It’s great to be memorable or funny, but isn’t the point to sell?
With the Super Bowl coming up, everyone knows the commercials are a big deal. I haven’t seen the airtime cost this year but we all know it’s a lot.
Here’s something worth noticing:
Most of the ads aren’t bad. Some are funny. A few are clever. Many are memorable.
Except… you don’t remember what they were advertising.
It happens every year. Someone says, “Remember that ad with the guy and the talking dog?”
Someone else says, “Yeah! What was that for again?”
Nobody knows.
That’s not just a Super Bowl thing. It’s how a lot of advertising works.
I like the Progressive Insurance commercials, the ones with the life coach helping people not become their parents. Genuinely funny. But for a long time, I couldn’t have told you who they were for without stopping to think.
That kind of branding play is fine if you’re a billion-dollar company. You don’t need an immediate return. A lot of that advertising is just vanity. It’s made to win awards from other advertisers.
If it moves product, great. But that’s not the primary goal.
That’s not how it works for me.
That’s not how it works for my clients.
In a small business, every dollar has to come back with friends.
If I spend $5,000 on marketing, I need to make more than $5,000.
Preferably quickly.
If not, it’s game over.
That kind of thinking changes everything.
It means I don’t care about “likes.”
I don’t care about being clever.
I care about results.
When I run a campaign, I want to know:
Did it generate a lead?
Did it make the phone ring?
Did it move the deal forward?
Those are the questions that matter when you’re playing with your own money.
That’s the difference between advertising to look good… and advertising that actually works.
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