Electronic Retailer - May 2012 - 40

BY MAL KARLIN

Use the 3 Vs and Have a DRTV Success
CHANNEL CROSSING: CREATIVE
How do you make direct response television commercials memorable and long lasting, while driving results and breaking through the media clutter? The answer is in this simple formula: V3 = DRW. That bit of advertising algebra translates to this: effective and compelling visual, verbal and visceral communication cues lead to a direct response winner. Applying this formula to your strategic and creative process is key to achieving your direct response goals while helping to establish, strengthen and grow your brand. It is the guiding philosophy, methodology and discipline that we use at my agency, Karlin+Pimsler, to generate profitable results and brand dominance for our clients. Visual, verbal and visceral cues are the blood and guts of emotional connectivity and motivation. Emotion is the key operative; it’s what allows us creative types to turn features into benefits. Emotion drives impulse buying, which is what direct response TV is all about. Sure, offer is critical, and it appears to be a rational appeal when it comes to selling. But there is underlying emotion to taking advantage of a time-sensitive offer. It makes us feel happy and excited to be one up on the Joneses. Sure we reward ourselves by saving money, but the real reward is joy at having taken advantage of a limited-time opportunity. Most of the time, the emotional reasons we buy or react to an offer are hidden from us. When asked why they bought an item, most folks will not be able to tell you the emotional reason they bought. In order to look like savvy shoppers, they will most likely provide a number of rational statements. It’s our job as creative marketers to provide the underlying and perhaps unconscious cues – the three Vs – that will make the buyer take action. The visual, verbal and visceral messages are not exclusive; all three need to be present in every successful commercial. They don’t have to be of equal percentages; one may be more prominent than the other two. But when you have them all working together, you have a 1-2-3 combination that leads to a direct response TV winner: leads, sales and brand superiority. even unconscious level. They excite, entice, intrigue, convince and compel to action, all through what the eye sees.

The Verbal
How you say the brand is often as powerful as how you show the brand. Words spark ideas and make messages stick in the mind. Words, which have one meaning, can have a very different meaning depending on who says them and how they say them. We all know the importance of the famous call-to-action. Those words, “Call now”, “Log on to...”, “Limited time only” and “First 100 callers” explicitly direct consumer action by creating urgency and a sense of anxiety of being left behind or missing out on a great deal. We also can’t forget the power of phrases like “Where’s the beef?” “Set it and forget it” or “It’s my money, and I need it now!”

The Visceral
Humor. Pathos. Envy. Fear. Sexual attraction and desire. These are visceral human states – emotions common to us all. Not all people respond to the same cues for each of these emotions but those emotions are there in all people. It could be argued that the visual and the verbal combine to make the visceral. But just the word visceral itself connotes something deep in our reptilian brains, something that wants to be addressed or satisfied. It’s the seemingly “un-science” part of advertising, and it is hard to formulate. But without it, your creative is a lost cause.

Visual + Verbal + Visceral = DRTV Winner
The success of your DRTV campaign is tied to the right combination of visual, verbal and visceral cues that your target audience needs to take immediate action. Yes, you need the phone number and URL on screen for a good portion of time. Yes, you need audio reinforcement of the offer and number and call-to-action. But you also need the three Vs to press the emotional hot button that sends your target into action. Mal Karlin is president, chief creative officer of Karlin+Pimsler, a New York-based brand response creative boutique that develops transformational television advertising for clients including, Enova, OpenSky, JG Wentworth, ValleyTrust.com and many others. He can be reached at mkarlin@karlinpimsler.com or (212) 779-3375.

The Visual
What we see on screen is so critical to direct response that it is surprising how often it is ignored or poorly executed. Visuals “speak” volumes of a brand’s promise, benefits, audience and aspirations, without saying a word. Visuals operate on deep, 40

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Electronic Retailer - May 2012

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