People like good TV ads
An award ceremony held last night honored the best TV ads of the year. But are TV ads still relevant? Ashley Milne-Tyte reports that people aren't against watching TV ads -- they're against watching bad TV ads.
This ad with a talking stain won an award for humor in a TV commercial. (YouTube)
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TEXT OF STORY
Scott Jagow: Last night, the hard-working people of Madison Avenue got together for an awards ceremony. They were honoring the best TV commercials of the year. You hear all the time that TV ads are becoming obsolete. But honestly, those reports seem to be at least somewhat exaggerated. Ashley Milne-Tyte has more.
Ashley Milne-Tyte: Maybe you saw this ad the night of the Superbowl. A guy comes in to an office for an interview. He has a loud coffee stain on his shirt.
Interviewer: So tell me about yourself.
Interviewee: Well, you know I'm an organized person . . . I'm someone who does not leave details . . . out.
The tagline is, "Silence the stain." That commercial won an award for humor.
Matt Miller is president of the Association of Independent Commercial Producers. He says consumers aren't as jaded as some advertisers fear.
Matt Miller: One of the things Tivo tells us is that if you show good ads, not only will people watch them, they'll go back and watch them again. People aren't against advertising. They're against bad advertising.
He says the 30-second spot is far from dead, and many have a second life on YouTube. And as people watch more video on devices like cell phones, Miller says advertisers should benefit. At least, those who can craft a compelling ad.
In New York, I'm Ashley Milne-Tyte for Marketplace.
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From Washington, IL, 06/24/2008
Seems there are more BAD ads out there than good ones. They are getting LOUDER, more FLASH and more BANG. The HYPE has reached higher levels and it seems like more and more of the announcers are wearing their shorts way too tight. Then the company being advertised believes that during the 10 minutes out of every 30 that advertising is allowed, that we have to see 'their ad' at least 6, if not 10 times. (Do they assume the consumer is that stupid they will forget their ad?)
Lets pull in the reigns abit. Go back to the 60's when the ads were related to the show on TV. The product was displayed (quietly) and the announcer quietly told the consumer the (truthful) benefits of the product. Then the ad stopped and you were returned to the show. No hoopla, no blinding flashes, no loud explosions.
Even the networks are suffering with information overload. Your watching a show. Then a ticker tape appears across the bottom of the screen. Then in the lower right, the transparent network logo appears. The lower left shows the time and temperature. Then there is a weather alert - goes lower left and fills 10% of screen. Behind that, a brief announcement of the up coming show airing on thursday. We all have only 2 eyes, 2 ears and one mind. We can only process so much data at a time. Do we really need to be distracted by all of this extra information? Have you ever felt like there are 10 people each telling you to do different things all at the same time. With me, I just turn it ALL OFF.
Lets get back to being REAL and reasonable. Moderation. Stop wasting your ad dollars by repeating your tasteless loud ad 15 seconds after we have already seen it. Do not tell me to go to the nearest dealer 'right now' when they are closed.
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