"Ronald, there have been some changes in the Chewels advertising shooting. Now BBDO requires you to shoot one version first and compete with another version shot by RSA Production Company. The winner will continue to shoot the next creative." Agent Eddie said Said to Ronald behind the desk.
Ronald arrives in the morning to discuss casting with Eddie. Helen Slater is a suitable candidate to play the second college student creative, but unexpectedly hears about a change in the commercial shooting.
"What does this mean? Is it a pitch from the advertising industry?"
Eddie shook his head, "I don't know either. Let's go to Madison Street together and listen to what Miss Maguire has to say."
"No, this is not a pitch, it is office politics within the company." Director Darcy Maguire was still wearing a suit and trousers. "I was targeted by Dan. This head-on approach to competing for creativity is an old-fashioned way. Very few companies use it now.”
In Darcy's not-so-large office, Ronald and Eddie drank coffee brewed by their secretary and listened to Director Darcy explain the meaning of this competition.
In older times, when business founders still controlled the day-to-day management of the company, they were most concerned about the sales results that advertising and marketing could bring.
When a new product is launched, we will find two cities that are similar in terms of population, race, income, etc., place ads with different creatives, and then compare the sales results of the two cities within a period of time to test the advertising creativity. good or bad.
“In America, we usually use Cleveland and Cincinnati to test new advertising creative ideas because they have roughly the same number of residents, a similar proportion of black people, similar occupations and incomes, and they are not too far apart. . So the residents there will eat a lot of new products." Darcy Maguire laughed.
Then she immediately turned to a serious face, "Ronald, this kind of creative testing is usually conducted within the project team, but Dan has his supporters at the top, so it has become the current competition between the two project teams. situation.
Now we're all in the same boat, and you have to give two hundred percent of your ability before we can defeat Dan's idea. "
"How much sales do we need to achieve to beat each other?" Ronald asked the first question.
"We at BBDO Advertising Company have a set of internal measurement methods. Simply put, we measure the goods sold through commercial channels once, and then at the end of a month, we measure the inventory at all channel terminals again.
Taking the total amount of goods distributed at one time as 100%, generally if it reaches more than 60%, you have a good chance of winning. "
"Are you going to sell so many?" Eddie interjected.
"I mean there is a chance of winning." Darcy Maguire glanced at him sideways. "The company will invest a lot of TV station resources in the two cities. The residents of the two cities also have a lot of experience and will buy some cheap ones." of new products, so 60% is definitely a necessary number.”
"Do we know each other's ideas?" Ronald asked again.
"Of course," laughed Darcy Maguire, "I have supporters in the company too."
As she spoke, she took out a document and threw it to Ronald. "Of course, I can't completely guarantee that this is not a false goal thrown by the other party."
Ronald opened the file, and it was actually not much different from the creative ideas of Director Maguire's team.
The creative idea of the Dana team was that Chewels chewing gum was doing an outdoor advertisement. When the painter was painting the advertisement, he forgot to add the word "sugar-free" because Chewels chewing gum was so delicious, so he forgot about "sugar-free". .
Maguire's group's idea was relatively straightforward. It involved a gymnast girl jumping off the uneven bars and taking out a box of Chewels chewing gum from the bag. The voiceover asked why the gymnast girl didn't eat CareFree gum (Hershey's old-fashioned non-stick chewing gum). sugar gum brand) while eating Chewels gum?
The gymnast girl replied, "Because Chewels taste better."
"I think our creativity has a good chance of winning because the advertising slogan is more direct." Ronald said, "Advertising is an art of listening rather than seeing. Not many people in America actually watch advertisements. We all take advantage of them. Relax and wait to watch the next TV series or sports game."
Darcy Maguire suddenly stood up, walked out of the small position behind his desk, walked around the office, and then pointed at Ronald, "Keep talking!"
Ronald saw that her reaction was a bit loud, so he continued to explain, "So we are not competing to see whose advertisement is good-looking and creative, but to compare whose slogan can be heard by the audience when they are not looking at the TV screen. remember."
Darcy kept nodding and wrote down two ideas on the mobile whiteboard in the office.
On the left is Ronald's side of "Chewels Tastes Better".
On the right is the creative idea of the Dan group, "Chewels are so delicious, we forgot to write sugar-free."
"Then let's see, when the audience hears these two slogans, who can understand what you are saying better, and who can remember your brand better?" Ronald crossed his hands and concluded.
"Of course, our group is more creative. Even if you don't see the picture, it doesn't affect your understanding of the content of the advertisement. But the Dana group has to combine the pictures to understand the meaning of the advertisement, which is an extra twist." Eddie added. It said what Ronald meant.
Darcy Maguire looked at Ronald for a long time, "Why?"
"What?" Ronald thought Director Maguire had objections to his idea.
"Why is this kind of common sense not taught in advertising majors in universities? And I, a graduate of Boston University's advertising major, don't understand consumer habits as well as you do?"
"Maybe I'm just a consumer?" Ronald said with a smile, "So I don't have any professional prejudices, I just think about things from the perspective of ordinary consumers. Besides, isn't it common sense among Americans to do other things during advertising time? ?”
"Common sense." Darcy Maguire did not ask any more. Perhaps common sense is what people in the workplace lack most.
"Which version are you going to shoot first, Ronald?"
"I planned to shoot the version of the uneven bars gymnasts first. I originally planned to shoot this version first. Because gymnasts are more eye-catching than college students, right? Anyway, when I watch TV and see gymnastics competitions, I will stop and watch for a while before changing. tower."
"Okay!" Darcy Maguire threw the pencil on the table, "We'll shoot this version first."
"But don't relax. Dan used a lot of the connections he accumulated on a daily basis. This version hired RSA's Hugh Hudson to direct and built a large billboard. In short, they spent a lot of money."
"Where did they get such a large budget? Are the budgets of our two teams equal?" Ronald was curious.
"You know, the advertising industry is still a world dominated by men. Dan has many friends in the company. As long as he tells them that this is to prevent a woman wearing pants from getting to the top, he can always get resources."
"I understand, so how did you choose the shooting location?"
"We will rent the CBS studio to shoot the scenes of the gymnastics girls. You don't have to worry about this." Darcy Maguire said about the shooting plan. "In addition to you and other shooting teams, we will also borrow the power of CBS. After all, you don’t want a full production team like Ridley Scott.”
"How's the casting going?" Director Maguire asked Eddie.
"I have notified the gymnastics departments of several middle schools and selected dozens of female students based on photos. If Miss Maguire is free, we will go to the casting together tomorrow." Eddie answered.
"This is the storyboard I drew," Ronald handed over the storyboard he drew for the advertisement. "The one in the back is the college version. Just look at the gymnastics girl in the front."
Darcy Maguire flipped through a few pages of storyboards, "So she took out an old version of CareFree chewing gum at the beginning, and then switched to the new version of Chewels chewing gum with fruit filling?"
"Yeah, that's what's called dramatic effect. Make people remember that Chewels is Hershey's new chewing gum." Ronald explained his idea.
"Okay, let's do it."
The audition on the second day was arranged in a public high school near CBS, which had a ready-made gymnasium and uneven bars.
"How about it? Is there any suitable one?" Darcy Maguire now believes in Ronald's vision. In the advertising industry, the most scarce thing is people with consumer common sense. After an advertiser becomes successful, his income increases, he lives in a big house, and he drives a nice car, he unknowingly starts to distance himself from the views of ordinary people. We can no longer think from the perspective of ordinary consumers as we did when we started.
"Actually, the requirements for gymnastics ability are not high. I only ask to do an uneven bars descent. The important thing is to look like a girl next door, and let them read the advertisement again." Ronald replied while looking at the girls. .
"Because Chewels gum tastes better."
That's good, Ronald put a check next to his name.
"Because Chewels gum tastes better."
This one is too pretty and doesn’t quite fit the girl-next-door look. For this kind of daily consumer product, it is best for the average appearance of the model to be similar to that of the user, but slightly higher. This way consumers can be more confident in the efficacy of the product.
If the chewing gum is eaten by a beautiful woman like Marilyn Monroe when she was young, consumers will feel that this product is far away from them and belongs to the upper class, and they will look for cheaper alternatives.
"Because Chewels gum tastes better."
The girl had a loud voice, clear articulation, a strong body, and neat teeth. At first glance, she looked like a child from an upper-middle-class family, and Ronald was very satisfied.
"Where are your parents? Can they come and talk to Miss Maguire?" Ronald asked.
"No, I came here on my own. I heard from my friends that I earn a lot from advertising, and I'm just about to earn money to pay for college tuition." The blond girl, wearing a middle school uniform, answered.
Ronald thought to himself that he had made a mistake in his judgment. If he wanted to earn money to pay for tuition like himself, he did not seem to be from a wealthy middle-class family.
"Can you put on your gymnastics clothes and do a lift on the uneven bars?" Next to him, Eddie saw Ronald ticking the box and asked the girl to try her gymnastics skills.
"No problem." The girl said nothing, picked up her bag and went to the dressing room.
The girl put on gymnastics clothes, swung twice on the high bar, and did a group backflip. Ronald nodded to express his satisfaction.
"Where are your parents? We need to talk to them about signing the contract. You are not yet 18 years old."
"I am 16 this year. You can call my mother. This is her phone number. My father and mother are divorced and now she is my guardian."
Ronald sighed inwardly. It seemed that the divorce had caused the family's financial ability to decline. After all, it was a big expense to learn gymnastics and have his teeth repaired.
"What's your name?" Eddie picked up the form and looked for the girl's name.
"Elizabeth," the girl swung her ponytail behind her back and smiled happily. She also understood that she had a high chance of getting this role.
"My full name is Elizabeth Sue."
