Short-form DRTV works best for products that sell themselves quickly because they can be explained in under a minute or two.
GEICO’s lead generation is a good example of a quick get. But let’s say you have a bit more of a story to tell.
Well, here’s where DRTV differs somewhat from brand image work. You’ve got a lot of information to impart. You need to pre- sent it in a way that makes sense and doesn’t bore people. You need
a structure. In a great article on DRTV, OgilvyOne’s Bruce Lee put it this way:
Structure comes down to how you want to organize your information, and since most DRTV spots carry a lot of information (the better to convince you to act), the easier you can present that information, the easier the viewer can absorb it. And I’ve never met an organizing method more viewer-friendly than linear storytelling.2
To make his point, Lee sites a 60-second DRTV commercial, one I like every bit as much as any brand image commercial. It tells a marvelous story, has two great characters, and is fun to watch from beginning to end.
Here’s the entire script of the Ameritrade DRTV commercial:
(We open on a staid office setting, where we see a goofy-lookin’
twentysomething lying on the copier, photocopying his face. A much older man brusquely motions the kid into his office.) MR. P.: Stuart, can I see you in my office, please?
OLDER WOMAN STANDING NEARBY: That kid is sick. Very sick.
MR. P.: Stuart, get in here.
STUART: Sure thing, Mr. P.
(Stuart enters, closes door. The smile on Mr. P’s face tells us quickly that Stuart’s not in trouble. Something else is going on.) MR. P.: Stuart, I just opened my Ameritrade account.
STUART: (Conspiratorially.) Let’s light this candle. Let’s go to Ameritrade-dot-com. It’s easier than fallin’ in love. What do you feel like buying today, Mr. P?
MR. P.: Kmart.
(Phone number comes up and stays up in lower left-hand corner.)
STUART: So research it. All this stuff is provided for you free of charge.
(As Mr. P. types, the camera shows us the easy-to-navigate web page.)
MR. P.: No charge?
STUART: Yeah, that’s synonymous with free.
MR. P.: Looks like a good stock.
STUART: Let’s buy!
MR. P.: Let’s buy a hundred shares.
STUART: All right, click it in there! How about five hundred?
MR. P.: One hundred, Stuart.
(Stuart imitates the sound of a chicken squawking.)
STUART: You feel the excitement? You’re about to buy a stock online.
(Stuart writhes in a victory dance while Mr. P. makes his buy.) MR. P.: Fabulous! I’m thrilled! What did it cost me?
STUART: Eight dollars, my man.
MR. P.: Eight? My broker charges me two hundred dollars.
STUART: You’re riding the wave of the future, my man. I’ve got to get a soda, Mr. P. Hey, I’m having a party on Saturday night.
(He hands Mr. P. an invitation.) If you really want to go . . . MR. P.: I’m gonna try to get there.
STUART: Happy trading.
(Mr. P. sees Stuart to his office door.) MR. P.: Thank you.
STUART: Rock on.
MR. P.: All right, Stuart.
(Graphics with phone number, URL, and logo.)
ANNOUNCER VOICE-OVER: Call toll-free, 800–573–9914, or visit Ameritrade-dot-com. Ameritrade. The way to trade. Period.
Wow. In that 60 seconds I learned Ameritrade is an online bro- kerage where I can do it myself. I learned it costs $8, or $192 less than what a broker charges. I learned that I can research a buy before I make it and that the information is free. I learned that it’s
fast and that the site is easy to navigate. I learned this is not only a new product but a whole new category. I learned where to go to get this cool new thing. And not for one second was I bored.
This script observes the one ironclad rule for any form of advertising—do something interesting—but it also observes several important DRTV guidelines.
Have a crystal clear call to action.
Along with imparting a lot of information, the other big difference about DRTV is the call to action (the CTA). DRTV isn’t embar- rassed about asking for the sale. The advertiser has to move a viewer from “Hey, that’s pretty cool” to “I have to get that right now.” Talk about pressure to perform. Just slapping a phone num- ber on the back of a brand image spot probably won’t do it. The CTA is a big deal, and in DRTV it’s generally the first thing you create.
In the very first part of the CTA it’s a good idea to quickly revisit all the main highlights of your product, probably in both voice-over and a super. (But please don’t blink or spin the words at me, okay?) It’s also a good idea to have your voice-over say the phone number, URL, or mailing address a couple of times. Number and address supers should stay up about twice the time it takes to actually read them.
Don’t shortchange the time on any of this. This isn’t brand image TV. If you cut the CTA too short, it’ll mean fewer calls and that means a higher cost per response or cost per sale, which are the main metrics used to measure the effectiveness of DRTV. On the other hand, if you try to pack too much stuff in your CTA, it’ll sound rushed and your credibility will suffer. Instead, try to include all the information you can while maintaining an unhurried, assured voice.
Find a structure that allows you to impart a lot of information in an entertaining way.
In the case of Ameritrade, the story is two unlikely characters—the older boss and the office knucklehead—buying stocks online. That’s it. The entire structure is a conversation—the vessel into which all the other information is poured.
But other structures can work equally well, including some of the ones that work in brand image TV; the basic problem-solution
architecture, for example. All I’m asking here is please don’t use the structures so common in this industry now: the fake game show, the fake call-in show, the fake news show, the fake pep rally. Yes, folks, I know we’re in advertising. But as Bill Bernbach showed us, we can sell things and have our dignity, too.
Logically map out the main reasons your product or service rocks.
If you organize your information in a logical flow and pace it well, you’ll be surprised how many benefits you can impart in a one- or two-minute format. Yes, this is different from the advice every- where else in this book (say one thing, stay focused, etc.). But this is different—it’s DRTV. It’s advertising to people who are nearing the end of the purchase process and are about to buy. They might be at home watching TV, but they may as well be in the dealer showroom kickin’ tires. Does this give us license to wear a plaid coat and bark at them? No, not if we want them to like our brand. But we can point out to them some cool features they probably didn’t know about. We can give them that one last push.
Bruce Lee put it this way:
While information is critical to breaking down a prospect’s barriers and getting him to act, you cannot tell everything. A DRTV commer- cial is not a brochure. It is a movie. It has to move. So you must be selective and pick your . . . strongest points. You are trying to per- suade and persuasion takes time. So take your time. Unfold your sell- ing proposition lovingly. But don’t forget to hurry.3
Be passionate.
This advice isn’t about pushing the talk button in the recording stu- dio and telling your voice-over to “be passionate.” It’s about how you pace the entire spot. Passion can come through in your cut.
I like how Lee says, “Unfold your selling proposition lovingly.”
DRTV is not afraid to brag on its products a bit. Be front and center with what’s cool about your product. Look at the Ameritrade TV spot. They’re using the product and talking about it for almost the entire length of the spot. Remember, you’re not asking someone to think about buying something. You’re not asking them to form an opinion. You’re asking them to buy it right now. That means tooting your own horn a bit. Just don’t lean on the horn, okay? Most of the
DRTV literature out there will tell you to not only lean on the horn, but spot weld the horn in an on position and park it on top of the customer’s head. Almost every author on the subject has a chapter on how important it is to use “magic” words like free and new and announcing and revolutionary. I’m not an expert, but I have two thoughts here. The first is that you can yell at customers only so long before they start to hate you. We’re trying to sell our brand’s prod- ucts here without throwing the brand under the bus. And second, my guess is that for many of these marketers of male enhancement creams and psychic friends, magic words are all they have—they don’t have a bona fide product because it’s all tommyrot and flim- flam. (I love sayin’ “tommyrot” and “flimflam.”) They have no steak to sell, only sizzle. (“Are you tired of steak?!? ANNOUNCING REVOLUTIONARY NEW Sizzle!”)
That said, let’s not throw out the baby with the bathwater, either.
If you have a free offer, great, say so. Unfold your selling proposi- tion passionately. If you can say it twice, do so. It will increase sales.
But do you have to scream it? Probably not.
Be clear.
Nowhere in advertising is it more important to make perfect sense than in DRTV. There’s no room for ambiguity here. Yes, you need to be interesting, but it cannot be at the expense of being crystal clear about what your product or service does. You need to point out as many benefits as is prudent while you move the viewer along a logic trail from Reason A to Reason B and C and D, and then end on
“Call this number.” Remember, we’re working the rational side of the room now, removing barriers to purchase. We’re giving people logical support for what is an emotional decision.
Say the product’s name.
I read somewhere that you’re supposed to say the product’s name three times every minute. I assume they suggest this so that people tuning in late will know what’s going on. While there’s no evidence that constantly repeating a client’s name will increase sales, DRTV isn’t the place to be coy.
Get a good director, fer cry-eye.
Over the years, the DRTV category has developed its own list of go-to directors and production houses. Meanwhile, all the good
directors have stayed away from DRTV because of its reputation for male enhancement creams and psychic friends. The DRTV marketers didn’t seem to care, either, given the higher costs charged by the fraternity of mainstream directors and production houses. But now that DRTV is coming in from the cold and we care as much about the brand as about the sale, it’s time to get a decent director.