The greatest brand of all time, the GOAT if you will, remains Apple. The reason? Simplicity. It’s something ad marketers should always consider. Simplifying, so your message is clearly understood and makes an impact.
I bring this up because the Apartments.com commercials are a pure example of ad marketers overthinking it all. They feature Jeff Goldblum playing a character, Brad Bellflower, the inventor of the “Apartminternet.”
Ad marketers being too clever
The spots supposedly take viewers on a journey to find places to live. Well, it does that. But the Brad Bellflower character simply oozes through our brains and out the other side without another thought. Why? Because we see Jeff Goldblum. Not the character.
Goldblum is a famous actor. We’ve all seen him, and we understand his quirky nature. Goldblum isn’t playing Brad Bellflower here. He’s playing the Goldblum persona. Why in the hell did the ad marketers (for the record, reports suggest the campaign was spearheaded internally) think Goldblum needed a character to play. What’s wrong with playing Jeff Goldblum?
Who thinks he’s Brad Bellflower? Did any of you catch that?
Where most advertising fails
Many ad marketers think they need to be more clever than their competition to stand out. After all, audiences are subject to so many messages each day, it IS hard to be heard. But cleverness never works. There’s three reasons for that:
1, Cleverness is never believable. It sounds like marketing. Written by a copywriter looking to win his or her Clio award. Cleverness simply isn’t persuasive. It doesn’t hit any emotional triggers that viewers feel deep in their gut. They just give credit to the ad marketers for being entertaining and move on.
2, Cleverness obscures your message. Audiences don’t take away your message after viewing your ad. They take away how clever it was or how entertaining. In the case of Apartments.com, they take away Goldblum being quirky. That’s it.
3, Cleverness is ignored. No one remembers your cleverness. It makes no impact. At least not enough for them to prefer you or change their behavior to adopt your process.
Be direct
Don’t overthink it. Find the most persuasive message that hits target audiences in the gut. And deliver it so impactfully that audiences remember you. Think about this. The definition of a switching trigger is asking a prospect to stop doing what they are doing now and doing something new. Instead of looking online for apartments, they now look at Apartments.com. The brand doesn’t need Brad Bellflower. It just needs Jeff Goldblum.
Changing behavior is hard. Cleverness or overthinking how ad marketers should couch their message doesn’t do it. In fact, it does the exact opposite. It only demonstrates that how easily advertising can be forgotten. You can still be memorable and creative. Just don’t obscure your message.
The greatest brand campaign of all time is the I’m Mac, I’m a PC Apple commercials from years ago. They clearly stated who you are when you are an Apple customer. And who you are not. It was still entertaining and funny. But it was direct and simple.
Ad marketers, listen up. Don’t overthink it.