If You Aren't Closed Captioning Your TV Spots -- You Should!

If You Aren't Closed Captioning Your TV Spots -- You Should!

Like many of you, even though I don't need assistance to hear my TV, I often turn on closed captioning.  Sometimes there's someone in the room who's trying to read or talk on the telephone, or I want to catch all the words to a song being performed by a band on a late night talk show.  Whatever the reason, I find closed captioning very useful.  I think all shows should be captioned.  

For one thing, it's just good business.  An advertiser spends tens of thousands of dollars or more on every spot they run.  A quick search on the net shows a company that will do it for $15 for a 60 second spot, so adding closed captioning doesn't add much to the cost; but the resulting benefits are many.

Here's one that excites me:  Putting captions on your spots can add 10 or even 15 seconds to the amount of time your message is on the air absolutely free!  Here's how it works:  Next time watch TV with captions on.  You'll notice some commercials are captioned while others aren't.  When a captioned spot is followed by one that isn't captioned, an interesting phenomenon occurs:  The last caption remains on screen through a good chunk of the uncaptioned spot that follows.  

Can advertisers use this feature of closed captioning to their advantage?  You bet!  Instruct your captioning producer to make that last caption contain your brand name, contact info, whatever.  Then let it fly.  When your spot airs, that final caption can linger long after the spot has ended.  And that extra linger time might just give a viewer a chance to write down your phone number or address and get you the sale. 

Now imagine this:  Suppose your spot is followed by one of your competitors' spots that isn't captioned.  While they're going on and on about how great they are, there's your brand name superimposed right over their commercial.  How's that for a kick?  Talk about guerrilla advertising!

Closed captioning is also the right thing to do.  It's a welcome service to those who are hearing-impaired.  They'll appreciate it, and it encourages good will towards your brand, again opening the door to more sales. 

It can also keep you out of trouble.  Recently, there have been several lawsuits initiated against universities (MIT is one of them) that haven't been captioning their on-line courses.  The argument goes that without captioning, the courses become inaccessible to the hearing impaired; that's a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).  Nobody needs a lawsuit that can be prevented for fifteen bucks. 

But without even considering the possibility of lawsuits or the goodwill captioning brings, the added exposure time for your brand makes closed captioning something a smart advertiser shouldn't pass up. 

Until next time, 

Fred Pagano

Brown Cow Studios creates 

"High Quality Video and Sound Design at Terrific Value."  

How can we help you?  Get in touch with me anytime.   Fred@BrownCowStudios.com

Five Questions to Ask Before Becoming Your Own Spokesman

In BullShots! last week we shared five reasons to appear in your own advertisements.  But as we said, thoughts are divided on the subject.  So this week we present the flipside of being your own spokesman.  Answer these questions honestly before you decide:

Five Questions to Ask Before You Appear in Your Own Ads:

Which would you buy from this guy?
Dog food, a used car, or a submarine?

1.  Are You TV and Radio Friendly?  It would be great if we lived in a world where we were all judged on our inherent abilities and goodness.  But alas, that’s not the case, and in this world image and appeal count.  This applies not just to physical good looks, but to manner of speech and general demeanor.  Any accent, regionalism, or speech impediment can work against you.  Do you seem honest? Trustworthy?
2. Is it Ego That Drives the Decision?   Agencies and spot reps know the best way to appeal to a client with a big ego is to urge him to do his own spots.  We all want to be stars.  A lot of crummy advertising results from this sort of pitch.  It’s a disservice to the advertiser, and it’s a disservice to the advertiser’s business.  If you do decide to be your own spokesperson, give a lot of thought to your motivations. 
3. Do You Look the Part?  This isn't a looks question, it's a casting question.  Although you may be the best speaker and best looking person in the world, you still may not be the best choice to relate to your target customer.  Do you look the part?  Are you selling expensive cars but look like a longshoreman?  Are you the supermodel type trying to sell dog food?  Or are you an electrician who looks like an electrician? 
4. How Does it Affect the Long-Term Value of Your Business?  Let’s say you build a very successful business acting as your own spokesman.  Now it’s time to sell and retire.  What is the new owner going to do about advertising?  Your face is connected to the business, and you won’t be around any more to pitch it.  The new owner will have to make a substantial investment to overcome the lack of your involvement, and the business may be worth less because of it. 

A great example of this is Jordan’s Furniture, a Boston area chain.  For years, the Jordan brothers appeared in their own radio and TV spots.  Eventually time came to sell out, but the business was so strongly linked to the brothers that the new owner was forced to keep one of them on the payroll, just as spokesman.  What’s going to happen when there’s no more Jordan associated with Jordan’s furniture?

A nationwide example:  Bob’s Discount Furniture.  Bob is smart, however – he’s already preparing for this by turning himself into a cartoon character.  But is that really the way you want to go?

5. What are You Really Selling?  Sorry, but it’s true:  People don’t care about you.  They care about the washing machine, tv, computer or storm windows you’re selling.  They want to know about features, price, and value for their money.  You might be a pleasant guy or gal, you might have a beautiful family, but people don’t buy refrigerators because of your kids – they buy them because they keep food cold.  Unless you’re a politician, keep your family out of your ads, and keep yourself out too.  And frankly, a lot of politicians would do well to stay out of their own ads too.

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Who do you think does the best job of being spokesperson for their own company?  Who does the worst?  We’d like to know, so please comment on this article. Your Links and Likes are appreciated too! 

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Brown Cow Studios of Boston produces attention-getting videos

that grow your business.  How can we help you grow?  

 Get in touch with Fred@BrownCowStudios.com

Video Needs an Emotional Connection

My favorite TV show of this year's spring/summer season has to be The Next Food Network Star.  Last night the winner was announced, and while watching I found myself so invested in the show’s characters that I was moved to tears.

I don't usually do this, but throughout the season I found myself logging onto the Food Network website and voting for young chef, Justin Warner.

Justin's back story about his deceased father’s mentoring and encouragement to follow his own unique drummer struck a powerful chord in me.  As I heard him tell of his father's influence I found myself getting teary eyed.

But Justin wasn't the only Food Star contestant to move me.  Another, Yvan Lemoine, moved me with tales of his immigrant family gathering food from dumpsters behind supermarkets. "We would peel off the outer leaves and eat the rest — and I thought it was fun!  It was like a game," he said.  "And now I'm on Food Network Star!"And I thought my life was tough ...

Jake Harris of the FV Cornelia Marie

Here's another example, this time from The Deadliest Catch.  The character that moves me:  Jake Harris.  Drug problems.  Rehab.  When his father passes away, he and his brother try to carry on the family tradition of crab fishing.  Since neither is a qualified sea captain, they hire a skipper and work for him — even though they own the boat!  But it's bad fishing and clearly the hired captain is a bad fit, so the brothers let him go.  The captain's final act?  Revenge!  He calls the police on his former employer and tries to get him arrested for drug possession.

Every episode, my heart goes out to Jake.  I want him to triumph!

Great shows, both, that do well in the ratings.  Compelling.  Involving.  Powerful entertainment that hooks us right in.

So what's my point?   It's that great video has to tug on our emotions.  Whether you love the characters or hate them does not matter.  What matters is that you get emotionally involved.  Any video that can reach us on such a deeply personal level is sure to be a success.

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How do your videos make an emotional connection?  Your comments and links to this page are welcome and appreciated!

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Need to make an emotional connection to your viewers?  We can help!

Contact us at www.BrownCowStudios.com to learn more.

Fred's Advertising Clinic Part 4: Build Desire

"Wow! I want one of those!"

"That thing sounds great!"

"Yeah? So what?"

Have you ever seen or heard a commercial on TV or radio and had one of those reactions? I have. A notable one happened just a couple of months ago.

I was watching TV, and a spot for a new sandwich from KFC came on. Well, it wasn't really a sandwich, because it had no bread. Just two slices of chicken with other good stuff in between. Precisely the kind of thing this manly man wants more of!

And when I saw that spot, my mouth watered.

I even remarked out loud, "Oh yeah! That's the stuff!...that sounds wonderful" I hope I wasn't drooling, but there's a chance I was. Ask my wife.

Was it a good sandwich? I can't tell you because there's no KFC near me at which to get one. But it sure sounded good when I saw that spot. I wanted one. A lot! And the next time I'm in the mood for chicken for lunch (which admittedly isn't often) I'll definitely get one. Because....

"That thing sounds great!"

Now what about the last reaction? "Yeah, so what?" I had one of those reactions recently too. I've long since forgotten what the product was, so don't ask. What do you expect, anyway? I should remember the name of a product I have no interest in? Life's too short.

A successful spot doesn't just grab your interest. It makes you want the product. It makes you want to install new flooring, have a beer, buy a new car, eat chicken or serve your kids yogurt. It gets your saliva dripping. In other words, it follows the fourth part of our five-part advertising formula: It builds desire.

How do you build desire for your product or business? Well, first think about your product. Who is it targeted to, who is your customer? What need does your product fulfill? Then ask yourself why your customer would want yours in particular. What sets it apart from the others? When you know the answers to these questions, you're on your way to building desire for your product.

Let's take a look at the example we've been using in this series, dry erase markers. A pretty boring product, so what can you possibly do to build desire for them? Think about it. Who uses them? Students and teachers in school, business executives giving presentations, and many homes have dry-erase boards in their kitchens so family members can leave messages. That's pretty much the market for dry-erase markers.

Let's zero in on business use. What would make me desire a particular brand of marker? Suppose it could help me win a promotion, or impress my boss. Or streamline work flow or make the job easier. Any product that fills one of those needs is desirable.

A marker that can get me more money and a promotion? I'll have to look into that!

On the household front, dry-erase markers help people keep in touch. They remind Dad to pick up Junior after the soccer game, or to grab milk on the way home from work. I want my household to run smoothly, and if dry-erase markers help do that, then I want dry-erase markers. Lots of 'em!

When it's time to write the copy, key in on those desirable traits in your product or business. Tell the exec how markers can help to win a promotion, or tell parents how they can run the house better. Be creative. Have fun.

Need to build desire for your product?

You can do it yourself. Or you can have Fred do it.

For spots that sell, come to BrownCowStudios of Boston.

Fred's Advertising Clinic - Part One: The Formula

Years ago I had quite a chuckle when I saw a poster on the wall of a friend's office. It read, "Mankind's greatest need is to edit another person's copy."

If you've written any sort of copy - from a business letter to a commercial to an article for a science journal - you get the joke. You might write the world's greatest copy (hmm ... sounds like me), but once you submit it to the client or your boss, it's torn to shreds (hmm ... how could they!). Maybe the edits are an improvement; perhaps they're not. The only thing we know for certain is that your copy will be edited.

People who run small businesses, as always, are up against a special challenge. Not only do they have to write their own copy, but they have to edit it too. With a limited budget for advertising time, it's especially important that their commercial copy gets results.

In this series we'll take a look at copy writing as both an art and a science, and explore some techniques for writing great copy.

Unlike many things in life, writing ad copy can be broken down into a formula. This formula has been used by professional writers forever because it works. Are you ready? Here it is:

Attention - Interest - Desire -Action.

It's known throughout the ad world by its acronym, AIDA, and it's a blueprint to effective copy. Just follow the steps in order.

1. Attention - The foundation of all effective ad copy is to get your listener or viewer's attention. So you write a catchy headline, or ask an important question. Amuse them, question them or shock them. How you do it doesn't matter as long as you grab your audience's attention.

2. Interest. Once you've got your audience's attention, your second step is to keep it and build interest in your message. In part, you're building on your attention grabbing lead, and you're setting the audience up for the next step.

3. Desire. This may be the most important step of all, because if you don't build a desire for your product or service, your audience won't want it. I find it's often the hardest part of the formula to write.

4. Action. This is the windup. It's time to get your audience to act, so tell them what they should do. Buy your product. Visit your store. Call for more information. Or cross only when the light is green. If you've done the previous steps well, that's exactly what your audience will do.

In principle it's a very simple formula. But some take years to master it, and others never quite do. That's where good copy writing becomes an art form.

Start practicing the formula now by applying it to daily life situations. Use the AIDA formula as the structure of your next letter or e-mail. Try it on your next sales call, or even with friends and colleagues in everyday conversation. Instead of just talking about last night's game over the water cooler, see if you can instill a desire to attend the next one or watch it on TV. Just follow the formula and see what happens. It's good practice.

Check back for the next article in this series, as we take an in-depth look at step one.

By the way, did you notice this article uses the AIDA formula? I'm sneaky that way. Thanks for reading!

Fred Pagano's Brown Cow Studios offers complete creative and production services. From great copy writing to creative audio production and lots more, let the creative herd at Brown Cow Studios of Boston help grow your business. Send an e-mail to Fred@BrownCowStudios.com, or visit our web site, www.BrownCowStudios.com.

Tell Us Where to Find You!

Here's a fun little exercise, and the results will surprise you.

Take a look at the circular from any major chain store that you've got hanging around the house. Maybe one that was mailed to you, or one from the Sunday paper.

Now see if you can find any indication of where the nearest store is located. I'll give you 2 to 1 odds that you won't find any locations listed at all!

The big box stores are the prime offenders, but the problem extends to department stores and smaller chains too. The stores seem to assume you already know (how? by osmosis?) where their stores are located. Personally, I find it aggravating. And from a marketing standpoint, it's foolish.

I get a circular in my Sunday paper every week for OfficeMax. They used to have a store a mile away, but closed it about two years ago. I like OfficeMax, but haven't shopped there since the local store closed. Why? I don't know where they are! But they keep putting a circular in my newspaper anyway.

If you're lucky, a chain store might, in its circular, provide a telephone number you can call to find its store locations. "Press 1 to find a store within 10 miles of your home; Press 2 to find a store within 20 miles..." Frankly, It's not a call I'm about to make.

I find this amusing: When a department store, and Macy's is a prime example, runs a sale there's always a section on the last page of the circular that lists all the exceptions in very small print - "domestics not available in Hanover, shoes not available in Brockton" and so on. It's written to satisfy the lawyers, not the customers.

With a little rephrasing that back page disclaimer could satisfy both the lawyers and the customers:

Hanover open daily 9-9 (domestics not available); Brockton daily 10-10 (shoes not available).

Wouldn't that be useful information?

If you're serious about increasing sales, don't forget to tell your customers where to find you!


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Coming Up Next Time: "Fred's Advertising Clinic - Part One"

Brown Cow Studios of Boston offers complete creative services

including copy writing, scripting, and advertising production.

Please visit our website at www.BrownCowStudios.com

Radio Excels at Positioning, So Use it to Sell Your Image

Some advertisers, especially shops that are locally owned, are addicted to "price list advertising." Their radio commercials drone on and on about what's on sale for how much. You've heard them. They sound like this:

"This week at Super Mega Value Shop Mart ... Denim jeans for guys $19.99 ... for kids only $12.99 ... SuperMegaValueShopMart brand laundry detergent just $1.99 ... Dog collars 89 cents or three for two dollars! And SPF 30 suntan lotion $3.99! ... Fifty paper bags for only 39 cents!"

So let me ask you a question: Do you remember those spots or are they just part of the commercial jumble? Five minutes later, do you remember what was on sale for how much? Do you even remember the name of the store? Right now, without looking back, can you tell me the price of the laundry detergent?

A list of anything more than one or two items and their prices is too much for a radio spot. Our memories aren't that good. To catch all that information requires strict attention. But radio listeners are a distracted bunch. We do most of our listening while we drive or are getting ready for work in the morning.

If a listener pays attention at all, he or she probably ends up wondering, "Did the announcer just say there was a sale on bananas or hammocks? Or was it ham hocks? $29.95 is a good price for hammocks, but way too much for ham hocks! ... Hmmm, I'd like to get a red bandanna ..."

Here's where radio ads work: Positioning and image building. If your store is the low-price leader, your listeners need to know that. But you don't have to give dollar and cents proof that you've got the lowest prices on No. 24 rectifiers. The only people interested in the price of No. 24 rectifiers are those who are in the market for them. And that's not most people.

Just tell people your prices can't be beat.

To make your positioning stand out, give yourself a nickname or a slogan that tells the world what you're all about. Then plug the bejeebies out of it in every spot, every time.

• For the lowest prices, it's Rectifier Rick's.
• Larry's appliances: The low price kings.
• Nervous Ned! What a great buy!
• With the money you save at Joe's garage, you'll get that limo in no time.
• Bill's exterminators: Bugs. Dead. Now.

If addiction to price list advertising is hard for you to kick, here's the cure: Buy a newspaper ad and put all that item and price stuff in it. Then, tag your radio spots with "find out what the Low Price King has on sale this week - see our ad in the daily newspaper."

Take advantage of radio's theatre of the mind effect. Use it to position your company's image in the listener's mind. Hit them often, hit them hard, make it interesting. Soon, everyone in town will know your prices are the lowest. Or even better for you - they'll think they are!


Need help positioning your business with radio spots that sell? Come to Brown Cow Studios of Boston. Creative services to complete production and media buys. Get in touch with Fred@BrownCowStudios.com today!

If you're only talking for 30 seconds, why do I have to pay so much?

I was talking with a friend who is in the public relations business the other day. He's one of the most successful press agents in Boston, and specializes in getting his clients booked on TV and radio talk shows. As we compared notes, we realized we both faced the same obstacle: Clients who don't understand why our services are priced the way they are.

Not that we can blame them. To the uninitiated and those new to using the services of a press agent -- or in my case, a voice over artist -- it doesn't make sense. They wonder how a commercial that takes sixty seconds to do can cost so much to record.

A similar comment is one I used to hear back in my Top-40 DJ days: "I wish I had a job at which I only had to work four hours a day!" On the surface, it sounds about right, and believe it or not, there really are some DJs who only work four hours a day. But the fact is, they're not very good and they don't last in the business very long. The best radio personalities -- the ones who make it seem oh-so-easy have to work at it. And they work hard. The best don't put in a four-hour day, or even an eight-hour day like most of us. They'll spend hours preparing for their shows and trying to come up with new material. For the truly successful, it's more like a 10- or even a 12-hour day.

My friend the press agent? Sure, all he has to do is make a phone call to get his client booked, but again the truth is there's much more to it than that. He doesn't make one phone call, he makes fifty. And the only reason he can make those fifty calls is because before those fifty he made made 500 other calls to newspapers, radio and TV stations so he would know the producers and bookers, and what their tastes, interests, and preferences are.

Now since this blog is about voiceover production, let's take a look at what happens when a voiceover artist is hired to do a 60-second spot.

Even before the voiceover artist gets hired, he's already put a lot of work into the job. He's made phone calls to his agent, he's paid for and sent out demos, bios, postcards, letters, and maintains a web site too. He's probably called a few hundred potential clients on his own, and done every other kind of marketing he could think of. Along the way he's probably done fifty or sixty auditions -- maybe 100 -- that haven't resulted in any gigs.

Then one day the phone rings, or he gets an email from somebody who liked his audition enough to actually ask him to do their spot. They fax the copy over.

The first thing our voiceover artist does is read the copy to find out what it's all about. Then he reads it again, this time to get an idea of how the read should sound. Depending on the type of spot it is he may have to figure out who his character is, what his purpose is, even how he feels about it. In other words, he goes through the same preparation all actors go through when they land a part. But our voiceover actor doesn't have the length of a feature film or even a sitcom to develop his character and get his message across -- he's got 57 seconds, or even less.

He reads the copy again, this time marking it to note which words to emphasize and which to downplay, trying to find the most effective way to get it said.

By this time, he's read the copy five or six times, and hasn't even opened his mouth yet. But that's next. It's time to rehearse. Again he'll read the copy as many times as he needs to -- or, if he's working with one, as many times as the producer wants him to -- until it sounds right. So we're up to ten reads or more.

When the mike goes on, all that preparation hopefully results in a good read the first time. But, alas, that's rarely the case. Inevitably there will be goofs, mistakes, places where he rose in pitch when he should have gone down. Since he didn't write the copy, the words he speaks aren't his own in the way he would speak them, but in the way some committee somewhere wrote them, and he has to find a way to make that committee sound like one person with one voice, who's fluent in the English language.

If the recording is being done in a studio with a producer, engineer, and likely the client too, all of which are listening in on the session in the control room, our voiceover artist will have to follow their direction. Some of that direction may be genuinely helpful. Some of it may be arcane. "Can you make it sound like stardust?" or "put more electrons into it!" Hmmm ... electrons! More takes...

Eventually the tracks do get laid down and the recording session is finished. It's taken all day, and for his day's work the VO artist has earned $600. It may be the only job he'll do that week. If he's lucky, he'll get a check within 30 days as promised. If he's not so lucky he'll have to wait, track the client down, or maybe just not get paid at all. It happens.

So add it all up: The VO actor has probably read that script anywhere from ten to 50 times. And the money he gets paid has to cover all his administrative expenses and the costs of marketing, maintaining a studio, and going to auditions. Don't forget he has to pay his agent's commission too, if he ever wants to work again.

Do the math and you'll see that for all the effort to land and then produce that 60 second spot, our voiceover guy is lucky if he makes $10 an hour.

So why does he do it? Easy: He loves it.

Should you take advantage of a station's offer to produce your ad for free?

Just about every radio station, and many TV stations too, offer their advertisers free commercial production. To advertisers pinched by today's economy it's a very attractive offer that's hard to refuse. But should you refuse it?

I think so. From my years of experience in the broadcasting industry, I believe a very strong case can be made for declining the station's offer and instead using a professional, independent voiceover artist.

First, if your ads are being produced by the station on which you've bought time, your ads are being produced by one of the station's staff announcers. The voice will be one of the five or six people who voice probably 80 percent of all their spots - those of your competitors too! I'm not saying that the staff announcers aren't good at what they do; on the contrary, they're probably excellent. But your spots will end up sounding like every other spot on the station, and listeners will easily tune them out because they don't sound any different from everything else they hear. They'll just be part of the "clutter".

To be their most effective, it's very important for your ads to stand out and sound different from the rest. This is particularly important with 10- or 15-second "shorts."

Secondly, auditory memory plays a big role in the success of your ad. If a listener dislikes a particular personality for whatever reason - maybe they think those dulcet tones are too syrupy, or they don't care for the subject matter of that DJ's show (think of your local "shock jock"), that voice will have made an unfavorable impression. That impression carries over, subconsciously, to your product - it's quite likely that just hearing the voice of the announcer they don't like will work against you.

If you've ever found yourself talking back to the radio or arguing with a particularly annoying or stupid commercial you know what I mean.

But when you use an independent voiceover announcer, you're using a voice that's not heard every day - day in, day out for years. So your spot cuts through the clutter, is more likely to command attention, and won't suffer ill effects from a listener's auditory memory of an unfavored personality.

Many voiceover actors have spent years in training, taking acting classes, courses on dialects and accents and the like. The result is not just a "read" of your copy, but an interpretation of it. Even with relatively straightforward copy, professional, independent voice actors bring elements of drama, credibility, and showmanship to your spots. They don't get lost in the clutter.

In the end, your advertising is more successful because it commands the listener's attention and gets results.

Finally, there's the price issue. Free sounds great, but how much is that "free" actually worth? Most voiceover actors, myself included, operate their own studios and can provide complete creative services - from copy writing to voiceover to producing a finished spot at very reasonable rates.

You also gain the benefit of a professional who gives your spot complete attention and wants to earn your repeat business. Radio DJs and staff announcers don't get paid extra to do your spot, and they may not be happy about it either - it's just one more spot on the list of 5 or 10 spots they have to do that day, in addition to doing prep for their on-air show, paperwork, and the show itself. Because they simply don't have the time to give you their full attention, you might end up with a spot that's not great, but "good enough."

When you think about the total cost of your advertising schedule, the cost of choosing a a pro voice actor versus the station's "free production" offer works out to a small percentage of your ad budget. But the results a pro voiceover actor will get you are much greater!

So when the sales exec from the station offers you free production, tell him "no thanks." Then get in touch with Fred@BrownCowStudios.com, or one of the many fine VO talents working today.

- Fred Pagano