To many, the invention of the colour broadcast television was fantastic. Take fans of billiards or snooker for instance. Enjoying the game – where understanding the significance of the ball colours is crucial – was now possible on television. Wonderful!
Now, how about colour television as an advertising medium? Wonderful? Maybe not? Consider a company like Sony, LG, or Samsung advertising their products on broadcast television. More specifically, consider these companies advertising their televisions on television. Arguably the unique selling proposition of any television should be its picture quality. How do you demonstrate this to a potential customer via their existing television?
If the picture quality in the advertisement looks great, this must mean ones existing television is of suitably good quality and does not need replacing. However, should the potential customer have a sub-standard quality picture on their existing television, the perception will be that the advertised product had a poor picture quality. Thus, the advertiser is stuck in a lose-lose situation – the Television Advertisers Paradox!
I wonder if the advertising agencies tell their customers this.