Still From "Trouble" Ad

On the radio on my way into work this morning, they were playing the song “Trouble” by Ray LaMontagne.  Ray is coming to town, and the station was giving away tickets to the first caller who could identify which company has a current TV ad featuring this song.

The amazing part is that 5 callers dialed in who has clearly seen the ad.  Some described the cute dog.  They loved the ad, which has even gone viral online.  The radio station’s demos are perfect for the company’s concept.  But the first 4 callers guessed the wrong company.  3 of the 4 weren’t even in the right industry.

We do a lot of media effectiveness analysis at APT.  Sometimes we see strong lift and high ROI.  Many times we don’t.  When we don’t, we often get pushback from the client that boils down to:  “people loved the ad, so it must have worked”.  Here’s a good object lesson to the contrary.

(BTW, you can find the TV ad here on YouTube.)