I’d like to share some of the wisdom and insight from the esteemed members of our recent Digital Hollywood panel, Entertaining Advertising vs. Entertainment Advertising. Our thesis was that entertainment marketers stand to benefit from taking a step out of our own gene pool and drawing some inspiration from our peers in the brand world. So, to dive right in, I asked the panelists to name biggest lessons to be learned from the best non-entertainment marketers, and here’s what they had to say.
Erik Enberg – Senior Copywriter – Goodby, Silverstein & Partners
Assume people don’t want to hear from you: There is an assumption with entertainment advertising that people can’t wait to hear about the next big movie or TV show. Which is sometimes true, but often not. Either way, assuming people don’t want to hear from you will force you to get to a more creative answer and probably help you to reach people you normally wouldn’t.
Don’t do what everyone else does: The best car advertising doesn’t feel like car advertising. The best deodorant campaigns don’t feel like deodorant campaigns. There is a convention for everything and the best advertising creatives in the world spend their lives smashing them to bits. Everyone knows what a movie trailer sounds like because every movie trailer is the same.
Reward your audience: Rewarding your audience for the time they spend with you is critical to long-term success. Entertain, then inform. Most advertising just informs, informs, informs. But you can’t force people to listen.
Glenn Sanders – Creative Lead – The Viral Factory LA
Don’t lie: The digital audience is smart and, collectively, they will smoke you out if you try to be something you’re not-and they’re brutal when you get on their bad side. Be respectful of your audience’s time and intelligence, and they will return the favor.
Empower your audience: The best campaigns make the audience an essential part of the work in some way. Engage them in a conversation, give them content that’s actually relevant to them and something they will want to pass along, or tools they can use that benefit them while enabling a brand or product interaction. Give them something they can care about.
Decentralize: Don’t try to create a massive content portal or one-stop destination. You can make your campaign look a lot bigger than it really is just by decentralizing your content.
Chevon Hicks – President – HeavenSpot
Put more money into new media: Sure, it seems to be trending upwards, but not fast enough. Hollywood is behind the times in terms of percentage of its disproportionate spend in traditional media.
You get what you pay for: In the world outside of entertainment, vendor abuse can actually be a turn-off.
Graham Daniels – Creative Director – Addictive TV
Innovate. And then innovate some more: You can’t continue to go down the known-aka “safe”-route. Audiences tire of the same old approach and tune out.
Don’t overplay lowest common denominator ideas: Ideas aimed at masses tend to talk down to the audience. Treat them with respect, challenge them; audiences are not dumb and can handle more than you think.
Anthony Nelson, Executive Integrated Producer – Crispin Porter + Bogusky
Engagement, Immersion, Experience: Quick hits do not always stick. You have to engage the participant and get them talking with others. Let them become a part of it. And never assume you know more than they do.
|
