Why Bland TV ads don't work!!!

Yesterday (Sunday 24 July 2011) while waiting for Citizen news at 9pm, something strange happened?!? During the break between the Tusker All Stars show and Citizen news at 9, I was bombarded with an onslaught of TV adverts, none of which I remember 15hours later. Well...maybe the IPO for British "something" which is being launched soon, I think I saw LeBron James(sprite) and thats it.

The last memorable TV ad that I remember was "utahama lini". Brilliant and simplicity in execution, the ad recall was high. Before that, was the gargantuan effort by Safaricom "Niko na...", with its catchy tune and showcase of Kenya, was nothing short of EPIC. Whatever you think about the Safaricom TV spot, the recall of this ad will remain high in consumers.

Other than these two TV ads I've mentioned, I cannot think of any other that was memorable this year. 99 per cent of the TV ads I have seen this year are all bland, forgettable and unmemorable. Which brings me back to how I barely remember any TV ad last night. Why is it that Kenyans 'like to play it safe', 'settle for second best', 'do what the competition is doing tweaking this and that', and so on? Why, why, why?

The following point covers why we get bland TV ads;

- Misunderstanding the basic concept of Brand Differentiation. If you want to stand out and be remembered, you have to be different. When everyone goes left (banks with blue as corporate colour), YOU go right (bank adopting red as corporate colour). It is as easy and as simple as that.

Learning from history has always fruitful. Our TV ads are crap, because we do not do this due diligence. Companies such as Apple and Coca-Cola, have different marketing strategies from their competitors, who only seem to happy to copy and paste these strategies. Having similar TV ads only aids in increasing the brand value of the giant companies, i.e. Apple and Coca-Cola.

So, corporations and everyone out there, I implore you to change and be different. Challenge the status quo, and make interaction with your consumers more memorable. Otherwise, there will be no one who remembers what happened between Gaetano's silly moustached mouth blabbing and a sultry Julie Gichuru introducing the news.


What I'm currently doing;

Book - currently reading "Buyology" by Martin Lindstrom (for the third time)

TV Series - Game of Thrones; epic and a must watch

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