The Raisin Brain Effect: Social Media's Impact on Ad Perception

Transcript

Welcome and Social Media Outrage

Speaker 1 0:01

Well , in this episode of the NerdBrand Podcast , we're going to talk about how not to allow social media to turn your brain into a raisin when you're watching ads on TV . Okay , let's go . Hey everybody , welcome to this episode of the NerdGram Podcast . It's been a while . I took a little break . I may take another break , I don't know . I like breaks . I'm busy , I can't help it .

Speaker 1 0:43

So , anyhow , there's been a lot going on in the world of advertising . Oh my God , has there been a lot going on in the world of advertising , and I think many of you know I'm talking about the Sidney Sweeney ads . I'll just get right to it . What the actual hell . I love Wordplay . Wordplay is a really good way to make an ad , but some people just take it too far , some people just misread things and anyways , I'm sure there's lots of hateful opinions and lots of preach adjacent opinions , but at the end of the day , it's my podcast . I'll say what I want , but it's an ad . I mean , unless it's over , it's an ad . Guys , it'll be over , it'll be fine . Does anybody ever remember another clothing company that used to do some ads that everybody was like wait a minute , are those people underage ? I'm just going to leave that there and let you think on that one .

Speaker 1 1:33

There are ways to do ads where , yeah , you can subliminally put messaging in there , but then it's kind of a stretch on this one . I'm sorry , I don't care . I , you know , I don't normally talk about politics or religion on this show because , but you know , when you start eking it into my world , it's awful hard for me to not to make a nod at it or go like , really . So that's kind of where I'm at . I think it's a good wordplay . Um , I would hope that they would come out with some more ads like that , honestly , because I think having a more diverse audience women and audience and even men on there as spokespeople that are doing the same thing I think that that would definitely kind of shut it up and get the idea across that no , this is not a eugenics commercial , because wordplay has been around for a long time . I mean , you don't have to see yourself in an ad . That is not the right way to look at things , I'm sorry . I mean I remember when everybody wanted to be like Mike , but nobody wanted to be Mike .

Speaker 1 2:29

Nobody had to see themselves in Michael Jordan , they just wanted to be like Mike and play basketball . So I had a friend he just went and just played his heart out , trained on his own . He even got these weird looking shoes to run around and and I thought to myself like that is definitely determination , and he was going to go be an NBA player . That was the goal , that was the mission , and I was like white boy from Valley station , okay . So yeah , did he make it ? No , he went work for the LNPD , but but I'll tell you what his parents were behind him 100% and , um , yeah , he worked on how high he could jump and how he could jump and how he could dribble . I mean he was sold all in from the age of 16 to 18 . And then reality kind of set in , I think , and it was like all right , I got to get a job that pays and

Iconic Ad Campaigns That Work

Speaker 1 3:20

now , and so that was something that changed his life . But still , I remember those days .

Speaker 1 3:24

I grew up in the 90s . I mean that's the way it was . That's why I have the worldview I have . I grew up in the 90s . I saw all this stuff . I'm not a boomer . Boomers are baby boomers . Those are people that you know were born from those that went and fought in World War II , my parents . I'm not a boomer . You got the wrong generation y'all . Just because they're older than you , that's not a boomer . Anyways , enough ranting on that .

Speaker 1 3:44

So here's the thing in the slew of ads that are out there , I mean there's a lot of great advertising that's going on with , uh , kind of getting back to like showing the things more and not necessarily trying to drive some kind of subliminal message in the first place . That either is on the left or the right side of the political aisle , I don't care . It's just what is it that you're trying to offer ? What problem are you trying to solve ? And that's what ads are . Ads are they're forgotten things that they can run and go viral like this . But then there's some that just you know , stay with us for years . I mean here , remember this one Now , how many of you just saying I'm loving it in your head ?

Speaker 1 4:25

You know , mcdonald's has been doing that for a long time and now they've got a whole series of ads out right now that is all about McDonald's and their stuff . It's great , it's great to watch . They have owned that . And now they don't even say I'm loving it . I mean just they show you the golden arches and they just kind of sing a little tune and that's the way it goes . And there you go .

Speaker 1 4:49

You got you like an established brand with an identity , and for years and years and years , coca-cola same thing . Like , they bring out the polar bears every Christmas because everybody hated Santa Claus . So they said , all right , we'll do polar bears . Santa Claus is too divisive , I guess . So that's what they did . Um , budweiser , you know they got the horses and everybody knows the horses . They all come out same time of year holidays , advertising around the holidays . I mean , there are some new things that come out . It'll be interesting to see this year what gets produced .

Speaker 1 5:17

Um , but I don't know if , uh , we would ever get tired of the old nostalgia things . I mean even the little Hershey kisses that do their you know thing for jingle bells , and that's going to come back , and they've tweaked that over the years , even though , if you've not noticed it or not , the audio is the same . But the video has been updated and I think that that's something that we all can look at and go . Hmm , yeah , it makes you feel good . So , anyways , don't read too much into ads . Stop it . There's other problems in the world if you really want to focus on problems , or if you just want to watch ads and have a lot of fun , do that .

Speaker 1 5:52

Super Bowl , you know , had some okay ads Not too great funny ads but you know it's still something right , right , I'm trying to be positive . You know it's still something right , right , I'm trying to be positive . So , anyhow , a lot of uh . You know there has been um outrage over some ads . I mean , adidas had a problem . They made an ad . Uh , doves the code , um , ai , beauty standards , um kind of was a bad thing for them . You know Google , salesforce and Ray-Ban , meta all had ads that you know . I think people liked or disliked . You're entitled to your opinion , but you know it's something that I think we kind of missed the point of what ads are for , though I just kind of have to keep going back to that because I'm flabbergasted . I was so gobsmacked when I heard the things that I have heard so far .

Speaker 1 6:52

Some of the ad campaigns that are out currently . At the moment you may or may not see them based on , even if you're the target audience . You have to think about that . You know , um , I will tell you I watch a lot of Disney plus lately . Uh , I cannot specify how many , I lost track . How many pharmaceutical ads come across , that thing , uh , so we are still in the age of pharmaceuticals like throwing money out . I mean , I don't even know . I see so many pharmaceutical ads I'm starting to think that I got some of them diseases . So I just , you know , that's kind of the space we're in .

Speaker 1 7:29

But you know

Pharmaceutical Ads and T-Mobile's Success

Speaker 1 7:30

, there's been some surprising ad campaigns . Skincare campaigns have been pretty interesting , you know . I know we all want to see ads of empowerment and things like that , and that's great . Thought-provoking ads are great . There's a time and place for every kind of ad . Uh , t-mobile ran some really funny ads and I think they tip , they kind of put the icing on the cake when they got , um , old Jason Mabola himself , you know , um , um , involved in it and to be in the ads . I think that that was kind of the funniest ad campaign at least in 2024 , that I can remember was T-Mobile .

Speaker 1 8:04

Now T-Mobile is running ads again about , you know , and they're using Billy Bob Thornton and him walking around the middle of a field in what looks like you know Iowa or Wyoming or God knows where , and the whole point is that he don't know where he's at , but with his phone he can find out , and so that's something that's going on right now and that's an interesting ad campaign and it's more about not so much about how you feel about T-Mobile or how you feel about 5G or how you feel about farming or what you think about what Billy Bob's wearing or Billy Bob Thornton himself . It's just more or less emphasizing the point like , hey , t-mobile's got some satellites now so they can always get you connected , no matter where you are . And it kind of reminds me of the Verizon ads of can you hear me now ? It's just their way of doing it and showing off the prowess of the network and how strong it is , and that's a good ad for that reason . There really wasn't much else thought behind it . It's like hey , we need to show off what we can do , and that's what you want to do with an ad , right , and hope that you touch an audience that receives that ad and says , man , I need that . And then they do that , and that's the point .

Speaker 1 9:13

Um , I'm seeing a lot of ads for pets . Um , you know a lot of things going on in that realm . Chewy's got some pretty aggressive OTT ads running right now and streaming about dog food and how to take care of your dog . I mean , there's one dog running around and it looks like it's just going nuts as far as how it behaves and it's like , ok , we need a type of feeder for a dog , which I didn't know existed , but they have a cage , all these other things to keep from chewing up stuff because it's going to be a puppy for the next two years or going to go through that period . They kind of intentionally put that into the ad so that if you're like , wait , I got a dog that's within that two year period and is doing all these things , this ad is showing Chewy's is my place to go so that I can get some products and dog food and other things and hopefully keep the dog from chewing up my sandals . That's a commercial that's out there that I think is pretty darn good .

Speaker 1 10:13

You know recent ads , that kind of play on YouTube . You know they're testing a longer ad cycle On YouTube . They're testing a longer ad cycle . I mean 30-second ads are being added to the existing mix of 6-second bumper ads and 15-second unskippable ads . I know that's annoying . I know that's annoying , but you know what ? That's also why they annoy the crap out of you wanting to buy or pay for YouTube . This is a platform that's just , over the years , has lost more money than I don't . I don't know , I don't know if they , according to their reporting , I mean they're doing okay , but other than that , I don't think they're making money . Um , so , you know , you go from monetization to okay . Well , the ultimate monetization is doing a Netflix model where we charge people for YouTube and then you can bypass ads . I don't think that'll happen , because I kind of see all the money that generates from advertising .

Speaker 1 11:09

Somebody's going to sneak in an ad somewhere . If you have a streaming service , just try it . Try watching something and then pause and see if an ad comes up . Or does the video just

YouTube's Advertising Strategy Evolution

Speaker 1 11:20

pause , because on some networks , like , for example , peacock , they have intermittent . I guess interstitial ads is what they call them . Anyways , there are ads that are there if you're pausing the programming and we can place ads into those areas for our customers . So it's a decent thing , right ? It's like ah , I got to go on a pee break , pause , and then there's kind of an ad , that kind of loops , you know , or maybe it's just a graphic with a QR code so that you can just pick your phone up and there you go , I'm going to get that thing or learn more about that product . It's great because we've all got to figure out .

Speaker 1 11:53

The entire thing is like there's a war between advertisers and ad blockers and people can get annoyed with ads and we get it . I get annoyed with them , but you know , I'm in a business of ad , of advertising and and , um , that's sometimes I like watching ads and watching how people react to ads . I think it's very interesting . I just I can't help it . I'm a psycho that way . I suppose .

Speaker 1 12:18

Um , you know , right now on YouTube there's a playlist of commercials , um , you know , and there's in there in different volumes . You can go have to Google 2025 commercials , but you can kind of see . Um , you know , you've got 2025 commercials . Uh , one of the volumes is , uh , you know , comedy central , fxm , discovery , free form , adult swim in MTV promotional spots , um , you know , for for toys , I mean the fantastic four film and all the different things and all the advertisement for that . I mean , you talk about a thing that was advertised that everybody misread and thought was going to be something that wasn't . As far as a film goes , that's that one . Um , maybe it happened in post editing , I don't know , but I'm hearing really good things about it , that that Marvel's trying to actually , you know , get back to , you know storytelling , and so that's awesome . Um , because , uh , yeah , we uh been rough and rough for Marvel and , you know , dc seems like they got a good one on their hands with Superman .

Speaker 1 13:23

So I'm glad to see that all that advertising paid off , because when you drop a quarter of a billion dollars on advertising , you kind of want to make sure that the damn thing makes money , right , I mean , I know I'd like to see success happen when people run an ad . I don't want to see somebody fail or anything , because it's really hard to make an ad . I don't want to see somebody fail or anything , because it's really hard to make an ad , you know , and the whole Sidney Sweeney thing , it's like it didn't happen in a vacuum and one person said like , oh , they knew this would go viral and it would cause this or that . You know , unless somebody comes out and makes a statement yeah , yeah , that was the plan , then I'm going to reserve on the side of like , no , like most agencies , like ours , we're not thinking about how to go viral , we're not thinking about how to cause , you know , social disruption . We're thinking about how to get the ad done , what to do , and then when we do it , boy are we praying to God . It works Because , yeah , we've done our homework and all . So it's not like we don't know what we're doing or it's being shot off into a vacuum , but it's like , at the end of the day , you don't know how people are going to respond to you what you say . I don't know how people are going to respond to this podcast episode , with me coming out being like I'm sorry , but I just don't think Sidney Sweeney's a Nazi . That's stupid .

Fast Food Identity Crisis

Speaker 1 14:43

Sweeney's a Nazi , that's stupid .

Speaker 1 14:44

So you know , I've seen so many Jean ads . I mean , I grew up in the era of Calvin Klein . I mean , honestly , that was weird , that was weird , but the ladies liked it because Mark Wahlberg was wearing underwear on a billboard . It's fine . So , at the end of the day , don't read too much into ads , don't let social media turn your brain into a raisin , because you know , somebody said something about an ad and made an assumption about it or whatever , and overthought it and over sensationalized or outraged over it . Because , quite honestly , ads aren't married . They're not made to make you outraged . They're made to sell products , they're made to elevate brands and to hopefully provide a perspective on things . Um , you know , I don't think I've seen a jean or clothing commercial in a while that has created such outrage , and I know there has been others .

Speaker 1 15:33

Um , so I don't know why we have to be so focused on those things . I love making ads , I love working in advertising . Mitch does too . It's why we've done it for so long . Uh , but I can guarantee you that , like you know , I can't speak for the agency that made the ad , but we don't sit around thinking about those things that everybody else is talking about after they've seen the ad . It's always after . That's literally .

Speaker 1 15:58

We don't start with the process of what happens in the end . I don't read books backwards and I don't watch movies backwards , and I'm assuming my audience doesn't either . So when we make an ad , we don't start with oh well , what are people going to think ? We'll get to that part before we deploy it . And if we think that it's still worth it to deploy it , we're going to freaking do it , because it takes a lot of effort to do what we do . In any advertiser , in any industry , it takes a lot of effort . I mean , you know there's been times during COVID where we were very like . You know we're not going to put that message out right now . It just seems very tone deaf . And then we didn't . But you know you got a global disaster happening , so it's kind of warranted . But you know you got a small audience , small amount of people that are upset , and next week they're going to be upset about something else . If not , by the end of the day , something else , then that's fine .

Speaker 1 16:50

You know fast food ads . Let's briefly talk about that . What's going on with fast food ? I know y'all noticed it . Look , I will say I like Burger King , but I don't want brisket on my Whopper . I'm sorry , that just doesn't look appealing . I kind of I like my barbecue with my barbecue and my burger with my burgers , and I just why is Taco Bell making fish , not fish tacos , but they're going instead chicken ? I don't know , but everybody is selling everything under the sun . Did you know Arby's has a burger , like you ? I don't kind of . If arby's wants to ever send me anything , or any of these people that I'm mentioning will send me anything , I'll eat it and I will give you a fair rating , but I'm just not convinced about buying it . And then you look at places like chick-fil-a that are just rolling out commercial after commercial right now and they've got their people talking about dipping chicken tenders and I think it even inspired Popeyes to make a chicken tender dippy commercial , where people are dipping and singing and stuff and it's like it's more active and energizing than the Chick-fil-A ones .

Speaker 1 17:59

At the end of the day , you do what you do really well . Do that when you start looking across the aisle what the other ones are doing , and you get distracted and you're like , oh my gosh , I'm a taco place and I make tacos . Really well , I'm going to have to make some chicken things . No , make better tacos . That's

Final Thoughts on Advertising Intent

Speaker 1 18:20

just my opinion , though I don't know what yours is . I hope you enjoyed this episode and if you like it , you know where to find it . Subscribe , blah , blah , blah all the things and remember , keep your nerd brand strong .