Well Written Ads

My assignment for this week was to find an ad that I believed was well-written and to then analyze it using Monroe's Motivated Sequence, a persuasive speaking technique that has five steps.

1. Attention - grab their attention
2. Need - define a need
3. Satisfaction - supply a way to satisfy that need
4. Visualization - make them see how your suggested form of satisfaction will satisfy their need
5. Action - propose action so that they will satisfy their need

I chose the commercial embedded above, the Haagen-Dazs Ice Cream "Ode to Flavor" commercial that premiered in 2010. I liked this commercial upon first view because of the rich colors and the poem (which is recited in a soothing, masculine voice). Here is how it stacks up next to Monroe's Sequence.

1. Attention - The colors, images, and soft music grab your attention (at least they grabbed my attention) by attempting to transport you to a place that is much wilder and more mysterious than your own.
2. Need - They tell you that you need to get back to a more simpler and authentic way of life. The poem calls out to you, saying all these things about how they can relate to you because you are searching for some sort of simplified existence.
3. Satisfaction - They say to eat their ice cream; it is a start down the path of a more natural and pure existence.
4. Visualization - To convince you of this, they show their ingredients in their natural habitats and at their most natual forms.
5. Action - The Haagen-Dazs logo is presented at the end of the poem/commercial along with the line "From we who believe; we know just how you feel," in a sort of subtle call to action. They are saying "we understand what your soul is searching for, eat our ice cream and you will be a little closer to finding it."

So yeah. That is how I feel the "Ode to Flavor" fits the persuasive criteria set up by Monroe's Motivational Sequence. I have posted two commercials in the past that I believed were poorly written. I still think they are, but that is just a personal thing. Obviously someone thought they were clever.

I however, am a great lover of Haagen-Dazs, and this commercial just convinces me to enjoy it more often.