I think I heard somewhere that the average American is exposed to something like 140,000 words a day. By my calculation that's like a 560 page book beamed at you every day. Unless you're Stephen Hawking on high-doses of Gingko Biloba that probably means that your head is overloaded with or tuned out from messages.
That being said, what do clients do when you review spots with them? Well first they sit down in a quiet conference room and neaten their papers. Then they unravel the scroll in their heads. A scroll that has a list on it of all the internal constituencies the ad must please and all the copy points that must be hit so that they won't displease their boss, their boss' boss, their boss' boss' boss, their CMO and their CEO.
They watch the spot.
They say, politely and calmly, "Can we see it again?"
Then they say, "We love it."
Then they go through their lists.
Their list of fears.
Their list of threats.
Their list of musts.
Their list of must-nots.
Then they talk. If you are showing a :30, they comment for approximately two-minutes for each second. An hour.
You leave the room.
Time to recut.
I just presented some TV spots yesterday. I made the mistake of understanding the brief. another copywriter came in with a spot that showed a naked woman. It was funny and had nothing to do with the product or brand. But everybody laughed. His spot is being produced. Mine are already in the circular bin. Cheap jokes that two seconds to understand are always better than a reasoned argument.
ReplyDelete@anonymous..I want a job at your agency. I've never managed to get a spot with a naked woman approved...would love to however...especially if there would be palm trees, sandy beaches, sail boats and margaritas involved.
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