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It’s almost Christmas and as we’ve been surrounded with Holiday cheer everywhere we look! One thing there never seems to be a shortage of is Holiday ads on TV. Some funny, some emotional, some clever, and then some…um…lacking authenticity.
Now, I know what you’re thinking, you think I’m going to write about the mistakes that Peloton made with their Holiday commercial don’t you? Be honest. Well, I’m not. There’s been plenty of that already. But if you want to know my quick thought on that matter (you probably don’t), I don’t really think it’s going to hurt them in the long run. You know why? Because their product is soooo good. But enough with that, let’s move on shall we?
One thing that sticks out to me when I think of commercials saturating my TV screen every year is car commercials. You know the ones. Wife or hubby wakes up on Christmas morning, grab their coffee, one looks at the other one with a suspicious smile and nods their head towards the window looking out at the driveway. The spouse looks out and sees a brand new luxury car (or truck) with a ribbon around it and they run outside in their PJs in amazement and joy!
Oh, I love how unrealistic this is! I do. Because In reality 90% of people would be scratching their heads thinking “How the heck are we going to afford this thing?!”
Now I know there’s the 1% that can afford it and then there’s the massive percentage of people that can’t, but buy it anyway. But these commercials just never feel authentic to me. And that’s a huge negative (even though I take them with a grain of salt) when I see a commercial pushing a brand new $75,000 car on me.
Now let’s flip the channel to another commercial we see this time of year and that’s Publix. To me, Publix does an incredible job of pulling at my “heart strings.” I know not all Holidays are perfect, (and some of their’s make them out to be), but there’s something authentic with a pinch of nostalgia in all their Holiday spots and makes me want to be with my family cooking something great while making memories! It makes me remember my loved ones that have gone on and how time is precious. And this is a grocery store for goodness sakes!
So, if you’re shooting a commercial hoping to draw people into a story, yes even a 30 second story, you can’t just have incredible film production quality. You have to have an authentic storyline. One that people can truly relate to and see themselves in. Especially around the Holidays.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!