How, why TV ad messages stand out
Every time we watch television, we are bombarded with many advertising messages, each of them enticing us to buy products or pay for services that fervently pledge to make our lives better and more “fun.”
How can those hard- or soft-sell messages make their mark on viewers and rationalize the great expense involved in utilizing the powerful mass medium of television in selling movers fiercely compete against each other to come up with striking taglines that extol products’ unique selling proposition. They should be compelling to connect with viewers over and above all of the other commercial messages that assault their eyes and ears, induce and seduce them to actually buy those products.
Last week, we jotted d own a number of those carefully crafted messages, and we’re running them today as a sort of informal test for us to take.
Striking taglines
As we read the taglines, let’s tick off the ones that “connect” with us in a special way—and figure out how and why they manage to stand out.
“Give in to pearly white skin”—appeals to some Filipinos’ preference for foreign standards of beauty.
“Smoother hair in just five washes”—appeals to the easy and quick-fix mentality.
“Pinarami, pinasulit”—extreme value for money!
“Nasa top ang cheese”—rides on the unusual appeal of a new sandwich.
“Cafe experience anytime, anywhere”—“sosyal” cachet readily available at a reasonable price.
“Brings Filipino families together”—a particularly attractive prospect at this time, when local family life is threatened by societal pressures and distractions.
“Stop bleeding gums”—the “starkly” direct approach works best for sufferers with a distressing medical condition to contend with and relieve.
“Wala ka nang worry about hair fall. I can break my hair hundreds of times!”—rides on Filipinos’ fixation on long and beautiful hair.
“Beautifully moisturize for damage-free hair”—a more “clinical” approach toward a similar objective.
“100-percent nourished kids”—easy answer for parental worries.
“Ano mang timpla, kuhang-kuha”—again, the easy, quick-fix all-encompassing approach, this time utilized in the context of cooking.
“Creamy na, may kiss pa ng caramel”—the buy-one-take-one sales pitch makes the buyer feel wise and bargain-savvy.
“Kung iwas ipis, eat in peace”—a humorous touch can be depended on to charm and disarm viewer-buyers.
“Vitamin C may not be enough”—the “complete” approach again, this time geared to health concerns.
“For heavy-duty immunity” and “Lakas na ’di umaayaw”—both promote confidence in products’ effectivity due to their dependable, no-excuses “power.”
“Because I want nothing less than perfection” and “The perfect match”—both appeal to viewers’ image of themselves as being a cut above the rest, with high standards to match.
“Kung hindi mas masarap, hindi na ako magluluto”—the humorous touch at work once again!
“Ang smart choice”—compliments viewers on their intelligence and canny abilities as buyers.
“The best P5 I ever spent”—top value for money, at such a low price!
“Wala na yung sudden pain”—talks about instant relief, that’s it!
Survey results
There you have it: As per our informal survey and analysis, the most striking advertising messages on local TV are those that promote instant, quick-fix, stylish but inexpensive cachet; the desire to measure up to foreign standards of beauty; the need to belong, to stand out, to be trendy and “in”; to get extreme value for money, and to disarm with humor, fantasy and novelty!
