Polished out, Rough in

We all know reality TV is pretty much taking over our lives. What once was a Thursday evening spent watching Friends and Seinfeld has now turned into the Jersey Shore and Basketball Wives reunion special. It’s disgusting really. Watching even one episode gives me the same buyers remorse I go through after scarfing down a volcano burrito from taco bell. So why do I watch them so much? Excuse me, why do we watch them so much? Because it’s the only opportunity we get to laugh, cry and cringe at other people’s disastrous lives.... and we get to do it anytime we want.

These shows make me feel good about myself. I’m not such a bad person after all- I mean, hey, I never got divorced after a 72 day marriage and I sure as heck never got fired from a fast food restaurant because I couldn’t do math (or maybe I did and you’ll never know). Point is, it’s not only a boost to my ego, its also gives in to my voyeuristic side. Stop judging me- I know I’m not the only one. Americans are, by very nature, a voyeuristic society. Look at all the rubbernecking that goes on. And we wonder why there’s so much traffic.

Anyway, this posting isn’t about reality television at all (shocking)- it’s about reality advertising. Unpolished, rough, quick and organic ads. Like reality TV, they are not only addicting but so much more appreciated then branded, formal and ‘traditional’ advertising. But why? I mean the advertising we know takes exceptional actors, expensive sets, mind-blowing graphics and witty scriptwriting. Are we suggesting that footage taken from a home video camera is more effective than branded advertising? Well, yeah. Sometimes. And lately more than ever. Think about it- not only is YouTube a huge hit but so are the recent viral campaigns that were built on work submitted by ‘regular’ people (Diet Coke, Mentos). Some brands are going so far as to film the spots to make them look like they ‘re real (Carlton Draft, Agent Provocateur, Dove, Ritani). Isn’t that crazy? They’re paying exorbitant amounts of money to shoot a spot that looks exactly like a guy filmed it from the back seat of his Cadillac. Why don’t they just have a guy actually film from the backseat of his Cadillac and use the money for something else? Why not invest more advertising dollars in digital marketing? The ROI in online advertising continues to increase; and the trend won’t stop until we invent something better than computers (any ideas?). Agencies convince these brands to go with big budget productions so they can make money off it. I mean, we can’t let production companies go under. Who would make all our witty super bowl spots? As a producer, I’ll tell you it’s not that easy to get a perfectly produced ad that wasn’t conceptualized by creative directors. It’s a needle in a haystack, really. But hey, at least we know what works.

I don’t have all the answers, but here’s what I know. Polished is out. Rough is in. We want REAL. We want surprises, disasters, raw humor- and we want that emotional connection. Branded advertising doesn’t provide that as well as reality, so I think Jon Steinberg, the writer behind this article, is right. We are overproducing our content and its time to realize that the real creative directors might be, well…you. And it’s not because you’re a creative genius per se (who knows, maybe you are), but it’s because you're real.