Ogilvy on Advertising - How to make TV commercials that sell - Some Thoughts

When I read the chapter and the categorization in “good” (above average performing) and “bad”  (below average performing) TV commercials i figured out that the most important ingredient for a good TV commercial is to deeply understand its psychological effect on the consumer. In order to change the brand preference of consumers you need to establish a connection to them and this can be reached via several ways.  Starting from humor to demonstration TV commercials. However I doubt that using static types of TV commercials which have performed well in the past only is a good strategy. In the following paragraph I want to elaborate a little bit more on this point.

First of all I think that TV commercials reflect the cultural values of a society at certain point at time. TV commercials are influenced by the needs and perceptions of the consumers and of course this is also true the other way round. There is a continuous adaption of what is considered appropriate to change the brand preference and what not. What didn’t seem to work in the past could do well in the future. One example is the mentioned (under average performing) TV commercial type of testimonials by celebrities. If you take a look today’s TV commercial landscape, a lot of commercials involve celebrities recommending certain products. I for instance have never seen a Gillette TV commercial without any sport stars (e.g. Roger Federer, Tiger Woods, etc.). And companies like Gillette wouldn’t follow such a strategy over years if wouldn’t generate enough revenues.

Of course keeping fundamental psychological tools (repetition, show the package, close-ups, etc.) is important. But I want to make the point, that you shouldn’t only rely on historic well performing TV commercials, but additionally analyze carefully your consumers needs and perceptions and adjust the TV commercial if necessary.