What can advertising pros learn from the dear departed Billy Mays?
I had a few thoughts, like this one:
Make a promise, not an overpromise. Sure, the yelling and selling makes it seem like the product being hawked will save your life, but actually, the promises made in most infomercials are much more mundane. You’ll get out tough stains. You’ll fix those hard-to-mend rips on clothes. While a lot of advertising implies that consumers will be sexier, happier, more powerful or more self-fulfilled, the infomercials only promise something tangible and little else. Which makes them more honest than most ads.
It’s the subject of my new column on Talent Zoo, which will be on their home page tomorrow. But you can read it right now absolutely FREE thanks to this exclusive AdPulp offer! (Yeah I know, it is pretty damn annoying, isn’t it?)
Infomercials do nothing but overpromise. They’re the only form of advertising that consistently uses the word miracle.
Have you ever tried to get out a tough stain? It’s a bitch with any product. Without exercise machine informercials, there would be no garage sales. Remember how superglue held that dude to the metal beam. I can’t tell you how many times I couldn’t even get it to glue a tiny ceramic piece back together.
What about those closet-expanding coathangers? Ever try those?
Informercials promise everything we can’t get from reality.