Ordinary 2 Extraordinary: Conceptual Connections

The consumers mind is sharper than ever. They have the ability to process, filter an delete content faster than ever before. So what can you do as an advertiser to combat or embrace this? Make the common place something conceptually special. When's the last time you felt compelled to switch garbage bags brands? When's the last time you felt like you had to jump out of your seat and check a URL that you just saw on TV? The key (as plainly as this sounds) is taking things that you do every day, apply story and shift the vision. Take for instance the following three ads:

This series of ads was some of the shining examples of what can come out of storytelling in thirty seconds. It takes the mundane life of the avergage business professional and turns it into something not only compelling, funny but motivates you to compare your current situation to it. When's the last time you felt like you would debate your car with $100k Mercedes? You wouldn't because you can't. That's why they sell that product in reverse –– exclusivity, removal from the pack and engineering. So be care to how your applying your connections.

But when you're talking to the other 95% you need to emotionally connect to their real lives. Here's some questions to help quickly find those nuggets:

1. When you sit with your friends what do you bitch about?
2. What would you change about the products/services that you use; or job that you do?
3. When working what is the consistent gossip, problem, issues and or situations you find yourself in?
4. What makes these situations? (e.i. – meetings? staff changes? executive hierarchy?)
5. If I were King/Queen I would?
6. Can parallels be made in what you do with unrelated concepts? Example: someone stole my food from the break room refrigerator –– could be a high-tech diamond heist in Germany. A bit of a stretch but you get that model.
7. When you make light of your situation in what context does it fall? What make it funny and how (if at all) is it resolved?

The risk an advertiser needs to take is how granular are they willing to be with the concept to the demographic. Everyone wants their ad to connect to everyone alive but that's foolish and ultimately ineffective. In a world of spoon feeding directions to users we've tend to forget that the audience can think for themselves.