Monday, August 25, 2008

Debbie Phelps Spot

Here is an interesting, simple commercial featuring Michael Phelps' mom.



Makes me wonder - could you do something like this with one of your talent? Obviously it would be different - but the basics could still be there. Maybe its mom talking about how your chief meteorologist always loved weather as a kid. Maybe its a parent talking about how news was always in your main anchor's blood.

Depending on your brand - a simple message like this could really work to soften your talent and connect them to viewers in a way few spots could.

Thoughts? Anyone ever tried anything like this? Is this idea more naturally built to run near mother's day?

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

We actually did a spot like this about 11 years ago. The main anchor's mother was visiting from out of town. She had such a grace about her (like Phelps' mother). She described how she knew her daughter would always deliver the news. The resemblance between them was uncanny. This was one spot in a campaign where the anchors described each others personalities and characteristics. It was a nice twist to hear from someone's mother. About doing it around Mother's Day -- some moms are probably 6 feet under, how about switching it around and let your anchors talk about their mothers -- that way everyone's included.

Anonymous said...

Who better to talk about you, whether you're a suddenly well-known athelete or a local TV news anchor, than your mother or father. You're right, this is a simple idea that's well executed, and effective. I don't know Michael Phelps but I feel like I do now and I like him just a little bit more.
I once did a spot where I had the sports anchor's father talking how he could never reach him at the station because he was always somewhere else covering the teams. Different approach entirely but the same idea of using a mom or dad.

Paul Greeley
pgreeley98@aol.com

Anonymous said...

We did a similar spot about 15 years ago in Bangor, Maine of all places.
Our anchors, weather and sports people each had a relative in the viewing area.
We had each relative tell us something about the talent growing up and how they watch them every day now on tv.
We didn't reveal they were relatives until almost the end of the spot... then we had a line like "the best local news team, relatively speaking."
The viewers responded well and it helped brand the team as being true locals.