In this video, I’ll talk about how Hightower turned an underperforming, direct response TV advert into a humming, mean, lead generation machine. Optegra specialise in lens replacement and laser eye surgery. They’re the market leaders in the UK. Their latest TV advert wasn’t generating sufficient leads and conversions for the business. They were considering not using TV as a medium. A decent amount had been spent on the project and it wasn’t delivering.
The TV ad was classy and cool, but it didn’t state the core benefits of the brand. It wasn’t working hard as a direct response TV advert should. Hightower was invited to pitch for a new version. During the pitch, we explained the core differences between the three types of TV advert. Firstly, you have brand campaigns. Think Coca-Cola, Snickers. The purpose is to keep the brand in the public eye and reassure stockists that they’re supplying the right products.
Then you have direct response adverts, which feature USPs and a call to action, the whole purpose being for customers to pick up the phone or visit the company’s website. The third type is a hybrid of the two, brand response adverts. Samsung are probably the biggest exponents of this type of advert with their Galaxy ads, very shiny and pretty but with plenty of USPs. It was meant to be a responsive advert, but those elements were being tucked away and they weren’t bold enough.
The advert also had quite a languid, laid back feel. The advert was 60 seconds, and the first 22 seconds were just abstract visuals and dreamy conceptualising. There was no pace or urgency for the customer to take any action. The script was also fairly weak and mealy-mouthed. The voiceover, slow, reflexive, and dare I say it, a little bored-sounding.
Optegra responded well to the points we addressed and we took over the account. We chucked away the voiceover, the pondering music track, and forgettable graphics. The only element that remained was the beautifully shot visuals, filmed on location in Malta and London. We also completely rejigged the script, losing a lot of the wishy-washy elements and made it a good deal more fun and punchy.
We started the advert by presenting the problem that the potential customer has. “Struggling to see without your glasses or contacts? Well, it’s time to see Optegra.” We composed a stronger, more uptempo music track, which continues to build throughout the advert, building more subconscious urgency. We worked with the same voiceover artist, but totally changed her brief to make a more engaged, fun, and involved audio performance.
Possibly the most important direct response elements in an advert is the info bar or the lower third, as it’s known in the business. The old advert was framed in black with the DR elements hidden in black strips at the top and bottom, similar to watching a feature film. We replaced these with lighter, brighter and bigger graphics, creating a more engaging proposition, increasing screen volume without affecting the lovely visuals.
We also increased the size of the Optegra logo, certainly not an element to apologise for and a TV advert. In addition, the phone number and website graphics now dance when the VO mentions them, again, another subconscious way of attracting the eye to the most important part of the advert. The result was a very happy client. Reports back from the media agency were that response levels had increased greatly. Since then, Optegra has returned to Hightower for various iterations of the advert, both broadcast and online. If you’d like Hightower to fix your broken TV advert campaign, give us a call.
