I do it, my mom does it, chances are you do it too and so does your best friend when you’re not looking. Outside your four walls the squirrels, tadpoles, occasional hawk and owl have fallen witness to the latest in human evolution; the moment your favorite show breaks, the most natural thing is to reach for the remote to speed past the interruptions.
One single twenty four hour period shy of the nation going 100% digital and the broadcast industries biggest task still remains unanswered…how can locally owned and operated television stations keep viewers on their channel during commercial breaks? Viewers must know, it keeps the station on the go.
During tours of the radio station I’ll stop several times to point out the enormous amount of energy robbers it takes to heave ho a tune out to your car then remind those in the room that the radio on-air talent isn’t the star, it’s the creative advertising department who leaps through hoops to make sure the performers have enough electricity to be up and funny in the morning, at noon and on the drive home.
Without sales you wouldn’t know about Hannah Montana returning to the Carolina’s on November 24th. Wait! I just did a cheap plug! Well at least I didn't tell you the paperless tickets go on sale Saturday morning at 10 am. That's called product dropping. Television shows and movies are starting to do what's always been available for years...use the products that sponsor their art.
I love Time Warner Cable’s attempt at preserving what little dollars are left in marketing budgets…on some channels if you dive into a program too late, that’s ok…you can start from the very beginning at a small cost of losing control of fast forward. Instantly I’ve become addicted, to the point of reaching for the remote at live concerts and movie theaters. If I’m having a great time, let’s start it over!
Within this age of Tivo, DVR and brightly lit electronic roadside billboards that’ll one day slam me into an unexpected car accident; the magic behind the human spirited eight ball is this incredible surge of something that allows us to instantly tune things out. Wrapped deeply in a view of the world only you can see, feel, hear and taste, Dave Matthews was correct when spouting, “The ants keep marching.”
How do you expect to land the perfect job or further your career when the first thing you do is change the channel when commercials appear or become something you hear?
Resumes are wasted former trees. The words chosen to describe the paths you’ve chosen have been abused for decades. The ideas you present are three minute long commercials about a self who can’t stand to take six seconds to hear how Bounty is the quicker picker upper.
If you can’t stand radio and television commercials how do you expect to grow in your personal endeavors? Success is all about marketing. Landing that perfect position during an extremely rough American transition is going to take creative thinking which leads to an unforgettable presentation.
Introducing: The 15 second commercial about you! Delivered through the sound system you’ve been carrying since the day your momma looked at you and said, “My beautiful little baby.” Dad on the other hand was thinking, “Get a job!”
Author Andrea Kay is an expert on the workday business front...without a fear, no need for a doubt, she has no problem telling the American workforce that you are lazy, late and completely out of tune when communicating what really counts about you.
Every morning you should be preparing for that single most important 15 seconds of your life. There he or she is…the CEO of Big Business Success is Us, he or she is walking your way, they reach to shake your hand and lafjdklfjklsdfjfdjlasdfljsdf burp. You couldn’t come up with anything worth the weight of your dreams coming true.
Just like you…the master of success tuned out of your commercial.
There’s not a disc jockey on earth that’s going to drop a song into play mode to save your single unheard of opportunity to dance with them again. You blew it.
Nobody can predict the future, therefore you never know when opportunity is going to stand up and shake its tail feathers. You could be standing in line at the grocery store, walking into a restaurant or through synchronicity your friend tells you of an opening at that very cool pet hospital you’ve dreamed of being the head nurse at. That single shot to introduce yourself has got to be an award winning 15 second commercial about you.
Who are you? What are your strengths? What do you care about and why? Your personal characteristics are? What are your greatest challenges versus those you can easily reach? Don’t bang out a 15 second collection of fast talking words ending with, “See dealer for details.”
I invite you into a world I adopted in 1991 at a tremendously injured radio station with hardly a budget to lift the key to the door to open it…image your business. Don’t just blurt out who you are…figure out an image then become it. That station has since become a market leader going on two decades.
Andrea Kay says, “It’s ok to be technical but be real. Lay low on going into detail too fast or use a lot of jargon and gibberish.” Quick! GET ME THE REMOTE CONTROL!
Resume creating and personal one on one greetings have become lazy, vague and stale. We’ve adopted word play that someone along the way shouted, “It works! Trust me!” Then everyone started using it and without a doubt you are no different than Buck Tooth Joe with his pet garden snake Sammy Jean.
In 1946 George Orwell wrote, “You’re not going to sound real and sincere or connected with a live human when you use worn out, bloated, imprecise mumbo jumbo. Don’t describe yourself as being a person centered on change who drives results through innovative human resource solutions while constantly learning the frameworks that deliver maximum value.”
Suddenly you’ve just become the television commercial you zoom past with not a guilt trip to wallow in.
You have 15 seconds to figure out the best image:
What are you trying to say?
What words will you use to express it?
What can you say to make it crystal clear and understandable?
Is your image fresh enough to have impact?
Can you make what you want to say shorter?
What will I say that could make me avoidably ugly?
You are in the business of you. Stop banging out a commercial about you and start imaging your business. Steal my art…
arroecollins@clearchannel.com
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