My response to "The Persuaders"

I watched the “The Persuaders” in its entirety.

I really enjoyed the series because it really gave me more insight to what advertising is all about. It isn’t something that you can just do by “winging it”. You really need to advertise seamlessly. You have to do it in a way that your audience doesn’t even know that what you’re doing is advertising. Advertising needs to be entertaining. It doesn’t matter what the product you are trying to advertise is, it needs to be done in a way that is visually appealing and really draws the audience in without question. As Clotaire Rapaille mentions, most of the time people have no idea why they are buying the stuff that they are and because of this, they try and make up something that makes sense to them, even if it really makes no sense at all.

I also really appreciated how they showed live footage of group of marketing agents and advertisers working together and brainstorming ideas that could make their product soar. It made the whole concept so much more real to me, and gave me a clearer and more precise idea of what it is all about. Being on the inside of ideas such as “Soar” the new airline that they were trying to promote, helped me see how difficult their jobs really are. You can’t just assume that your idea or technique is going to work, you have to be extremely confident in what you are planning or else you risk the chance of losing all of the money that you invested to get your product out there.

Another concept that is talked about quite a bit in these 6 videos is that providing a relationship for the consumers is crucial; A relationship between the consumer and the product, and even a relationship to advertise the product on a commercial such as a baby and a grandmother interacting. People crave interaction and they want relationships. Relationships don’t have to be refined to just people/people relationships. They can be so much more.

“Once a culture becomes entirely advertising friendly, it ceases to be a culture at all. It ceases to be a culture with the name.” -Mark Crispin Miller

What Miller goes on to describe, is simply the truth. The times are changing, and whether or not they are for the good, we will just have to wait and find out. Advertising has become about advertising, when it should really be about the product and being able to form a positive relationship between the consumer and the product.