid your television
commercials being misunderstood, you
had better make them crystal clear.
I cannot understand more than half the
commercials I see.

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16.The great scandal. Television
programs cost about $4 a second
to produce, but commercials cost
$2,000 a second.
Which is $60,000 for a
30-second commercial.

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 Radio- the Cinderella medium
There is no research to measure the efficacy of the
commercials, so nobody knows what works. A pilot
study I commissioned suggests four positive
factors.
1. Identify your brand early in the commercial.
2. Identify it often.
3. Promise the listener a benefit early in the
commercial.
4. Repeat it often.
Ninety commercials out of a hundred do none of
these things.

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