In Season 11, Episode 4 of Celebrity Apprentice, Teams Backbone and A.S.A.P. were given the challenge to come up with a :30 commercial to showcase a new videophone product from the company, ACN. The two commercials were evaluated by ACN representatives. Did ACN get it right with their final selection?
The teams were charged with creating a commercial that would be judged for creativity and originality, company brand messaging, and product integration. Additionally, ACN explained to each team that they were looking for a commercial that would make an emotional appeal.
The men’s team, Team Backbone, went with an edgier commercial that they called “Tommy Gets Engaged.” In the commercial, parents, one of whom is played by Gary Busey, open a Christmas gift from their son, Tommy; it is a videophone with instructions to plug it in and call. They do, and Tommy then uses the phone to introduce his fiancé, Pablo, a mascara-wearing José Canseco.
The women’s team, Team A.S.A.P., produced a vintage AT&T-style, high-touch commercial that showed a daughter in France as an exchange student phoning her parents back in the U.S. After talking to the father, and introducing him to her host mother, played by Dionne Warwick, she connects with her mother, played by actress Marlee Matlin, who speaks and signs her deep love to her.
Each commercial was introduced to 450 ACN sales leaders by their Celebrity Apprentice Project Managers. After seeing both spots, the ACN participants were asked to vote on the one they “wanted.” The A.S.A.P. spot received 47% of the votes, while the Backbone spot received 53% of the votes and was declared the winner. By going with “Tommy,” did ACN correctly pick the stronger commercial?
The ACN team does a good job at kicking off the assignment by specifying the success criteria for the commercial. Creativity and originality are not always necessary, and rarely are they enough by themselves, but coupling them with even vague objectives for brand messaging and product integration provides a good roadmap for brand building advertising. The additional directive that the advertising be emotionally connected helps clarify expectations, but not by much. All effective advertising makes an emotional connection with its audience. Based on the ACN criteria, the Backbone commercial wins on originality, but the A.S.A.P. commercial wins on brand messaging and product integration and so to us is the stronger commercial.
The close 53% to 47% vote in favor of “Tommy Gets Engaged” by the ACN employees/participants shouldn’t move us off that conclusion. Input from the company’s sales organization on an advertising campaign can be useful, but it is the opinion of customers and prospects that will cound. What sales team really “wants” is advertising that will help them sell the most.
Credit, though goes to Lil Jon, the Backbone Project Manager, who was brilliant in “selling” his commercial to the ACN viewers. He fired them up before and after they watched it. He astutely and credibly pulled them in via emotionally appealing ideas that the commercial was cool, could go viral, and even would be airworthy for Super Bowl telecast. For his efforts, Lil Jon deservedly received $40,000 for his charity, United Methodist Children’s Home. But in our view, the A.S.A.P. entry better met the ACN communications objectives of originality, brand messaging and product integration and would be the more effective brand building commercial for ACN. In the words of David Ogilvy, “If it doesn’t sell, it’s not creative.”
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