Take a look at this poster. What do you see? What does it say to you? Apparently to the people at Hollywood Video, they felt it was pretty clear that this poster means kid's movies are free when you join their membership program. It means something entirely different to me and I did not get a warm reception when I asked to see the selection of free children they were offering.
There is a very good reason why advertising agencies test their messages before spending money on production (or at least why they should) and that's because an outsider's perspective helps you see all the things you're missing. And those can be some HUGE things.
We've all had those moments when we're stuck or confused so we talk to a friend or colleague about our problem and their solution is so simple. WHY DIDN'T I THINK OF THAT?!?!?! But when our heads are down and we're working our tails off, we develop thick blinders and we need someone else to shine the light.
It's best to test our messages with the audience we're targeting so we get the right insight from the right people. Have you ever asked your parents who work in an entirely different field to read an email you want to send to your boss?? Talk about getting the wrong insight...
But seriously. "Free Kids"? Hollywood Video could have shown this to a cat and they would have told them how off target they were. Not a big surprise they've since shut down. At least that's my 2 cents.
