Jonathan Leger – SEO And Internet Marketing Blog Internet Marketing Blog

Making ads into entertainment.

I was listening to the radio on my way to pick up some dinner for my family this evening, and there was a small segment on an international advertising agency (whose name escapes me) and how they are working to improve the effectiveness of their advertising.

The segment described a very successful campaign that was done for BMW, where they actually had well-known directors make short films about sophisticated people (like spies) who drive BMWs. The films highlighted the product, but were so cool that people wanted to go to the site to watch the films!

I got so absorbed in what the segment was about that I almost spilled dinner all over the front seat! What a fantastic idea, I thought. Making the ads entertaining, even engaging for people.

I say that the BMW series was successful because in their first push online the short films received more than 100 million viewers! Only after their initial push were they sent to YouTube, where who knows how many views they received in addition to that.

Even for a big company like BMW, 100 million eyeballs being drawn to drool over their cars in entertaining short films was a fantastic way to build brand identity. Slick, sophisticated people like international spies racing around mountain S-curves on secret missions to save the world really identifies "coolness" with driving a Beamer.

Another excellent example of an ad becoming entertainment is Joel Comm's latest project, "The Next Internet Millionaire." It's a videocast (and could-be television show) where people compete for a $25,000 prize and the chance to become Joel's next millionaire JV partner.

(And in case you were wondering, you have a chance to compete too.)

Now, of course, it's really an advertisement in disguise. Joel will make a lot of money off of it. But even the intro video on the page above is just so darn entertaining! It makes you want to be a part of what in reality is a big advertisement.

There is a lesson in these two entertainment ads for all of us in the internet marketing world. I, personally, could do better at making what I send out to my list not only informational, but also more entertaining. I know I have that ability, sometimes I just get lazy and fail to exercise it.

Now, I'm not talking about having clowns juggling the phrases and spraying water from a flower through your monitor and into your face. What I mean is making sure that what I write is appealing and impacting in a way that makes you enjoy reading it.

I, for one, know that I learn much better when the teacher is not putting me to sleep with boring copy. I also know that I am much more inclined to buy if there's a good story woven into the sales pitch.

This is something I will be putting into practice immediately. I hope to get so good at it that people will join my list just so they can read my advertisements! After all, that is exactly what BMW accomplished (and Joel will quite likely accomplish). People wanted to see their ads, because they weren't just informational -- they were exciting, even exhilarating.

So the next time you sit down to write a sales letter or an article, take some time to tell a story. Let people experience the value of what you're offering (or teaching, as the case may be) through the eyes of someone they admire and respect -- or at least someone that they find interesting.

Did the BMW ads work on me? Well, let's just say that I took the curves on the drive home a little bitter faster than I normally would.