You are sitting down watching the season finale to your most favorite television program when suddenly… Whamo! Out of the blue, comes a giant, annoying disruption: the dreaded commercial. Boring and generally quite irritating, commercials regularly invade our homes interrupting our chosen past-time. I take issue with one critical point: we are doing something fun (watching TV), that is suddenly stopped by something that is decidedly NOT fun (a dry commercial selling an item that we really don’t need). So why not make commercials intriguing? Think “dramamerical”: a commercial (or series of commercials) that revolves around a plot, complete with catchy narrative and compelling main characters that fight for good and/or evil. I think you get my drift.

Suddenly, people would “plug in” to the commercials themselves. “What is going to happen next? Will Stan actually help his mother fight her osteoporosis? Will she stay active until her 80’s? Stay tuned to find out!” Forget the drama of the program… where is next commercial?!?!

In truth, GEICO really had something going with their CAVEMAN concept. These commercials had all the essential elements of a great storyline: sympathetic characters, the token antagonist (in this case, GEICO itself), and a plot (cavemen wanting to be accepted by society). Throw in a good soundtrack and there you have it… Start selling the t-shirts. I mean, the cavemen got their own sitcom– and if that does not say something, I am not sure what does. (Okay, the series ultimately failed because of poor writing and mildly poor acting. But, come on, how many commercials actually build up a fan base large enough to warrant evolution into sitcom-land?) My point is, if you, Mr. Advertiser, want your expensive commercials to capture the attention of your audience: MAKE YOUR COMMERCIALS ENTERTAINING.

Comments? Feedback? I would like to hear from you.