Accentuate the Positive, 3.0

…And this example is all about mixing your messages (or being caught while trying to obscure something.)

Aesthetically, I really liked the DirecTv ad with the kid who ages as he walks from room to room. The seams were well-masked, using a combination of new technology and old techniques (see Hitchcock’s “The Rope.”)

The payoff at the end, which admittedly was not as memorable as the meat of the ad, was a pitch for DirecTv’s new Hi-Def initiatives. The tagline was “Rethink TV.”

That’s all well and good — until my DirecTv bill showed up in the mail. Along with the notice that our service package price was going up in March.

Maybe — just maybe — the middle of an across-the-board rate increase is *NOT* the time to encourage customers to “rethink TV.”

Rule of thumb: make sure your key messages aren’t internally inconsistent with your actions. Or as Confucious put it, “words and deeds must be in harmony.”

What can I say. I am a sucker for truth.

And the FedEx/Kinkos ad hit it squarely on the head, with a rundown of cliches necessary for SuperBowl Ad success:
1) Celebrity
2) Animal
3) Dancing animal
4) Cute kid
5) Groin kick
6) Talking animal
7) Attractive females
8) Product pitch (optional)
9) Catchy pop song
10) Bonus ending

I typed this from memory, AND I remembered which company placed the ad. That means it was effective, at least in the sense that a great number of past ads were so funny you forgot the product they were sponsoring.