Commercial Convergence: An Innovative Approach that Sticks

What type of TV commercials do scores of people actually want to watch?

If you said "movie trailers," move to the head of the class. While watching television, viewers are already in "entertainment mode," so a few commercials about more entertainment generally is more relevant to them than, say, a commercial about medical ointment (although an overabundance of any commercial will try anyone's patience). What does this mean to the rest of us who don't market movies?

While watching Food Network's Iron Chef last night, I was treated to a 30-second commercial that actually made a little sense. The commercial started as a trailer to Bourne Ultimatum, the third movie in a series starring Matt Damon as a former assassin on the run from his old employer. It featured an exciting car chase (a lynchpin of the series) with lots of bumps, suspenseful music, and one hair-raising crash at the end.

Just as we think we're going to get a payoff explaining when the movie would be in theaters, we see a man get out of the SUV that just crashed, very relieved to be unharmed.

"Holy..."

Cut to the VW logo with a safety message.

Watch the video here.

This commercial exemplified much of what Chip and Dan Heath talk about in their book, Made to Stick.

It's simple. The message is "safety." We're not overburdened with all of the features and functions that make the auto safe.

It's unexpected. We're led to believe we're watching a movie trailer, so we are drawn to pay attention.

It's concrete. Most of us know what it's like to be in a crash, or else we know others who do. We didn't need to hear about statistics and five-star ratings (although if VW wanted to make that an accessory of the concrete message to show credibility, that would be okay).

It's an emotional story. Supported by the soundtrack, we're drawn into the experience of the driver, who  looked just very relieved to have escaped death (as we all would be). We can see ourselves in his position. At the end of experience, all we'd be able to say to ourselves is, like the driver, "Holy..."

I don't know if this commercial was a product of the willful application of the book's themes, but the creative team that developed it certainly made use of them. While we can't all utilize our product in the exact same manner, we can make use of many the principles set forth in Made to Stick.

Have you seen the commercial? What do you think? Was it done effectively? How can you incorporate this strategy in your messaging? - Cam Beck

Comments

[mvellandi]

Whoah, sounds cool. Co-advertising huh? Well, the unexpected and the easy reference to safety was effectively made. Lastly killing the audio with car and message against white backdrop and a bit of extra stick time...nice.

[Cam Beck]

Mario - Good point. I was also impressed by the amount of restraint they showed in this commercial. Usually they'd be telling us about the 32 airbags and XYZ traction control system with 128 automatic proactive safety mechanisms.

By keeping it simple, they ensured their message couldn't be ignored.

[Matt Haverkamp]

Cam, I saw this last night as well. I completely agree with your comments Cam. I absolutely was blown away by this. Usually product placement is arrogant and obnoxious. This stuck so much that I actually scheduled a test drive. That might also be because they are giving away free tickets to the movie. Still. VW raised the bar for placement.

[Bill Bartee]

Great use of the funny, A-HA ending, too. Placing the customer into the drivers seat with an implied 'exclamation' point drives home the point with maximum affect. Sticky, in the most enjoyable way.