What’s in an ad?
Since people are practically inundated with ‘em, how’d you like to be in charge of ad production for an automobile company? Ever wonder what the experience would be like? Just as I thought. But imagine you’re tasked with that very job. Think of the possibilities! Remember: it isn’t the car that makes the ad but the ad that makes the car. Okay. Time to get this show on the road.
‘S-Car: Take One’
If it was I who was tasked with creating an automobile ad, the first thing I would have done is have the ad vehicle in good company, that is, situated among as many other on-the-road vehicles as can be contained in a frame.
Many such advertisements I see show only the one featured motor vehicle, alone in isolation as it were, as in it being the only car on the road and, more often than not, it seems, in a major metropolitan area to boot. You’d think viewers were born yesterday for goodness sakes!
Having said that and having the advertised car sitting in traffic, I would then have cameras rolling, lenses zooming in on a car’s exhaust pipe(s) at which point I would have displayed on screen numbers in conjunction with some sound bites emphasizing that the promoted car’s emissions are zero. I don’t know how big something like this would go over with the viewing audience, but something on this order might begin to make an impression or perhaps a number of them. This model? Emissions-free all the way!
Next, I would have the camera crew in a pace vehicle – it too being “emissions-less” – pacing the one being ad-promoted driving past gas station after gas station emphasizing the notion that the one being driven doesn’t require stopping to fill up, as it were. But, to be fair, I would also show the vehicle that is the subject of the commercial stopping for a battery recharge or the like.
And in rounding out the 30-second spot would be a displayed window sticker showing the manufacturer’s suggested retail price or MSRP, adding in a voice-over (I think this is the correct terminology of the trade) emphasizing that rebates are available adding to this, pointing out how over the long term how economical to operate just such a car is. And then if there’s still time, mentioned would be safety.
In producing an ad this way it may not make a whole lot of sense to some people, nor may it result in a lot of sales of said advertised vehicle, nor may the commercial be nominated for any national or international advertising awards, but, no matter: a closer-to-the-real-deal production would result.
So, why the S-Car name? Since the cat is out of the bag, “S” in this case stands for “sustainable,” what else?!
Incidentally, at commercial’s end comes the quintessential element: passers-by upon their noticing the advertised car would all loudly and in unison intone: “Go, S-Car, go!”
‘S-Car: That’s a wrap!’ … and time to call it a day
– Alan Kandel
This post was last revised on Jan. 31, 2020 @ 7:36 a.m. Pacific Standard Time.