Ah, good. Yesterday I had an ad to write about that shows a strategy that works well in TV advertising (the Auto Trader Dukes of Hazzard ad), and today I have one that shows what doesn't (this maternity ward ad for Hyundai).
So here we have an ad that doesn't really work very well at all. It shows lots of very pregnant women, and then lots of babies, at a hospital maternity ward, and then the nurses ask each other what was going on nine months ago. Then we see the national team (of Spain, I think) win the World Cup, and a couple watching it on TV gets frisky and it is suggested they have sex. And then, finally, we see the car parked outside their apartment building on the street, and it's an ad for that: something that's literally tacked on at the last second and has nothing whatsoever to do with anything we've just seen. And this doesn't work because this ad does nothing to show us why we'd want or need this car, or why this one is even a good one to get if we already want a car. It seems like a waste of time and money for Hyundai all-around.
I mean, I suppose it's cute, if you like the idea of people (who aren't you) having sex in large numbers after their country (and not yours) wins the World Cup, but things like this are only amusing the first few times, and then they just get old fast. Additionally, in a country like Spain that actually cares about soccer, nobody would ask what happened nine months earlier, nine months after a World Cup win (Spain's first one was in 2010: literally the last World Cup was Spain's first time to win it, so they'd especially all remember it), because they'd all know what it was.
But, this ad could have worked just fine, if they had showed the last part first (of the couple watching the win on TV and then getting frisky), and then jumped forward in time nine months, and showed the woman going into labor, and then they drive their Hyundai to the hospital, and then we see all the other pregnant women and babies. Then the ad could say Hyundai is there with reliability when you need it.
Also, they could have done it this way: we could see the win and people cheering, and then we could see a couple driving at night in the country when they hear their country won the World Cup on the car radio, so they pull cover, smile at each other, and then it is suggested that they have sex in the car. Then the ad could show the jump to nine months later, the rushed drive to the hospital, and the maternity ward part.
In both of these alternatives I present, it would tell just about the same story, but include the car in the story as an integral and necessary part, which makes us remember the product and see why we might like or need one. See what I mean? And it's not even intrusive, because you need a car to drive to the hospital, and sometimes people get it on in the car. But not to include the car in the story just makes the commercial ineffective, because we likely won't even remember the product at all. (I only remembered it as an example of an ad that I don't think does much to sell its product.)
(Oh, and I suppose they could also show the couple get together right after the World Cup win, and then nine months later the guy tries to deny the baby is his, so the woman runs him over with the Hyundai. Even in this joke ad, we clearly see why we might want to buy the car: just in case we want to run someone over.)
Here's the auto afterthought ad:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7v5pf0aN2Q
