Journal: week 7
How much do people really trust advertisers?
Does this information bother me? Not really.
I do have a theory on why people think advertisers are a bunch of lying scum though. The problem lies with the salespeople, who are under pressure to sell and have commission incentives; they talk up the product verbally and elevate consumer expectations beyond what the product can actually offer.
When the consumer goes ahead and buys the product and finds it doesn’t meet their expectations they complain it’s false advertising. An example would be the ‘Seafood Sensation’ at Subway, the ‘Sandwich Artists’ talk it up as “crab and seafood mix”; and have I seen the color drain from the customers’ faces when they hear (they ask because of food allergies) the exact ingredients.
Joanne mentioned in class that good advertising should create a problem and solve it. Does this mean we are subconsciously turning ourselves into untrustworthy liars? It is advertisers’ job to persuade (and manipulate). Does it mean next time we want to get our way, we will put all that we’ve learnt in class to use on our loved ones?
Now that’s a scary thought - to not be able to trust the words of those close to you, because you question their motivations.
GUEST SPEAKER
Paul Sinclair, Director, Rowland Creative
3 important things I’ve taken away from Paul’s experience are:
1. Be yourself, you will be more comfortable in your skin and fakes are easy to spot.
2. Listen to the client, make them feel well taken care of and they will take care of you.
3. No budget? Don’t let your work show this.
Paul mentioned quite a few instances where he had to pitch ideas to the client that he did not believe were the best solution, and he would have great difficulty in selling the idea. This had me wondering if there was any way to present a concept that you didn’t like but still come across as fully passionate about the idea.
It is one dilemma that plagued me last semester and I could not find a good solution. I had one partner who would always propose concepts that were too big and too grand, and I was always worried about the practical concerns of actually having to implement the concept. So we would always settle with a scaled down version of the concept, but unfortunately it was at the cost of much of its original brilliance. No one would be fully happy with the final concept and when we pitched, it really showed. The feedback we received was that there was a lack of passion for the concept, and the group wasn’t very well integrated.
The way we eventually came together was out of desperation, because we knew if we kept disagreeing we were not going to do very well. Probably not the best solution ever and this is one path I do not want to go down again, without knowing how to better handle the situation.
Paul’s session was a gold mine on this issue; particularly, he told us about how the clients handled the situation where they could just tell he was trying to sell something he didn’t believe in. That just made me even more glad that me and partner did manage to come to a resolution and we made it through alright, because if I didn’t experience that hurdle at university and learn the lesson, I fear the consequences would have been even greater in the ‘real world’.
AFTER THOUGHTS
Paul Vs Tyson
I was sitting in the front of the room when Tyson visited the class as a guest speaker. At the time I noticed his tie looked like it came straight out of a box, yet his shirt was wrinkled and did not have that razor sharp ironed edge on the sleeves like you see on the office workers in the city. I didn’t think too much of it at the time, but what Paul said about being yourself, got me wondering if Tyson was trying to pull one of his illusion tricks on the class (and actual dress code at work is quite lax)? Guess I will never know.
Overall, Tyson’s session seemed to be more geared towards getting us in the door, as he was basically inviting the class to send him their portfolio at the end. By admitting to his mistakes and highlighting clients are idiots he helped to break the ice with the class, and I saw him as just a regular person, which made two-way communication much easier. And Paul’s session was more about, “Once your in, this is the standard of work you should produce.”
In my current status with no industry experience, I felt Tyson’s session delivered more relevant information in regards to industry entry and that knowledge would be used in the nearer future than Paul’s.