Do you like to gamble?  I’m not much of a gambler.  Occasionally I’m dumb enough to play the lottery.  I know it is hard to believe but I didn’t win the lottery….again.  I thought I’d try to win without playing my kids birthdates for once. Oh well.

I don’t  play every weekend.  I’ve gambled on the lottery maybe ten times in the last ten years. I don’t feel bad about it.  Five bucks now and then has about as much chance of paying off as money invested on Wall Street.

We all used to believe that we had to have a portfolio of investments.  Many of my friends and family saw their investments disappear. We’re in baffling times.

More baffling to me is why companies gamble on commercials they put on TV. Especially now, when every dollar really counts ! Judging from the ads, these companies skip all the vital steps  to making an effective TV commercial and then wonder why the TV ad doesn’t pull leads.

What do I mean by vital steps?  Well for one thing, know your target audience, thoroughly. Not just the demographic.  Know what imagery they’re receptive to. Know what they “think” about products or services similar to yours.  Know what about your product or service they will respond to positively. Know what emotion your target audience is sitting in. Know what words and phrases they agree with. These are just a few of the things we research.

If you don’t know these things before beginning the creative part of making a TV commercial, you’re going to miss your target audience. You’ll disconnect with your audience to a greater or lesser degree.  Like the guys who marketed the Chevy Nova in South America, where “No Va” means “won’t go”. Duh.

Here’s another example.  We’ve had a client come to us with a natural product  which alleviates discomfort during menstrual cycles.   Some “expert” agency gave them the name “Klimadynon”.  The client was from Germany.  They didn’t know that Americans would position this name with a dinosaur. They didn’t know their audience. We tested some alternate names and renamed the product so it didn’t communicate that it was for women who act sort of like a dinosaur monthly.

How does this apply to you? Well, if you don’t know your audience chances are you’re wasting your marketing budget.  You’re not just losing sales, you may be driving clients away.   If you don’t know your target audience you’ve reduced the chance of your ad being effective by 70% or more.

This is fine for some evil ad agencies who would love for you to keep trying and trying to reach your target audience.  The more you try the more they make.

It’s like playing darts blindfolded. If you can’t see the target how do expect to hit a bull’s eye?

We see advertisements on TV all the time that miss the target audience. They don’t cause the phone to ring.  The sponsor has wasted his money.

Is there a better way?  You bet ! We’ve used it for years on our corporate clients and we started using it on our TV commercials.  It’s proven and scientific.  It takes the guesswork out of marketing.

All advertising is a gamble. Our proprietary methods will put the odds in your favor.

Otherwise, you may as well play the Lottery.  Your chance of winning is lousy but at least you’re not throwing away so much money.

A better way to go is to find out how we can help you win at marketing.  It’s a sure bet.

This is a series on marketing solutions. Often the simplest solution is the best. Here’s one you might find interesting.

Never driven a Ferrari?  Has the rich Corinthian leather of Lamborghini never touched your what’s-it?  Don’t be dismayed. Both cars are so loud you can barely hear yourself think.

And about the only thought you have is, “I hope the girls are watching and are really impressed because my hearings nearly gone.”

In fact, Lambo drivers usually hang out at biker bars  because they’re the only people who talk loud enough to a Lambo owner to hear.

That aside, however, brings us to our story.

For several decades Alpine and Lamborghini were positioned together.  Alpine was launching a new technology and wanted a full-blown TV commercial shot on 35mm.  The agency, Kalis and Savage, derived the creative storyboard in which a Ferrari challenges a Lamborghini to a race.  When the light turns green the Ferrari blazes off into the dark night.

The Lambo?  Well he’s more entranced by the music flowing our of the new DDDrive speakers.*

So, we set it all up.  Who won?  Ferrari? Lamborghini?  Well, I suppose you could say Alpine won…because the commercial won multiple awards.

Take a look…

*The DDDrive speaker was an experimental speaker in which magnetic flux was poured into an acrylic mold so that the magnet in the speaker would have greatly improved accuracy in the flux fields created.

Written By: Fletch Murray

Fletch Murray

This December we shot two spots simultaneously, both to be shown in Toys R’ Us stores. One was for the Little Tikes Outdoor Grill and the other was for the Little Tikes Mudpie Maker. We had a ball. Ten kids running wild making plastic hamburgers and real mud pies. Somehow Director Theresa Soullliere kept everything together and we got some very energetic spots out of the mayhem.