View From the Phlipside - 3D TV ads

My name is Jay Phillippi and I've spent my life in and around the media.  TV, radio, the movies and more.  I love them, and I hate them and I always have an opinion.  Call this the View from the Phlipside.

Sometimes innovation can be mass produced.  But more often than not it comes from some little guy in some little office who’s willing to take the risk on an idea that just sounds looney.

So you want small?  How about Stanville Kentucky, population 500.  And in this small Appalachian town you’ll find a local law firm.  Eric Conn’s firm isn’t that large, just four attorneys but Eric likes to think big.  The law for him is what pays the bills.  What really gets his heart pumping is marketing.  They figure they spent about 600 thousand dollars on advertising last year.  That’s about 8% of their revenue.  What has worked best for them historically has been that old reliable, the bill board.  But Eric isn’t willing even there to just sit back and do the same old same old.  His billboards are often bright yellow and involve mannequins of himself on top of them.  The man who started his firm in a storage trailer believes in thinking big.

So when it came time to develop the next level of marketing for his firm Eric turned his eyes to the future.  He had just purchased a 3D television and fell in love.  So clearly the next step in marketing was to go 3D.  That’s right a four person law firm in a town of 500 people is laying out the money to create a 3D TV commercial.  It’s old school technology requiring those old red and blue glasses to see.  So far the return has not justified the expense.  The first problem was that the section of the spot that told people how to get the glasses isn’t real clear.  In the end the idea is to do something that attracts the attention of the kids in the family.  Conn hopes that they will then get their parents to watch and request the glasses to see what’s going on.

The advertising campaign may or may not really work out for attorney Conn.  But a phlip of the lid to him for being willing to take the risk on something new and different.  Once again a man with a vision just might be giving us a glimpse of the future.  Who knew that the next great innovator in TV advertising would rise up from a Kentucky town of 500 people?

Call that the View From the Phlipside

"The View From the Phlipside" airs on WRFA-LP Jamestown NY.  You can listen to WRFA online HERE
Copyright - Jay Phillippi 2011