Crazy Ideas That Just Might Work (#2)

I`m going to start this week`s crazy idea off with an audio sample. 

I`m not quite sure what most people will think of this, but I love it. You may think that this is WRONG WRONG WRONG! But, that might be what makes it oh sooooo right! This ad takes a giant leap out of the box. I mean, who would purposefully mispronounce every product they sell? Somebody who is thinking differently! I always want to think of new ideas that haven’t been tried. There’s plenty that you can do in your advertising that hasn’t been done. Often, it hasn’t been attempted because of fear, or it simply hasn’t been thought of. Instead of finding reasons not to do something, try to think of why it might be beneficial. Often, the seed of an idea is based in a ridiculous notion. This idea came up this week when I was talking to a writer friend of mine. We joked about mispronouncing the names of everything in a spot. Suddenly, it dawned on us that that isn’t a bad idea. It’s farfetched. But, why couldn’t it work? Everybody on earth knows how Chevrolet is pronounced. It will stick out like a sore thumb if it’s said incorrectly. Listeners will be tricked into listening, and the company that aired it will have their attention. To be honest, this script is pretty terrible. The words on the page if read properly are anything but innovative. But, taking the step to pronounce the products wrong changes everything. I want to mention one thing though. An idea like this one would only work if your product is hugely recognizable. Chevrolet has been around forever and everyone knows what they are. If people didn’t know how to pronounce the name properly, the ad would be extremely ineffective.

So why does it work? Quite simply, it will bother people to hear the names pronounced wrong. It will make an inactive listener active by surprising them. You will get complaints from an ad like this. That isn’t a bad thing though. Complaints are often a great measurement of an advertisements effectiveness. This commercial takes the joke far enough that 95% of people will understand that it’s been messed with on purpose. Especially when you add in lines like “nobody knows Chevrolets better than Anderson Chevrolet.” Finally, we use the idea of the redirect website to make the joke obvious. You can learn more about redirect websites here.

It actually serves two purposes though. Firstly, it completes the joke that Anderson Chev is mispronouncing the product on purposes. Secondly, it links a clever advertisement to a memorable contact. It would be way less effective if the contact info was a phone number, street address, or even Anderson’s actual website. People will remember this campaign as the commercial that misprounouces “Chevrolet,” so why not make it easier for them to remember how to find you by adopting “mispronouncedchev.com,” or maybe even “theguyswhosaychevroletwrong.com.” It doesn’t get more obvious than that.

The whole point of my “crazy ideas” series is to get you to think more creatively. Most bad ideas have a seed of a great idea in them. Twist them until they become brilliant. There may be nothing there, but it doesn’t hurt to explore your options. If you can’t do it on your own, I’m always here to help. It’s free to talk to me.

I will always opt for innovative commercials over dull commercials. So give it a think. Would you rather air this same script pronounced correctly, or the way I’ve made it?