Account Associate

YouTube has implemented more advertising over the years, and usually when an ad interrupts my video viewing, I’m impatient and a bit resentful of the interruption. But today, I credit the first exception to my disdain of video advertising to toothbrush manufacturer Oral B. In Oral B’s Father’s Day commercial, they feature several clips of home videos of dads interacting with their children.  One dad is teaching his young teenage son how to shave, another is reading to his children and some clips simply show a father laughing while holding his baby. And, I defy you not to cry once you see the clip of the boy running to his father who just returned from a tour with the army.

Sometimes I view the world through my Cincinnati public relations agency lenses, so this got me thinking on a strategic advertising perspective. It’s clear that Oral B knows how sophisticated consumers are and what it takes to get them to watch a commercial. Consumers expect more than a shot of the product next to a housewife with an explanation of the product features. Oral B recognized this and opted to entertain us. They use sentimental music throughout the videos, and there is no voiceover or a mention of the product until the very last frames of the commercial. In fact, the end of the commercial does not even mention toothbrushes! You just see the Oral B logo. In a way, the end is somewhat of a cliffhanger.

Oral B designed their commercial so it would not have to rely on audio. The commercial is still effective even when the sound is off, which is important if you’re trying to reach a consumer who fast forwards through commercials with their DVR or automatically hits the mute button on their  computer when there is no option to skip a YouTube commercial. Nissan uses the same strategy in their Father’s Day Commercial.

What do you think? Do you find these commercials appealing? Call me sentimental, but I think they appeal to our expectation for a story when we’re in front of our T.V. or computer.