When marketers talk about their “films,” as if they are producing minor Spielbergian classics, it doesn’t just sound pompous and self-absorbed. This kind of thinking is what leads to bad advertising.
We pay to watch films. We want to understand the story and relate to the characters. Ads, by contrast, are watched unwillingly—not only with an abject lack of interest, but with significant motivation to ignore the message.
There are two Cannes festivals: one for film, and one for advertising. The industry would do well to remember that.
So when the industry refers to ads as “films,” it’s a marketing misnomer of grand proportions: not just inappropriate but directionally false. And it’s far from the only one.
Ad breaks: These are not breaks for ads—they are breaks from them. The TV industry’s own behavioral data shows more than half of in-room viewers disengage entirely during commercial breaks. Yet media buyers price reach against an exposure that, for the majority of impressions, never actually happens. We value a room with two adults in it more highly than with one, even though the research shows a lone viewer is more than twice as likely to watch the ads.
Storytelling: Most modern advertising is structurally incapable of telling a story. A 6-second bumper has a logo and a prayer. Calling that “storytelling” is creative cowardice dressed up as craft.
Activation:..
