It in essence is all so simple. As marketers we want to connect to consumers or customers to make them want our product or service. And then preferably repeat buy that, for infinity. Most commonly we showcase our product with relevance, the right emotional connection and all in a comprehensible way. This we enhance through all kinds of means, instore, on the go, on the air and on TV and digitally.

Done correctly, you have chosen a specific set of distinctive features and characteristics for your brand to stand out. This “bible” is the starting point for any brief. Over time, you jump on some bandwagons regarding storytelling, precision marketing and so on, but that core is vital. And you keep on producing ads that reinforce those values and connections with the designated consumer.

Every now and then, it just does not seem to do the trick. Might be even so bad that taking the advertisement off the air is the only course of action. You ponder: “What happened?”. You haven’t fallen into the chocolate making recipe for advertising where the ad doesn’t actually make any sense in terms of communicative or comprehension parameters, but all the tracking results are off. People don’t like it, and it almost has an opposite effect.

Zooming in on the ad, it could very well be that you either have a negative concept on which the ad is based, or an off-putting element intertwined. The latter could be solved by a re-edit, if you’re lucky.

A new TV commercial for a Dutch beer brand involving Michelin star chefs ran into trouble whilst they were testing the ad. Luckily, the marketer running the campaign had his wits to test before airing the ad. What he saw in the report that after 20 seconds into the ad, every viewer tuned out. He set out to check what exactly it was that made people completely tune out and found that it was all centered around a scene taking place in the kitchen. In a panning shot through the kitchen was a dead fish. Now you may think, well, that’s not really uncommon to encounter in a professional kitchen. But the eyes of a dead fish looking at you, with its gleamy gulls and scales, may not be the thing you want to associate with a beer commercial. Beer is supposed to be fresh, cold and thanks to the illustrious beer stylists of this world looking amazing with little drops running down the glass or bottle. Raw fish is not beer. Kind of looks disgusting if not handled correctly. What the marketer did was cutting out that specific shot in the ad and voila: problem solved. Have a look around how often agencies and their customers fall into this trap with “off-putting associations” built into their ad, whether it’s a radio commercial, TV, print or digital. It’s out there, folks.

A bigger problem occurs when you have chosen for an advert based on a negative starting point. There basically is no remedy for this one. I saw an ad get trashed after airing 2 weeks on TV because of this issue. Context was that the lead actor got rid of an annoying person by giving him the actual product that was supposed to be advertised, in order to get to a girl. This negative perspective in which the product plays a role does not bode well towards consumers.  You associate the product with a negative impression and down the drain you go. Bye, bye effort, time and money sunk into it. But it happens, for all kinds of corporate political reasons.

Advertising isn’t real, it shows stains getting washed out every time you spill a bottle of red wine on a white tablecloth. Sun never sets and dentists everywhere have made a fortune whitening the smiles of actors worldwide. A promise of the best next thing, sip or experience. Something people want, yearn for. Dream about. Cause that’s what we sell: dreams, not nightmares.

If you are one to lie awake in the dark at night with nightmares, let’s see how we can turn them into dreams. Give me a ring, we can discuss over coffee.