Strive To Advertise With The Highest Quality Generics

About a year ago, this video was making the round essentially pointing out how we are often being unconsciously manipulated by imagery in television and video ads.

[vimeo 89527215 w=500 h=281]

I have been kept it bookmarked intending to use it in a post at some point. It is fun to watch because you realize how often you have probably fallen prey to the feelings the imagery is trying to evoke. In the context of the video, the images are basically tropes.

I had a vague sense that I would probably use the video to make fun of common generic arts marketing phrases like “takes you on a musical journey” and “exploration of the human spirit.”

It has been awhile since I last watched it so I saw it in an entirely different context when I rewatched it this weekend.

Back in October, Trevor O’Donnell made a post on his blog about a video advertising an Android phone. He perceptively pointed out that the content of the Android ad focused almost wholly on the consumer and their enjoyment rather than on the product itself. He encouraged his reader to do the following:

Watch it and pay close attention to these things:

The ratio of content featuring customers vs. content featuring the product
The fresh, down-to-earth, colloquial, customer-centric language
The emotional impact of customers engaging with the product
The emphasis on YOU (meaning the customer)
The diversity of the customers shown enjoying the product
The fresh, professional, contemporary production values

Then he suggested people apply the same criteria to their last season brochure and see how it fared.

As I was watching the “This Is A Generic Brand” video again this weekend, I realized the reason these general images were so successful at influencing people no matter how many times they appeared in ads was because so many of them focus on the consumer and subjects with which they identify, value or aspire (even if it has no basis in the reality of their lives).

Watch the video again with Trevor O’Donnell’s criteria in hand and see how many of them it hits. It shouldn’t be difficult since in some cases, the voice over almost states each outright.

So while the video has a cynical tone, it also provides an illustration that a good deal of arts marketing is behind the curve when it comes to appealing to audiences in the manner in which they respond.

Yes, I hate to admit it, but it appears even in the use of generic advertising techniques, arts organizations aren’t using the highest quality product.

About Joe Patti

I have been writing Butts in the Seats (BitS) on topics of arts and cultural administration since 2004 (yikes!). Given the ever evolving concerns facing the sector, I have yet to exhaust the available subject matter. In addition to BitS, I am a founding contributor to the ArtsHacker (artshacker.com) website where I focus on topics related to boards, law, governance, policy and practice.

I am also an evangelist for the effort to Build Public Will For Arts and Culture being helmed by Arts Midwest and the Metropolitan Group. (http://www.creatingconnection.org/about/)

My most recent role was as Executive Director of the Grand Opera House in Macon, GA.

Among the things I am most proud are having produced an opera in the Hawaiian language and a dance drama about Hawaii's snow goddess Poli'ahu while working as a Theater Manager in Hawaii. Though there are many more highlights than there is space here to list.

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2 thoughts on “Strive To Advertise With The Highest Quality Generics”

  1. I think there is an even bigger lesson in this video. If you want online audiences to engage with your marketing, make the marketing material engaging! The thing that blew me away when I first watched this video last year was the very last card. This whole joke of an ad is actually a *real* advertisement for a stock video provider. The biggest punchline is that you just spent two minutes voluntarily watching a commercial.

    Reply
    • To be honest, when I first saw it a year ago, I didn’t view it that way. Since they talk about the McSweeney’s article at the start, I took it to be a sort of counter consumerism piece. The credit at the end about all the pieces coming from Dissolve, I viewed as a responsible use of crediting the source like so many people do online with images.

      Even when I posted, I didn’t see it as an ad. But after I posted, Dissolve tweeted about it even though I didn’t mention them or hashtag them and I realized they are paying very close attention to how the video is being used.

      But I would say, even viewing the last slide as crediting as I originally did, I probably would have still checked out their site if I needed stock footage. So I guess they did a good job of keeping it low key–or at least low key enough for people like myself who were too obtuse to realize they were watching an ad.

      Reply

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