I finally saw a good commercial on television the other day. I doubt that I'd actually buy the product at this moment in my life, but nonetheless a great advertisement in a sea of sickening sameness and in-your-face pressure to buy is a nice thing. It's for a new Dyson vacuum cannister model that they've apparently improvinated in a redesign thinkfestamajig, I just made those words up, so if you use them that's a dime each time.
The things that actually work well with the commercial, and granted I've only seen it one time as of this writing, is that it does an excellent job of presenting the product by the designer of the product itself. That's a rarity these days, because we really haven't the slightest clue who owns what, or why they want us to buy whatever it is there actually selling. Beyond that, the Dyson advertisement actually demonstrates the product effectively and believably.
It's increasingly rare that there is any believability in advertising when so much of the message of advertising is buried beneath situational obfuscation. For examples of this, see any Geico advertisement for the last decade or so, but it's not good enough to be frank and honest about pricing, we have to bury the message in a metaphor that is hilarious the first time, but later becomes tritely irrelevant and torturous in repeated viewings.
The Dyson ad which I happened to catch was about a minute and thirty seconds, it had a great deal of information contained in that time, it seemed to focus more on educating about the shortcomings of older-cannister designs, as well as illustrate how they've improved upon that design in several specific ways. Further, they accomplished all of this in a very well designed piece of film with polished visuals. It is an effective piece of advertising, it will make you want this thing that you likely do not even need.
PS
I came away from that ad thinking that it's a very different approach from much of the advertising that I've seen lately. Most advertising, at least from my observations, have been direct appeals.
"Hey you, YES, you! Come over here and buy this, y'know....for kids!"
If it's not the direct appeal, it's the surreal situations that disarm viewers for the stab in the face of product necessity!
I was thinking of ways that Dyson could do those kinds of ads, and they all came away seeming like Dr. Strangelove selling their vacuums.
The things that actually work well with the commercial, and granted I've only seen it one time as of this writing, is that it does an excellent job of presenting the product by the designer of the product itself. That's a rarity these days, because we really haven't the slightest clue who owns what, or why they want us to buy whatever it is there actually selling. Beyond that, the Dyson advertisement actually demonstrates the product effectively and believably.
It's increasingly rare that there is any believability in advertising when so much of the message of advertising is buried beneath situational obfuscation. For examples of this, see any Geico advertisement for the last decade or so, but it's not good enough to be frank and honest about pricing, we have to bury the message in a metaphor that is hilarious the first time, but later becomes tritely irrelevant and torturous in repeated viewings.
The Dyson ad which I happened to catch was about a minute and thirty seconds, it had a great deal of information contained in that time, it seemed to focus more on educating about the shortcomings of older-cannister designs, as well as illustrate how they've improved upon that design in several specific ways. Further, they accomplished all of this in a very well designed piece of film with polished visuals. It is an effective piece of advertising, it will make you want this thing that you likely do not even need.
PS
I came away from that ad thinking that it's a very different approach from much of the advertising that I've seen lately. Most advertising, at least from my observations, have been direct appeals.
"Hey you, YES, you! Come over here and buy this, y'know....for kids!"
If it's not the direct appeal, it's the surreal situations that disarm viewers for the stab in the face of product necessity!
I was thinking of ways that Dyson could do those kinds of ads, and they all came away seeming like Dr. Strangelove selling their vacuums.
