I hate ads and I make them.
On every device, every browser, every possible way I could be advertised to – I block them. Why? Because advertising, in its current form, sucks. The majority of advertising lacks basic creativity, spams the pages you read with big bulky ads, tracks your movements with invasive scripts, interrupts the beauty of the web, and bores me to death with incredibly bland videos. Mostly we’ve been accustomed to ignoring them all together. I’ve gone so far to learn that if you can’t skip a YouTube ad, simply refresh the page and it’ll go away the next time you press play.
Look, it’s a typically good looking stock family. Ugh.
Thing is, we need advertising. If we didn’t have advertising I wouldn’t know that Fluevog was having an amazing sale on that great pair of boots I want, for example. Advertising works, when done correctly, and when it focuses on one simple principal that we at MEDIAPOP adhere to…
Make advertising entertaining.
I’ve watched this ridiculous Old Spice ad ten times because it’s hilarious.
You’ll see many examples of entertaining advertising, but these are the exception and not the rule. Why is that? Because companies are afraid to go to the line. When a company plays it “safe”, the message becomes noise lost in the void, stuck in the dead space. That dead space is where the viewer’s eyes gloss over, the brain shuts off, and misses all the action triggers. At MEDIAPOP we deploy a really simple factor that most advertisers miss.
MAKE THE VIEWER FEEL SOMETHING.
In every project we do we try as hard as we can to make an emotional connection between you and the viewer. We look at the intended audience, gauge what kind of emotion will make them act, and form the content around that emotion. The result is something unique me and others have felt; I want to watch your advertisement. Sell me something! We live in an age of Netflix, Hulu, Shomi, HBO Now – I’ll watch what I want, when I want – make your advertisements something I WANT to watch.
The top comments tell the story…
I’m not being biased here, but rather gleaning from my own experience as a viewer, the only effective ads that get me to act are videos that tell me an entertaining story. Not just any story, a story that gets my emotions involved. The beauty of video is for the most part isn’t blocked up by Ad or Content Blockers. So the real question of effectiveness is: Are you going to make video content that people want to watch? One of the best categories is Branded Content/Branded Short Films – The Intersection of Art & Commerce.
Branded Content is a simple formula:
• Get good story
• Tie it to brand
• Produce it
• Show it off
So why aren’t most advertisers or companies doing it? Fear. Yet, the people who are doing it are reaping the benefits. This is PRADA presents “CASTELLO CAVALCANTI” by Wes Anderson
This is an ad. It’s unabashedly an ad that is entertaining and memorable. It works.
We can apply this theory to absolutely anything.
Clothing retailer? Let’s write a script about how a more confident outfit leads to a more spectacular night of adventure.
Renewable Company? What does your technology do for the vulnerable communities in our world?
Construction Company? What happens to a neighbourhood when it’s transformed into a destination?
These are the type of stories we conjure up and produce when we follow the theory that every project must make an emotional connection.
Content and Ad Blockers are the new norm, get used to it. The whole advertising industry is flipping their lids trying to figure out how to deal with this new world of web and television advertising. Video is one avenue to beat this shift, but if it doesn’t do anything remarkable or entertaining it’ll fall into the dead space.
MEDIAPOP is one of a few companies that produce Branded Content. We’re a new generation of advertising companies flipping the normal upside down and calling a spade a spade; the old guard doesn’t get today and the future. We do.