Having interviewed thousands of Americans in the past 25 years of being the advertising industry’s testimonial anthropologist, I can tell you I am not alone. We love name brand products that have longevity—Ivory Soap, Tide Detergent, Pledge for our woods, Saran Wrap and others. Did you know that more people are staying home now, cooking for their families, redecorating, painting walls, re-tiling kitchens and bathrooms–themselves? That’s why Home Depot and Ikea and Wal-Mart are at their peak in consumer sales.
I don’t know if it is a knee jerk reaction to the aftermath of 9/11 or due to the drop in the stock market, but I am needing an extra amount of nostalgia these days—in my foods, my clothes, the movies I rent, the TV shows I watch, the vacations I take, the products I buy and my favorite commercials of yore (what is "yore" anyway?)
I am eating my MY-T-Fine chocolate pudding—yes, the one with the lumps—just like my mom made for me. I eat Wonderbread and Skippy creamy peanut butter and put it in fridge so that when I put it on the bread it separates, and then I have to glue it back. I want a world before high cholesterol, high blood pressure, fax machines, cell phones, personal PIN numbers—before political correctness, before Viagra and Botox.
That’s why I watch "Bewitched" (with both Darrens) and "I Love Lucy"—I want to feel safe and comfy—I want my blanky.
Where is Mr. Clean, the Tidy Bowl Man, the Jolly Green Giant—I love these guys—and they cleaned my house, scrubbed my toilets and fed me healthy frozen veggies. They don’t make men like that anymore. I am begging for a world that was nice and kind and loving and sweet. OK, OK, so it never was that way. But, that’s how I remember it.
I trusted products then—I chew Trident gum because four out of five dentists agree (I always wanted to know who the fifth was!). How I love my Jell-O brand gelatin and my Colgate toothpaste. And I long for my mother’s Swanson TV dinners with the cute foil compartments.
As Faith Popcorn predicted, we are cocooning more. So, was it not a perfect match when FCB Chicago called me to their offices nearly two years ago to cast and direct at-home testimonial commercials from consumers’ homes.
You mean in their homes without them knowing it. No script, no hair and makeup person—just the homemaker, her kids, her pets, her husband—and ME. That was the direction.
And, I did it and did it and did it over and over again—for Glade, Shout, Saran Wrap, Pledge and other home products that SC Johnson Company makes. These products have names that we know—names that our mothers and grandmothers used. This has brought me back to the basics.
Not only are the campaigns fun to direct, they are also effective at selling the products. It appears that the commercial viewing audience (yes, contrary to popular assumptions, people DO watch ads on TV) loves these spots and believes the women are in their homes washing THEIR clothes, polishing THEIR wood furniture and enjoying the outdoorsy Hawaiian breeze aroma from Glade.
From the client’s perspective, this mode of advertising is refreshing and scary at the same time.
For me, I get to be with the products I grew up on—OK, they are new and improved, but the names are the same. I am in my glory. I get to interview people in their homes and learn how they live. These women are a new version of our moms. They are wonderful and caring, and they want to make their homes comfortable, cozy and clean for their growing children.
The creatives take the raw materials that I give them and weave wonderfully entertaining spots that score through the roof and sell their products. Isn’t that what we are in the business for—to clean the supermarket shelves and get the products into the consumers’ homes?
So, I leave you now to go back to some unsuspecting homemaker’s house to watch her do her laundry, mop her floors and clean her toilet bowl. And yet I still yearn for YORE!
