January 22nd, 1984. I was 11 years old and the Redskins were playing the Raiders in Tampa Stadium. I didn't have tickets...my mother didn't earn nearly enough money to take us to a Superbowl, but I was into football at the time and I was old enough to know the Raiders had a smash-mouth, take no prisoners attitude. They were known as the NFL's bad boys...and the Redskins were defending champs. Do you remember the 74 yard touch down by....who was it?....Allen (Hope I spelled that right.). Dude ran 74 YARDS into the end zone! FABULOUS!! Even back then I loved the renegade type...the smash mouthed team that brought it to the field. They won that day by a larger margin than any other Superbowl to that point! And maybe since, not sure about that one. For as much as I loved that game, it wasn't the part of that broadcast which effected me most in my life. It was in the 3rd quarter a gray column of people marching in line, all dressed in the same dingy gray clothes, in what was a spooky beginning to a commercial. Then someone dressed in bright running clothes carrying a sledge hammer. Incredible! In the end the person with the sledge hammer....the individual...destroys a large screen with some talking head going on about how we are all one. Then some words about the Macintosh computer. It was Apples 1984 commercial and it was the most powerful advertisements I have ever seen. No it's not direct response, but it launched the Mac and a cult following. Sometimes, at that level, the rules are different. Most of the Superbowl commercial pale in comparison. This year was very disappointing for all but a few commercials. Ram's was nice. Good feelings linked to Ram trucks. Buds Clydesdale as was touching...Bud usually does a good job. Bud Light was embarrassing, but c'est la vie. The worst part is too many business owners will see these ads and think they should duplicate them...I mean really, if they're doing that and they're so successful, shouldn't we all? The answer is NO! And the reason is as I said before...the rules change at that level. When you can spend millions and millions on ad budgets every year, you can afford to do some branding. The ads during the SB often have as much to do with investor relations as they do with driving business. These companies are not wasting money, but they are spending ad dollars in a less than efficient way when measured by ROI. The ads are cool, and they work on one level, but they ARE NOT what YOU should be doing. Don't be fooled by some ad exec whose college training taught him how to work for the big guys, not you....or some sales rep who doesn't want you measuring the ROI on the ad you're placing with her. Direct Response, tracking, insisting the ad - the system you put in place - as a trackable, tracked and positive ROI! That's where you want to be with your ad dollars...period! Everte Farnell PS. I'm going to be speaking about this topic and and in general about direct response copywriting at the Wealth Enthusiast Event in a couple of weeks here in Tampa. If you aren't already registered I don't know why. These guys put on a great event every year...I've known Mira (one of the Wealth Enthusiast partners) personally for 7 or 8 years now and I'm telling you he's a stand up guy and knows his stuff!
If you're not registered yet, Everte , then shoot over here: https://yw105.infusionsoft.com/go/WE2013Squeeze/EverteFarnell and get signed up. It's gonna be fabulous!!