While watching coverage of the Olympics last night (8/12) on NBC I was struck by two different commercials.The other impressive commercial was from Nike and featured the USA Men’s Basketball team. What was compelling about this commercial was not just the slow-motion action shots of our basketball stars, but also the audio and intercutting video shots of the recently-deceased Isaac Hayes singing our National Anthem. It was done tastefully, and regardless of your feelings about using the images of the deceased to market athletic equipment, it is a powerful spot…especially less than three days after Hayes’ death.
What struck me about these two spots is that they were both extremely well-timed and very well produced. Having worked in production for ESPN, I know it’s hard to achieve those elements in television. Sure these are big budget companies, but it is impressive. And, they are setting your audiences’ expectations.
If this timeliness is a benchmark expectation for TV, it begs questions about how timely your email and SMS messages should be, especially when you consider they are so much easier to produce. What about your web content?
Good marketing means reaching the right audience at the right time. Make sure you have a content platform that has the ability to test and change both messaging and creative on the fly, allowing you, the marketer, to move as quickly as our times are changing. Whether by serendipity (Phelps grabbing gold), tragedy (the passing of Isaac Hayes) or by intent (good online marketing software), a well-timed marketing message is more powerful and memorable.
