Eric's Estimate

Found Advertising: Direct TV Roadside Ditch Commercial

Posted on January 2, 2012 by EricNo Comments

Happy new year! I hope your 2012 will be productive and you’ll be able to sell some stuff online and make some money.

My first post in 2012 will be the start of a sequence of posts called “Found Advertising”. I’ll bring up some cool ads that I’ve seen and talk about how the concept can be applied to your advertising.

First up, Direct TV’s Roadside Ditch commercial.

Telling stories with your marketing is powerful. Adding humour makes your stories even MORE powerful.

Direct TV understands this concept very well as evidenced in their new commercial Roadside Ditch. (Below)

Check it out and let me know what you think.

So how can you use this concept in your advertising? You don’t necessarily have to use video.

In fact, you can apply stories to any website simply by changing the tone of your sales copy. Instead of simply telling people about your product, why not tell a story?

This story can be fiction (like the commercial above) but should never be false. What I mean by that is, don’t create a story about yourself or your company that isn’t true. Instead, create a story about a potential customer’s struggle that your product solved. Direct TV did this in the above commercial – even though the struggle was a fictional one.

Stories connect your product to your reader

A well written story can help your potential customers connect with your product. They can imagine using your product and you can incite an emotional response that links your product to the solution.

Try brainstorming 10 different situations where your product can be used to solve a problem.

Instead of using the basic problem that your product solves (our sunglasses protect your eyes from the sun) be more specific.

“Don’t look squinty at the beach! Our sunglasses let you keep your cool in all situations”

Or add some cheesiness with a dash of humour:

“Don’t get caught checking out that cute girl on the street, our sunglasses help you stay discreet”

Once you have your situations, turn them into a more elaborate story.

This technique can be used on landing pages, affiliate campaigns, pretty well anything, and it’s very powerful.

How can you use this technique in your marketing campaigns in 2012? Let me know in the comments below.