Saturday, January 22, 2011

How to sell the thing I love.



This video is a classic example of how my favorite activity is advertised to the public and I have been thinking a lot about how I want to pitch and sell things lately. I have been looking at the longboard industry in general and I think that they have a really good things going for them with the youtube channels and the online presence on forum based websites like silverfish, but what would happen if a company like this wanted to attempt to break into television based ads? When would their ads run? and during what shows? how would they present their product and get people excited about it?
If I was in charge of coming up with this type of an ad here is what I would do:
This type of commercial would have to be catered to a specific audience, so it would likely only be played during specific shows like perhaps the X-games or maybe the "Dew Tour" both extreme skating and sporting events that people that would enjoy an activity of high skill and adrenaline would enjoy and be likely to watch.
As for what the actual commercial would show this is the fun part... Following the recent advertising movement in transcendence and creating a culture based on a product this ad would not do any outlining of specs or build options for the board, instead of talking about the board I want to show people the way riding and owning this type of board will make them feel. The add would start with a still shot of a random hairpin corner in the road, no music just a few birds chirping. Then almost out of nowhere a longboard rider would ride into the shot and start to do a "standy" slide that turns the board sideways and skids all 4 wheels across the pavement instead of letting them roll. During this trick the camera shot would zoom in on his face and go into slow motion. In this shot the face would be blowing in the wind and have a slightly changing look of total peace an happiness that would be surrounded by graphics of cartoonized peaceful patters to add to the illusion of getting out of the real world and finding the meaning of life. Then the shot would end with the rider shooting off down the rest of the hill and a logo of the company would fade into the shot.

I think that would get me excited about longboarding and riding and getting out there on a board like that one that helps me achieve happiness.