You are now entering Ad Space, a realm of commercials, brought before us so we might examine how they work, and discuss why we both love and hate them so. So it is written …
The Product:
Rippling HR software
The Promotion:
The Pitch:
Buy our CD!*
*We do not actually sell CDs
Last week, I did an Ad Space on one of those Greatest Hits CD commercials that were all over TV in the 90’s. And in looking up just the right ad to feature, I ended up watching a whole bunch of those old CD commercials … and then this thing, which it took me far too long to realize was a parody.
This ad, it gets the look, the sound, the style of those 90’s CD commercials down pat. I mean, if you’re only half-paying attention (or even three-quarters paying attention), you could easily get through the whole ad believing it’s a genuine vintage commercial, rather than a modern ad that’s aping old CD commercials in order to sell … HR software? What the heck do those have to do with each other?
That question got me digging more into the Rippling corporation, and they’ve got some other ads that also take quirky approaches to selling something as dull as business software.
It all just seems like a lot of effort put into commercials that only a fraction of a percent of all viewers are even potentially in the market for. Seriously, how many HR managers per capita can the population have?
I guess that’s where “targeted advertising” is supposed to come in, but as I’ve discussed before, those algorithms’ ability to show me ads for things I’d actually buy is … suspect. Granted, I only saw these specific ads because I was actively looking for them, but I’ve also had my streaming interrupted by plenty of ads that were clearly meant for business managers … which I am very far from being. Or ads for getting my bachelor’s degree online, when I already have said degree.
Still better than when they give me ads in Spanish, I suppose.