Snickers Ad…Who is Satisfied?

A two-minute ad for Snickers by Clemenger BBDO Melbourne has won the gold Siren award for best radio ad of the year. Download Here!

Now let’s remember, that this is a radio ad. It is a step up from the normal ads that usually start along the lines of, “thinking of Venetian blinds…”

I must confess that I think this Ad is pretty ordinary. Listening to it, I was actually trying to pay attention to the ad (as opposed to having it forced on me on the radio when I am driving) and I was still struggling to really understand what it was all about. It didn’t make me want a snickers, like snickers or laugh out loud.

Let’s assume that it was funny and clever. Does this translate to more Snickers sales or increased brand value? I doubt it in this case. A friend of mine, who is a copy writer for a Melbourne based ad agency, told me recently that he thinks not even half of the "creative’s" would ever care to understand what impact the Ad that they create for their clients would have on sales for their clients brand. All that the "creative’s" are focused on, is making a clever humorous Ad that wins them and their agency an industry award.

So Ad agencies, with their priorities skewed towards their reputation, and intra-industry masturbations, are probably the last people that you should be asking to create your business’s ad campaigns. Then who should? You and your customers! Listen to them. Create ways for them to be able to easily communicate to you about what they want to hear from your brand and what they find valuable about your brand / product / service.

How is TV and web advertising like Friday work drinks?

If my ad goes out to a prime time audience of 2million people then obviously this is more valuable than a web marketing campain that nets 100,000 hits right? I am going to use an analogy to answer this question so bare with me if I digress a little.

Lets say your meeting a few people for Friday after work drinks, most of the group you know but there are a couple of new people there, friends of your friends. Its busy at the local watering hole but you make an effort to take notice when your being introduced to the new people in the group. You take note of the persons name, what they look like, how they are connected to the people you know. Whilst this is taking place, there are about 100 people in the background that you don't know talking to one another, you glance around the room every so often, you hear snippets of conversations but by and large your more focused on the conversation at hand.

Now imagine that you are asked to take a survey about your evening, focusing on what you have seen an heard that night. Can you recognise the face of every person in the room? Do you recall the subject of the conversations that were going on around you?

I wont question the fact that your ad was played to 2million people, but the question is how many of them were paying attention? How many of them hit the mute button? How many got up to make a cup of tea? How many turned away to have a conversation with their partner? TV advertising is a lot like the crowd at the bar, they're there, you can hear them, you can see them but more often than not, your not paying attention to them.

On the other hand, the web marketing campaign is a lot like the new people you meet. You take the time to remember their name, you focus on them, listen to them, find out a little about them. Someone who takes even the shortest amount of time to go to your website has obviously made an effort to find out more about you.

The result is that at the end of the day your much better off with 1 person that takes the time to get to know your company than a million people who don't remember you.