Puffin’s Place

What do you think makes for an effective television ad?

The bottom line for me is that the ad not promise something it does not deliver. A really excellent ad is the Geico Gekko ads that promise no more than visual and aural memorability. We watch the Gekko and grin in wonder at the way his feet fall or the way he nearly loses balance when he tries to settle his back on a tree branch. We hear him say, “I love clams!” and want the sea otter to offer some. And along the way we begin to associate Geico insurance with a really neat set of experiences.

Alas, not all ads reach this level. Not even all Geico ads reach this level. Consider the series that includes one ordinary person aided by one famous person. This series will surely put fleas on your teeth. In my mind, they are all irritants, but the most annoying has to be the James-I-am-inside-the-actors-studio-Lipton. Consider what the Geico ad agency must think of all of us who view the ad when Lipton utters a series of words (existential, beneficient, etc.) that are supposed to be mystifying to us illiterate dogs. Personally, I would have thought better of Lipton, even barefoot in a pool. And nearly as uncomfortable is Joan Rivers uulating about plastic surgeries that no one has cared about for decades. How do you figure Geico could put out the Gekko ads AND be responsible for the idiot cave man ads and the insufferable common-man-elite-person moments?

Consider the Rosetta Stone tv ads, a case of thoughtus interruptus if there ever was in an ad. In the first place, the ads deliver absolutely no information save the avowal that the program makes language easy to learn. In the second and more teeth-itching place, the woman who sits on the couch and breathlessly tells us that learning from Rosetta Stone is just like having a friendly person sit on the couch with her makes me want to toss the tv through a window. Even the tone of voice used by the woman promises some revelation of at least minor significance. Instead, we are left with little more than an urge to tear her breathless throat out.

I’m interested in alternate views of these ads and comments about what makes an effective print or tv ad.