Your Favorite Thing You Ever Created

Matt and Mud pretend to announce.

It may not be your best work of all time, but it's definitely your favorite.

Maybe it was the way the shoot came together.  Or the creative development.  Or even the special camaraderie you had with everyone.

It could even have been the final product.

In any event, it's the first thing that pops to mind whenever your asked the question.

For me, it was this 5-minute segment introducing Matt Vasgersian as the new San Diego Padres announcer.

It started out as a promo shoot, with the hope of getting half a dozen decent spots.  Both Matt and his color man, Mark "Mud" Grant, were up for anything.  They agreed to showcase their humor as a way of creating a value-added proposition to the viewers' experience of watching games on Channel Four Padres. 

That was the official rationale.  The truth was, we all felt as though we, the inmates, had taken over the asylum.

Hey, where's the Palestinian chicken?

OK, back to the shoot.  We had a "Curb Your Enthusiasm" approach.  Here's the setup, you need to start at point A, include something about X, and end at point B.  And yes, we used that chestnut, "We can fix anything in post."

The day went better than expected; we stopped and shot at places we planned, as well as locations and stuff we just made up along the way.  Matt and Mud were hilarious and fearless. 

By day's end, we realized we had way more than a few good spots.  That proved to be true, and we put together a 5-minute segment, then submitted it, just for kicks.

Management had other ideas, and used it in their Opening Day show to introduce Matt to the San Diego audience. I understand it went over well, but that was secondary.  To this day, it's top of my list.

Everything's better with baseball.

I know you have your favorite.  And now, The Promo Code welcomes your story (complete with video or audio, of course).

Go ahead and post here.  Who knows?  Your best memory may hold a special place in someone else's heart as well.

Even Larry David might think it's pret-ty, pret-ty, pret-ty good.

-Ed Roth
edrothshow@gmail.com

Jingle? Jingle? We don't need no stinkin' jingle!

Does music affect your mood?  Does it affect what you buy and when you buy it?
 
I sure hope so, since billions of dollars, Euros, Pounds and Yen are spent each year trying to use music to get us to buy products.  But the face of music in media is changing.  I know what you're thinking--this guy is a geeeenius.  I mean it.

I've been guilty of creating and being part of some pretty bad (and good) jingles over the years, but those days are thankfully in my rear-view mirror, and I will not share any of the bad ones unless I'm on my fifth martini.  Then, all bets are off.

Gray's led the fad of using indy songs as music tracks in shows

It's not so much that you hear more rap than Pat Boone on a track, but fewer jingles are being produced and more indy music, complete with lyrics, is being used as tracks.  This is a movement that I became painfully aware of when Gray's Anatomy premiered nine years ago.  Indy music with lyrics being played under the dialogue, not necessarily as an intro.  I thought it was interesting then.  Now, I find it annoying.

More indy banmds, less pop stuff.  Where ten years ago, jingles were king, you have to search high and low for a traditional jingle where the name of the products is sung with a catch phrase.

Here are two of my favorites from 1971 (the iconic Coke jingle) and 1978 (Dr. Pepper). 

Good luck kicking this jingle out of your head.

Coca-Cola (I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing)
Be a Pepper

Now, we have the anti-jingle.  Old Spice is going out of the way to makes fun of those 70s and 80s jingles.  I do LOVE it because it takes the viewer by surprise and because they're the only ones doing it, we know the name of the product.  These spots run mostly in sports, so check it out:

Old Spice (Shower)


Now, thanks to my 18 year-old I know the names of a lot of indy bands as they appear in spots.

No matter where you turn, there's indy music (completer with vocals) marketing every spot.

Here are a few of The Promo Code's recommendations for the next spot you produce:

1.  Musically tap into what makes your product distinctive.  Take a look at two spots running in my home state of Oregon for a local health plan.  I'm not sure if I want to be part of it, but it makes me happy every time I hear and see it and I take notice.  You don't have to be into cycling or recycling to catch the spirit.
 
Cover Oregon (Matt Sheehy)
Cover Oregon (Laura Gibson)

2.  Stop putting your announce over lyrics. It's not that I'm old fashioned, but I don't think that the human ear can comprehend song lyrics with dialogue and an announce track at the same time.  Choose one.
Here's a spot for insurance that I like in concept, but the choice of an 80s chestnut is questionable, because the opening bars take me nowhere and the vocals in the back half of the spot are just distracting.  What do you think?

Liberty Mutual 
 

3.  Use music that takes me somewhere.  The only thing worse that generic copy that could be written for numerous clients, is music that settles behind the announce and does not make an emotional connection.  Here's a genius spot from Apple that combines killer copy, Richard Dreyfuss's great read and music that hits the bullseye:

Apple (Genius)

Is it really the most popular camera in the world?  I'm convinced.

4.  Put your music up front, loud and proud.  Make it part of your big idea from the start.  Make it thoughtful, clever and not an afterthought.  How about no announce at all?  Yes, please.

Apple iPhone 5

That's what I love...music that moves me, combined with visuals that mesmerize.  A jingle?  Perhaps.  But done with 2013 sensibility.  There's so much clutter out there on 200 networks.  Great music always cuts through.  Always.

Don't bury vocals behind your copy and don't use pop songs that don't speak specifically to your brand or its benefits. 

Just because you like a certain piece of music on your iPod right now, doesn't mean it will sell your product.  And that's what we're all about, isn't it?

If you want to listen music, do it on your next half-marathon.  Until then, make music a focal point of  your brand and let's move some product, OK?

What kind of music moves you on television these days?  I want to know who's doing the great work so we can put you in The Promo Code Hall of Fame. 

--Rich Brase
rich@richideas.net

You Could Read This Post... Or You Could Just Turn the Page

This tugs at your heartstrings, so please support us.

Anybody can make a PSA that tugs at the heartstrings, makes viewers laugh, or even gets them angry.  But it takes more to create a campaign that showcases your ability to win hearts and minds.

Cases in point:  Being against drinking and driving, texting and driving, smoking while pregnant, smoking while doing anything, bullying... Decrying these behaviors aren't exactly taking a unpopular stand, just because it's the right thing to do. 
 

Please be against whatever's making him so sad.

Can you say low-hanging fruit?  No?  Then how about fruit that's already on the ground?  Yep, that's more like it.

If you really want a challenge, advocate for something that isn't popular, not in the public's consciousness, or just uncomfortable.

Then make people care. 

For a great example, please see this PSA for clean water.

Not a sexy topic, but delivered so effectively, it stays with you for days.  Imagine pitching this as your network's latest mission. 

Now, trying following that up.  Mission accomplished. 

It's hard to imagine, but being against pollution wasn't always in the mainstream.  In fact, 40 years ago, it was considered being part of the lunatic fringe, right up there with being against the Vietnam War.  Then this spot came along.

In his most recent post, my Promo Code partner, Rich Brase, did a brilliant job of outlining the difficulty of promoting Al Jazeera America. 

Creating a compelling PSA for an unpopular cause is equally difficult.

Next time your department is looking to take a stand, consider something unpopular, like the dangers of Veganism, the benefits of alcohol ...or even tougher, Mayor Bloomberg's jumbo soda ban.

Or you could just be against mean people who smoke and litter.  

-Ed Roth
edrothshow@gmail.com

A Major Challenge for Al Jazeera America

Al Jazeera America signed on, replacing the well-intentioned but low-rated Current TV on August 20, 2013.  The channel is headquartered and run from studios in Manhattan, but has twelve bureaus around the U.S.

But talk about your tough sell.

 

With ten years and counting of continuing Middle Eastern conflicts,  I can imagine fewer electronic entities with more marketing hurdles to clear than an American version of a news network based in Qatar.

Yes, I know that the entire AJAM (as it's called) staff is American or at least, based in America, but I wonder whether or not blue or red-staters will wrap their arms around this competitor to flag-waving Fox News, left-of-center MSNBC or well-established CNN...to say nothing about ABC, CBS or NBC news.

During the past ten years, we've all hears a lot of praise for Al Jazeera as truly (excuse me) fair and balanced, despite its unavailability to most English-speakers.  So (as a DISH customer), I've now had a chance to spend the past week sampling and digesting hours of AJAM programming and was surprised at its temperature--decidedly lukewarm and unimpressive (so far).

Programmed as a news wheel with hour-long news segments broken up by domestic and international magazine shows, often repeated and fronted by British or Middle Eastern journalists, all unknown to me.
It may be based in New York, but a good way to lose viewers in Toledo or Birmingham is to have shows like Real Money with Ali Velshi or The Stream with Wajahat Ali.  I have high hopes for these shows, but I wonder if these are talent that some paranoid Americans will grow to trust.
I did watch a half-hour talking head show about the crime rate in Baltimore and am just getting back the feeling in my feet.

The set is large, but antiseptic and AJAM has the feel of a medium market US station putting on a newscast for the first time.  There seems to be no political agenda, but the storytelling will have to get a lot crisper to pull people away from any American news network.  Fair and balanced or not, it all comes down to great storytelling.

Like a newly-established sports league, they've landed a handful of second-tier network folks, such as Antonio Mora, John Seigenthaler, Joie Chen, Mike Viquiera, Sheila MacVicar and (a personal favorite) Soledad O'Brien, but most of the on-air staffers are from local stations.

I saw Seattle's own Rebecca Stevenson doing weather and she does a good job (except when she pronounced it Ne-VAH-dah.  Shame on you), but the weather set was decidedly thrown together quickly.
And sports?  Do they really need it?  With ESPN and the new FoxSports1, what I really want is Al Jazeera's analysis of the Patriots/Bears game.

But the one way AJAM is hitting it out of the park is in their on-air marketing.  Knowing it's a tough sell to Americans, look at the direction their creative is taking--focusing on the differences between Americans, how events affected them and how AL Jazeera is changing the way people look at news.  The spots are rotating all over DISH, and I imagine you might see them on Comcast or DirecTV.

I think they're stunning, and the certainly got me to watch and write this column.  Check them out.

There's More to It 1

There's More to It 2

There's More to It 3 (Composite)

If you're interested, here's a great NPR interview from this afternoon by Robert Siegel and Audie Cornish:  Al Jazeera America Will Have to Work Hard to Win Viewers

So, The Promo Code salutes our fellow marketers who are boldly going where a lot of us would fear to go...selling a perceived Middle Eastern news network to Americans still smarting after eleven years of war.
Their marketing has them off to a great start, and I hope their product rises to the promises made to cover the whole story with no bias.

Your competitors are tough, but welcome to the game, AJAM.  Your voice is welcome.  Your marketing is awesome.

--Rich Brase
redrich24@gmail.com