Here’s a fresh idea for bold national TV advertisers. One and done. Okay, maybe five and done is better. Create and run TV spots 5 times then take them off the air and move them to the web. A question many large agencies asked back in the day of the $385,000 TV commercial and still ask is “What is the burn out rate”? How many times can a consumer can see a TV spot before his/her eyes start to bleed.
In today’s fast twitch media, where clicking is a sport, the burn out factor has grown even more sensitive. This is why sooner or later Geico is going to need to chill. I was reading today about The Gap and its desire to become more relevant to the younger set – more relevant is a euphemism for sell more – and I’ve also been reading about Denny’s, similarly strategized. The former will do nice ads and burn, burn, burn them. The latter is running ads only a few times, then driving people to the web to watch them on-demand, on-desire, in longer form. Denny’s and Gotham get the target’s media habits and will save money. Gap and Ogilvy will not…unless.
Unless they use the new “five and done” model. Should Ogilvy decide to turn itself into a crafty, creative TV production studio for the Gap it will have a chance. Buy high profile mass reach media and run their ads only a handful of times. Then move on. Lots of freshies. Story-tell with lots of chapters, a la James Patterson. And it shouldn’t necessarily be a serial story, just a gestalt-y all around the brand strategy story.
Smart shops can create spots at low costs these days. Fast twitch ads, not burn out campaigns, are what the daring will do. That’s what the youth market wants. Peace.