Potentially great Obama ad fails the “Ray Charles” test
October 29th, 2008 | by chu |
ANR just sent me this new Obama add called “His Choice” and it is driving me crazy. Why? It fails the “Beethoven Test.”
Let me explain. When I reviewed our TV advertising for AIR MILES, the agency knew it had to pass what I called the “Ray Charles” and “Beethoven” tests. I realized that real people (e.g. customers. voters) would most likely not focus on our ads with the lazer like focus that our marketing and agency partners did (e.g. “Craig, make sure you look at the guy in the hat on the right side of the screen. We had him raise his eyebrows skeptically at the end of the spot!.”) Many would be doing something else while the ad was playing, so it had to deliver the main point with both the sound off (Beethoven) and if someone was not looking at the screen and only hearing the audio (Ray Charles.)
Less effective than it could have been, IMHO.
Tags: ads, ineffective ads, Obama
