Women Notice Details In Your Ads

I've noticed the new TV ads for Ford featuring Dirty Jobs host Mike Rowe.   For some reason, he sounds almost.....well.....credible.

Is it the delivery of his lines?   Could it be his hand movements that made him seem more believable?   After much thought, I finally put my finger on what made him sound credible.  

It was his ball cap.

Seriously.

How often do you see a car TV spokesman in a ball cap.  Not often.  I actually can't remember the last time I saw a pitchman in a ball cap. 

Yeah, sure.  There are lighting issues, you can't fully see a person's face when they have a ball cap on.   But guys wear them all the time.  At least, regular guys do. 

In the same vein, kids aren't perfect.  (I hear you mothers guffawing at that notion)  That's why images like the ones in this article are so compelling.  What do you relate to more - a little girl with a tiara perched perfectly on her head, or a little girl with a tiara that's slightly askew.

Look at your ads - pay attention to the details.  Add in credibility builders like:

• Imperfections - like the slightly askew tiara
• Wardrobe items- like ball caps on guys, or one of those rubber "cause" bracelets on a woman or a teenager
• Genuine facial expressions - like a genuine laugh, or secret smile. (There's a reason why the Mona Lisa is the most famous painting in the world - but that's a whole other blog post)

Women notice the details in your ads.  So pay attention to those details.  Sometimes something small can have a large impact.

Comments

[Website Design]

That's an interesting observation.True..one doesn't often get to see pitchman in a ball cap.Thanks for the video.

[Tom Wanek]

Yep, some head honcho was smart enough to resist the temptation to put Mike Rowe in a corporate clown suit. They let Mike be Mike.

Holly, you bring up a good point about genuine smiles. There's actually a muscular difference between an authentic or genuine smile and one that's fake. In an authentic smile -- called a Duchenne Smile -- muscles around the eye and mouth are involuntarily activated. These muscles cannot be activated voluntarily. And human beings are very good at telling the difference.

Paul Ekman authored a book on the language of facial expressions called Emotions Revealed. Fascinating read.