Television Commercials I Like

Today I would rather not think too hard about the problems that are confronting our great country. If there was any doubt that we have a Mohammedan sympathizer in the Oval Office, then last weeks actions should have erased that doubt. There is now some sort of "health care reform" that will probably turn out to be a boondoggle that will further damage the economy, and thank the Lord that South Korea has determined (or chosen to determine) that their warship was not a victim of a North Korean attack. If the South publicly accused the Democratic Republic of a military attack it is conceivable that this administration would abandon our important ally in a lurch. I would imagine that those in South Korea sense this. So instead of delving into these important matters, I think I will just blabber about tv commercials that I find interesting.



Television advertisements can be an art form every bit as entertaining as "real" movies and tv programs. Although it must be noted that for every good one there are hundreds of those that are merely "informative" without being entertaining. That is fine and good but a little bit of humor works wonders in putting a product before the public. Lets take a look at a few successful campaigns.



The Progressive Auto Insurance ads that have been running for quite some time have been quite successful and by now every one who watches television should know that Progressive sell auto insurance. The woman that is the "star" of the commercials a somewhat goofy brunette who is at the same time, well, sexy in an odd sort of way. This is brilliant advertising and I would imagine that the campaign has paid for itself many many times. One of the early ads featured very attractive blond woman who, when talking, curls her lip in an interesting way. I would be willing to bet that males in focus groups found this very sexually appealing while at the same time not coming across as exploitive to women in said groups. There is actually some "science" that goes into a very successful and quite expensive national campaign before it rolls out.



Geico, another insurer, has two very good campaigns running. The predominant one features the Geico Lizard and it is doubtful that there is anyone in the nation that does not know who this is. The advertisements are somewhat amusing but the real genius behind it is that now everyone knows that Geico sells auto insurance.

Ditto for their other major campaign that features the "cavemen." This has been so successful that there was actually a sitcom spawned from the characters. Both of these campaigns have, I am sure, paid for themselves many times over.



Now the top dogs in the insurance industry - State Farm and Allstate do not have to resort to airwaves saturation as do the up and comers. State Farm advertisements of late have targeted Geico and Progressive in a straightforward way without resorting to humor or gimmicks. This is a luxury of a leader in an industry, but, it must be noted that since the State Farm ads do mention Geico and Progressive by name, it does mean that those at State Farm are worried at least somewhat about losing market share.

The advertisements for Southwest Airlines are exceptional. The latest one where the men run up to a competitors aircraft and lift their shirts while yelling is an exceptional take off of the scene where the Scots faced off with the English at Falkirk (perhaps Bannockburn) in the film Brave Heart. The entire "Its on" campaign that Southwest airs is quite good and helps to solidify the perception in the public mind that the airline, while "no perk," is still somewhat a cut above the "full service" airlines in the industry. Anyone who regularly flies with both Continental and Southwest will testify to the superiority of SW.

It is interesting that an add campaign can be quite irritating to be a huge success. Remember the "Mentos" commercials that aired a few years back. These were horrible but they are indeed memorable for being so bad and the do indeed hit the target in getting the products name in the public conscience. This is a risky strategy however as there are large numbers of people who will be so turned off by a campaign that they may not be inclined to buy the product.

The very same can be said of the "Old Navy" campaigns that are periodically unveiled. The commercials are terrible but they do get the "Old Navy' name out there.

Intel has a very good advertisement out that features an engineer walking into the coffee break room and being greeted like the winning QB or rock star. That is quite interesting and is probably effective at keeping the Intel name in the public mind.

The horrible fast food chain "Jack In the Box" has has a very successful campaign running with "Jack" being the "star" of the series. My favorite is the one where a couple are in the hot tub with Jack and his apparent wife. The other couple are apparently swingers and the long haired blond male just looks like a smarmy swinger type from the 80's. This commercial is exceptional as indeed are most of the spots in this campaign. Brilliant advertising without question. Unfortunately the food is not (in my opinion) worth eating.

I have always loved television commercials and often find them more entertaining than the actual shows that are being offered on by the various networks.