Be carefull with your commercial and advertising messaging.

There is this commercial that is running in DC right now, not only on the wrong stations, but is annoying as heck.   It is for a local insurance company here in Washington DC and the tagline is Kiss My Bumper.

Now, kiss my bumper is kind of a funny and cool tagline for an insurance company to have, but the way it is delivered is absolutely a nightmare and the ow quality that the commercial is filmed in is even worse. There is a guy who is speaking a mile a minute and looks like he is sweating, and is shaking like crazy so it almost looks like he is on speed. (I am pretty sure he isn’t and just wants to look enthusiastic and energized about his insurance company, but in reality we all agree he is presenting is the wrong way).

It is almost like he is yelling at us and is a snake oil salesman and this commercial, although the tag line kiss my bumper is memorable, the way it is delivered makes me not only not pay attention to what company it is, but also not trust it or ever even want to type in the url, unless it is for a laugh, and definitely not trust the guy.

By how fast he is screaming at me, his body language and the message kiss my bumper, what happens if I get in a car wreck, from his commercial I would expect him to say Kiss my Bumper to me and not pay me.  Although I do not use them and am sure they are probably legit, I would never use them or even call because of the negative connotation that his commercial gives me in my mind.

Now, this is only my opinion and you would need to judge for yourself, but this commercial is a huge turn off for me and instead of thinking the tag line is funny or interesting, it scares me and makes me not want to even think about trusting their company for my insurance.  What would have made the commercial better and more effective for me is not only taking the guy down a notch so he isn’t yelling at me, Billy Mays could get away with it; this guy cannot, and to have him act and look professional.  Not like someone who is going to scream and rob me and then run a marathon.

There is a reason most insurance companies show pictures of families, they show safety images and thoughts, play nice music an some even start off with shock value to get you to pay attention and realize that the things they are talking about are real things that could happen.  They need you to feel comfortable, safe and like you can trust them when you need them.

Yelling at your audience like a car salesman and high pressure without a calming and relaxing voice or music does not add the safety and family value that people need when they want insurance.  You buy insurance because you want protection.  You buy insurance to protect yourself and your family.  You buy insurance because you want to feel safe and like someone has your back.  By having this guy yell at me a mile a minute and tell me to kiss his bumper, guess what, none of the safety and security comes along and I get scared off from ever even considering him for my insurance provider.

If you are going to run media for a product or a service, remember who your buyer is and remember why they would be buying that product or service.  If it is insurance or a bank or even a hospital or doctor, you have to build trust, build conifdence and make it so the person feels comfortable and safe going to you.  If not, well you may get some response, but at the same time, you will turn a lot of potential customers away.

I think the commercial is very catchy, it got me to blog about it, but at the same time, it defeats itself by making me not trust it and get annoyed by it.

The same goes if you are promoting Insurance or Doctor Affiliate programs.

Get your readers to trust the insurance company by stating the facts or why you would trust them.  Let them know why they are safe and either choose colors that strike fear or choose ones that relax them and then use words to match the feelings.

If you strike fear in your audience, they buy because they want to be safe.  Talk about high hospital bills, mal practice, etc….  Presell why they need to protect themselves.  If you promote family and safety, talk about how they can help protect their families and add in security for them or the good experiences and good things the insurance companies and doctors have done for others.  Talk about the good things their company does and then add in why they should use them and guess what, chances are your conversions will go up since you have given your readers a reason to need them.

Don’t yell at them and tell them to kiss your bumper or basically F off, tell them why they should feel safe and comfortable with you and your service and why they should use you above other people and companies.  But the most important thing when dealing with companies is to make sure you are honest to your readers and only give honest views and opinions to them so they not only trust you, but also come back for more recommendations and also recommend their friends to your site.

The Kiss My Bumper commercial annoyed the crap out of me and completely made me not trust that company, but at the same time, I also don’t remember the company name so it not only wasn’t effective, but they have time to redeem themselves to the other people who watched their commercial.  It wasn’t a bad commercial, but I think it was missing a lot of key things to being more effective.  I have seen it probably 5 to 10 times now and now flip the channel when I see it, but then again, maybe I’m not their target audience.

I think they could have done their commercial a lot better and if you have seen it, let me know what you think as well.