Super Bowl LIX (59) happened a few days ago, and I figured I ought to write about it while there’s still time.
The game was an absolute snoozefest.
The halftime performance was cool, but also a tad bit disappointing. The big problem is that rap is the genre that translates the worst to the stage. Story for another day.
And the commercials?
Well, the ads were quite forgettable. Besides a few, I don’t remember a single one. And I certainly wasn’t persuaded to buy anything from these ads.
Which brings me to the point:
The Super Bowl sets a weird expectation about advertisements.
I get that the Super Bowl is an event, that a 30-second ad spot costs mill-yuns—and mill-YUNS—of doll hairs, and that advertising agencies around the world LARP as comedic masterminds for these ads.
But to quote mayhap the greatest living copywriter on earth, one Gary Bencivenga, who recently started a new newsletter called Marketing Maxims that I highly suggest you sign up for (you can do that here if’n you’d like), from his Marketing Maxim #3:
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“[m]any copywriters labor under the illusion that the purpose of advertising is to get applause or win awards, entertain, tell a joke, make puns, keep the client’s name before the public or build awareness.”
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Alas, this is most certainly NOT what goes into a good ad.
In fact, ads that get applause and win awards are the exact worst type of ad.
Why?
Because instead of persuading potential customers about how your product or service can enhance their life, they cater to advertising award voters. This is no different than making a movie that sucks, but pulls on the heart strings of Oscar voters.
In other words:
Funny, punny, applause-worthy ads cater to the wrong audience!
Even worse, they cater to an audience who will not buy—no matter how much you make them giggle, cry, or think of X corporation.
As another great copywriter, Eugene Schwartz, once said:
(Paraphrased)
Advertisements should be like a clean window: You can look right through them and see the product. Advertisements that draw attention to themselves, instead of the product or service, are like dirty windows.
And this applies to any commercial that receives compliments instead of sales.
It’s just another way to trick yourself into believing that vanity metrics are the fuel to make your business grow—when in reality, vanity metrics are as important as having power windows in your car or manual windows. The windows still go down in either case.
Or said another way:
It’s an example of majoring in the minors.
Focusing on the meaningless metrics at the expense of the ones that actually grow your business.
Buncha lessons to digest in this’n.
Onto business:
If you need help creating (and implementing) an email marketing strategy that unlocks pent-up revenue hiding in your business, hit reply, and let’s chat.
John
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