Stuff sells
It’s bound to happen at some point in the future – falling advertising rates for television, an increasingly savvy consumer society – someone will release an advert that is a bit special.
I don’t know what it will be right now, but I’m guessing that it could possibly take the following format…
In an environment bombarded by flashy ads and attention grabbing jingles to really stand out… you have to go against the grain – A static image, likely a well known logo, held silent on screen for the entire duration of the break… perhaps it will have the word ‘buy’ just above the logo. And not just one channel either, all the channels simultaneously. For a brief time that static image will be Television.
I hope it’s something like that.
I hope I’m not eating/drinking/doing whatever they are advertising at the time. I hate that, feeling like a suggestible creature, driven only by impulse and advertising.
If something isn’t delicious or enjoyable or whatnot I won’t buy it again. Doesn’t matter how much they advertise. And if something is being advertised that I’ve never tried I’m usually skeptical. I’m not much for trying new things anyway. Sometimes I do and on those occasions I’m usually disappointed, thus validating my routine behavior.
Dear Loyal Customer:
The Wi-Fi flavor crystals in your iFood are being charged as you watch this short video.
does it have electrolytes?
That’s what plants crave!
Water? Like from the toilet?
No sir, but it does have our patented eLECTROLYTES™
You know, I originally thought “Flavonoids” was made up as a marketing thing, but aparrently I was wrong.
Isn’t that how TV commercials (that is, the breaks in programming we are used to today, not the earlier product placement in live programming) started, with still images of products, essentially a billboard ad on TV?
Pretty much… and technically it was shown on at least 50% of the channels all at once.
Advertisers have already blown it with the public.
We see so much of it, in everything, out iPods,
television, movies, the internet, especially the
internet, that we don’t even listen anymore.
It’s easy to tune out ads, block them, ignore
them. Meanwhile the cost of advertising new
product goes up and up- it takes millions to
successfully launch a new product now, maybe
$100 million for a new cereal. One day, companies
will figure it out, if they quit bombarding us,
we might start to listen. Advertisers are so stupid.
When I was a tiny kid, I asked my mother “Why do they have to say ‘new and improved?’ Don’t they know it’s new if it’s been improved, and don’t they know it’s improved if it’s new?”
I think this inquisitive nature of mine is why I was judged to be a budgetary constraint in my position as a marketing specialist.
Oh, I can answer that one! The wonders of LEGAL TECHNICALITIES!
Legally, “new” means “can be used for a purpose for which it could not previously be used” and “improved” means “has improved efficacy when being used for a function for which it already could be used.”
So for a toothpaste, for example, to be both -new- and -improved- it would have to offer slightly better cleaning (improved) AND whitening (new).
It’s got to do with the constant race for relevance in a competitive environment. Also intellectual property protection. When a pharmaceutical patent on, say, Viagra, expires, anyone can use the Viagra formula. However, the -marketing elements- of the actual Viagra pill: colour, size, shape, etc, are all protected by trademark, which doesn’t expire so long as it’s being used. That’s why it’s so important for drugs to have a signature look: people say “oh, that may be an erectile enhancer, but it’s not a little blue diamond. I’ll go with what I know instead.”
Also, you constantly add features, and apply a patent as a “new” product. Thus we have 500 varieties of pain and cold medication (8-hour, gelcap, slow-release, daytime, nighttime, etc) in dozens of different shapes and colours, even though they are all functionally the same three or four ingredients.
i hate the possibility that even though i think im immune to advertising and it doesnt affect my decisions, its influencing me on some level i dont know about. that makes me think that advertising will come to a point where it will become illegal. subliminal messaging in early films, anyone?
adam, this looks like it would have been a lot of fun to draw.
my book should get here in…some days/weeks! squee!
I think it’s Futurama… they advertise into your dreams… and in Minority report they advertise directly to you by name…
It was fun to draw, though it took longer than I had planned. I’m not a natural calligrapher.
Hopefully your book should speed its way to you… providing it doesn’t get held up at customs on fictional terrorist charges.
Oh yah, I did want to mention that the lettering was really nice too.
to Justine: it cant affect you if you don’t watch it.
thanks
I like how you can tell that it’s painstakingly drawn, then filled in black, rather than having been done with a calligraphic nib. I do that too — my calligraphy sucks.
Each letter, in real life is 1.2 inches high. I don’t have a nib that big.
Not that I could use one if I did. I’m barely literate with a felt pen, let alone a calligraphy set…
You’re too modest. I’ve seen your lettering in your artwork – if that’s not calligraphy you do a remarkable job as a forger.
Modest? My writing is terrible! I hope you’re not thinking of that Flesh Socket cover (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v48/werdnus/Flesh%20Socket/FreeMetal.jpg).
That was totally drawn, and then painstakingly inked in with a fine brush and a micron pen.
*retracts praise and scolds Roo for being a sham calligrapher*
Still, it is rather good… I couldn’t tell.
Hahahahaha!
It’s all about the illusion.
Keep the threat of vomit, without actual vomit.
Sounds like a marketing slogan if I ever heard one. Perhaps for joke ipecac, or something.
Adverting 105:
Buy the same stuff, just with a few GBs added on and 5 megapixel cameras.