Too much ad jargon
It’s surprising how often agencies that pride themselves on talking to everyday consumers slip into jargon when it’s related to advertising.
It’s a little unfair picking out Whybin\TBWA\Tequila, as many agencies are guilty of this type of behaviour, but as they press released it, I guess they’re fair game.
They’ve produced a new consumer website for Nissan, of which the emphasis is on the TVC.
There’s even a big label on it that says: “Play TVC”.
The thing is, the public don’t call them TVCs. We do.
The public call them ads.
If you stop the average punter in the street and ask them if they know what a TVC is, they don’t.
Tim Burrowes
So uuhhh…. what’s a TVC then? 🙂
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or in Japan, they call them CM…
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A fair question, emesel. TV commercial.
Cheers,
Tim – Mumbrella
in russia TVC watches you
@ Ben if there is a problem, the KGB will surely be watching you …
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@ Tim, uh uh, what is TV?
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I would say the choice of “TVC” rather than “ad” was deliberate. They are trying to position the brand as cool and therfore would flatter the audinece by referring to it using media jargon which cool people should know.
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What’s a television commercial?
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Was talking about this on the weekend and I did a quick count of my mates at a BBQ – not one of them who worked outside of advertising knew what TVC stood for (or was) and I also wondered why we assume that the general public know what it means. We used to say ad/advert didn’t we ?
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I thought it was branded content?
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This comes on the back of their awful (yet applauded) social media FAIL with the 370 reasons for the 370z. A so called social media project- but without conversation nor engagement. A classic case of a traditional ad agency pretending to “get digital”, but really just using social media as another broadcast channel. Check out the Fiesta Movement for real engagement.
*le sigh*
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Are you sure TVC stands for ‘television commercial’ and not something like ‘transvestite’s car’? Only joking ….
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Gezza’sexactly right. It’s deliberately intended to pander to supposedly media-savvy, ironic and self-absorbed Gen Y’s. The kind who don’t realise it when Kraft PR has snafu’d them.
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Gezza, do you work for the agency that handles Nissan?
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99% of ads discussed on this site get sh*tcanned by unsubstantiated and often juvenile assertions..and anyone who actually likes an ad is accused of bias
i pose some questions:
– is this simply to be expected, given the subjective nature of advertising?
– are ad industry competitors really this snarky and bitchy?
– is Mumbrella just visited by try-hards and wannabes trying to appear clever but usually failing dismally?
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That’s ridiculous. That’s like doctors talking technical medical language to a patient. Communicate with consumers in language that consumers will understand and you’re halfway to a better ad already.
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@Sven
– Yes
– Yes
– Yes
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@Sven. Interesting questions.
When I was a youngster working in a protected agency environment, with a regular high income and constant work, I had all the answers.
Now I run my own business, Ihave to earn every client and every brief. I’m a lot less cock sure and hopefully less critical.
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They could have said ‘Promo’ or even ‘Play Clip’ if they didn’t want to use the word ad but this industry definitely likes to throw its acronyms around! I admit, I sometimes do as well – all it does is alienate your audience and make them feel like they should know what it means but they don’t’, so a negative feeling is created.
It’s like saying click on this PPC ad, or Click on this R.O.N banner – you wouldn’t use it there!
An ad is what it is – so use that! You should be able to position the brand through the ad itself not just through the terminology used to say what it is.
Ninja Monkey – point well made and I couldn’t agree more. Simple is good, simple is often the cleverest approach and why try and confuse the audience.
No one is criticizing the ad itself, just the terminology.
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I agree with Sven especially seeing as I am one of those “supposedly media-savvy, ironic and self-absorbed Gen Y’s”
I thought it was totes OSM…the market will get it. Geez guys it’s all about acronyms these days CSI, FYI, FAQ, LOL, NFI, TVC…DMY…
They’ll get it, no one calls it an AD anymore
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