Stomper Strategies

VERIZON DROID TV ADVERTISEMENT

One of the frustrations experienced by a television or radio advertising expert is witnessing TV or radio advertising that is sabotaged by ill-conceived TV or radio commercial writing.

 

Take, for example, the  new TV commercial by Verizon for the Droid X “smart phone.” You might say this TV commercial has a split personality, it works well in some parts…and screws up other parts.

 

The commercial begins strong, with the establishing shot of the office.

 

Then they make a strong claim: This “will change the way you do movies.” And then they show us what they mean by that. We see how easy it is — at least, according to Verizon — to get from “hard at work” to “watching a movie on demand.”

 

And doesn’t THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM look great on that little phone? Until now, the advertisement works.

 

Of course, if you manage to read the fine print at the bottom of the screen you’ll see that the great-looking video is “simulated” and that the “sequences” have been “shortened” — apparently meaning that going from “phone on desk” to “movie playing on your phone” isn’t quite as fast & easy as the commercial makes it appear.

 

But almost no one will see that fine print, and the images are very effective.

 

Here is where the advertisement falls apart: when the announcer refers to the 4.3-inch screen as “so big.”

 

Consumers ARE willing to believe they can enjoy watching movies on such a small screen. But when you describe a 4.3-inch screen as being “so big,” you create a state of cognitive dissonance for the consumer:

 

Is the screen 4.3 inches? Or is the screen “so big”?

 

It’s at that point that the commercial screeches to a halt, and then it resumes in a completely different direction. It implies that you’d need artificial eyes to be able to watch that film on that little telephone screen.

 

But the message should have been, “Movies look so good on the Droid screen that you’ll love watching them. Without needing to become bionic. Or — dare I say it? — without being an an-droid.

Filed under: Paid Advertising by admin