There is no way that any business can possibly anticipate all of my needs, so how come so many ads promise that they can?
When we hear cliches and believe me, “For all your ____ needs” is cliche adspeak, our minds are so bored with hearing them, we ignore them. Completely! The words vanish like steam rising from a kettle.
For all my real estate needs. Really? For all my florist needs. Gee? For all my helicopter needs. Huh?
No kidding, there recently was an ad running in Canada about learning to become a helicopter pilot. Whether it’s to fly an air ambulance or some other type of copter, it’s actually not a bad ad until the dreaded final line in the 60 second commercial, “For all your helicopter needs. Call…”
Upon hearing the ad on the radio station I used to own, I wrote to the sales rep who used to work for me, “For all your helicopter needs. Are you f*#king kidding me? Did you write that ad just to see if I was still listening to the station?”
He wrote back, “OMG, I’m so happy you are still listening, but embarrassed that you heard it. It’s a national ad and I cringe every time I hear it too. I have never heard a more ridiculous use of that line in my life and I thought of you as soon as I heard it. So awful.”
Then a couple of days later there was a prison escape where the guys used a helicopter for their getaway.
Which just proves the tagline, “For all your helicopter needs” is very versatile and works on many different levels.
NOT!
If your present advertising is using a tripe saying such as this, eliminate, slash, or destroy it immediately. You are paying for every second of time that ad runs. Don’t waste valuable commercial time on something as stupid and pandering as a cliche.
It really means your copywriter is being lazy and trying desperately to fill out time in the ad.
I can’t find the actual quote to attribute it, but I remember hearing that John Lennon talked about songwriting and I paraphrase , “In a 2 and a half minute song, you don’t have time to waste a single word.”
In a 30 second or 1 minute commercial you don’t have time to waste a word either.
Cheers
Steve Rae
Wizard of Ads Partner
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