Monday, December 27, 2010

Where is the rationale!? The t(c)rap in Ads!

Watching this new Volkswagen Beetle commercial and a series of Ford commercials(this, quite an old one may be but this is the first time I ever watched it) on youtube is making me ponder about this topic!!

When we purchase things(when I mention it as things, I mean it!) what is that we look at?How and why do we decide to buy one thing over the other? Rational?Emotion? how do we come to the conclusion!? Clearly, is it not a logical decision?

Lets look at this best example I can recall to quote -

BMW ad of its M5 series - I suppose this has remained one of the greatest commercials ever in terms of the message it communicated with no single word uttered! The commercial puts the world speed record jet car somewhere in a desert racing at its top speed and halted. All to show that this jet car speed was parallely filmed using a camera fitted to BMW M5!! Sheer driving pleasure! Ultimate driving machine! whatever be the tagline. It is just so effectively conveyed to the audience with no frills attached!! Instead of just touting it as driver-oriented, no-compromise ultimate driving machine, all it does is a clear display of its engineering excellence which is what will be the reason to buy one!

The Ford commercials (One more reason series ads) shows of varied people speaking about their car and captures emotions like no less than a movie! Duh!!!

Then there is this new VW Beetle commercial in India which projects the buggy car as the perfect gift for the daughter's wedding!!Phew...are you kidding me!!? And even better, it is tag-lined as 'Fittingly Expensive'!!How else could VW justify their cute little bugsy car for a whopping 25 lacs!!? Also not to mention the offensive message that might spark up about 'dowry' and stuff!Gimme a break!!!!!!and please bring up the logical reason to buy a car!

Well no offence intended but just suspecting the approach of emotional advertising when a strong message can be conveyed with solid rationale for a purchase! Why does the rational reasoning has to be replaced!? Or does it really replace? Ofcourse, ads are dramatized means to convey the fact but the rationale to purchase it should eventually be conveyed to the targeted audience!

This reminds me of a quote by Jack Trout "If you only have 30 seconds to state your case, skip the seduction and sell your heart out!"
So very true Mr.Trout!

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