The Savvy Entrepreneur

Welcome to a new series I affectionately call Irksome Ads. You know the ones I’m talking about — you hear them on the radio, you see them on TV, you drive past them in your car — ads that suck!

Deserving of an Irksome Ads award are promos:

• Where you have no clue what they are actually promoting.
• Have nothing to do with what’s being promoted (think perfume commercials).
• Make no sense and are confusing.
• Where the low budget ends up hurting the company’s credibility more than anything else.
• Are not memorable.
• That are terrible for any other reason.

To start off this series, I’d like to share with you an ad that plays on a local Montreal AM radio station. For some reason, it really gets on my nerves.

Here’s how it starts:

Do you enjoy paying taxes? Would you like to pay even more? Or would you, like many others, like to save… blah, blah, blah

I can’t quite put my finger on why it rubs me the wrong way… Maybe it’s because they are asking such a stupid question. Really, who would answer “Why, yes! I DO enjoy paying taxes!” or “Actually, now that I think about it, I really DON’T enjoy paying taxes! Let me give these guys a call right now!“

In marketing you ARE supposed to concentrate on a particular problem or challenge your target audience is facing, but is asking such a blatantly stupid question really going to make your potential clients feel like you can help them?

In listening to this ad, I feel patronized. I feel put down. If these are the kinds of questions they’ll ask when I meet them, I’d rather save myself the trouble and frustration.

Is it just me?

PS – Feel free to share the irksome ads you come across and we’ll discuss them here.