As a sportswriter, I spend the majority of almost every
Sunday doing the same thing.
I’m kicked back on my ratty old couch, legs crossed, reading glasses on, fingers aimlessly tapping keys on the laptop that sits across my lap, staring blankly at my television.
Well, not staring blankly, but most definitely in an unresponsive, trance-like state, as I try to process the information from several football games at once.
On the floor, an arms length away, is the remote. Whenever there’s a break in gameplay, be it an injury, a challenge, or a commercial break, I rapidly snatch the remote off of the floor and begin searching for another game to watch. I need to gather enough information to be informed, to find that one thing that everyone else is missing.
I’m very competitive and take my job very seriously.
However… Sometimes… Something awful happens.
The original game goes to break, I whip up the remote, I change the channel and…
Every game is on break.
I flip desperately for a few seconds, but ultimately, I sigh and set the remote down, defeated.
It’s during this time that I take a rare break, and am usually distracted by commercials.
I’ve always found it ironic that while Super Bowl commercials are among the best you see all year, the rest of football season is poisoned by the same, annoying, repetitive advertisements.
Between August, when the pre-season kicks off, and February, when the Super Bowl takes place, they rarely change the commercials. So sitting from 1 to 10:30 PM every Sunday for almost 20 weeks a year…
Man, they get repetitive.
And for me at least, none have gotten as repetitive as the Peyton Manning “Nationwide”commercial.
If you watch TV, I’m sure you’ve seen it.
It follows Peyton around his day, from practice to driving to making dinner at home, and everything he says… he says to the tune of the Nationwide song.
“Nothing beats that new car smell”
“Losing feeling in my toes.”
“Chicken Parm, you taste so good.”
And at first, sure, it was cute.
But now, I hear it in in my sleep.
I hear it when there are no TVs on near me!
“I hate this ad so darn much!”
For a while, it legitimately made me angry. I would actually change the channel to get away from the stupid commercial.
But then it dawned on me one day.
I'm a consumer.
I am Nationwide's target audience.
With all of the different insurance companies out there, they've got to do something to grab my attention.
Sure, the use of a celebrity like Peyton Manning usually helps, but everyone has celebrities in their commercials these days, and they don't always stick out. Even if they do, I can't always remember what the commercial was about!
But having Peyton Manning hum the "Nationwide is on your side" tune repeatedly really knocked that point home.
They're not an entertainment company, striving to gain views or amuse people, they're a business, trying to grab the attention of others. They're trying to make you think about their product.
And that's exactly what this commercial does.
It's almost subliminal, but at the end of the day, if I try to think about a commercial. That's the first one that comes to my mind.
And that's what an ad is supposed to do.
So I can't even be mad about it.
Or at least... I couldn't.
Until they made another one.
I’m kicked back on my ratty old couch, legs crossed, reading glasses on, fingers aimlessly tapping keys on the laptop that sits across my lap, staring blankly at my television.
Well, not staring blankly, but most definitely in an unresponsive, trance-like state, as I try to process the information from several football games at once.
On the floor, an arms length away, is the remote. Whenever there’s a break in gameplay, be it an injury, a challenge, or a commercial break, I rapidly snatch the remote off of the floor and begin searching for another game to watch. I need to gather enough information to be informed, to find that one thing that everyone else is missing.
I’m very competitive and take my job very seriously.
However… Sometimes… Something awful happens.
The original game goes to break, I whip up the remote, I change the channel and…
Every game is on break.
I flip desperately for a few seconds, but ultimately, I sigh and set the remote down, defeated.
It’s during this time that I take a rare break, and am usually distracted by commercials.
I’ve always found it ironic that while Super Bowl commercials are among the best you see all year, the rest of football season is poisoned by the same, annoying, repetitive advertisements.
Between August, when the pre-season kicks off, and February, when the Super Bowl takes place, they rarely change the commercials. So sitting from 1 to 10:30 PM every Sunday for almost 20 weeks a year…
Man, they get repetitive.
And for me at least, none have gotten as repetitive as the Peyton Manning “Nationwide”commercial.
If you watch TV, I’m sure you’ve seen it.
It follows Peyton around his day, from practice to driving to making dinner at home, and everything he says… he says to the tune of the Nationwide song.
“Nothing beats that new car smell”
“Losing feeling in my toes.”
“Chicken Parm, you taste so good.”
And at first, sure, it was cute.
But now, I hear it in in my sleep.
I hear it when there are no TVs on near me!
“I hate this ad so darn much!”
For a while, it legitimately made me angry. I would actually change the channel to get away from the stupid commercial.
But then it dawned on me one day.
I'm a consumer.
I am Nationwide's target audience.
With all of the different insurance companies out there, they've got to do something to grab my attention.
Sure, the use of a celebrity like Peyton Manning usually helps, but everyone has celebrities in their commercials these days, and they don't always stick out. Even if they do, I can't always remember what the commercial was about!
But having Peyton Manning hum the "Nationwide is on your side" tune repeatedly really knocked that point home.
They're not an entertainment company, striving to gain views or amuse people, they're a business, trying to grab the attention of others. They're trying to make you think about their product.
And that's exactly what this commercial does.
It's almost subliminal, but at the end of the day, if I try to think about a commercial. That's the first one that comes to my mind.
And that's what an ad is supposed to do.
So I can't even be mad about it.
Or at least... I couldn't.
Until they made another one.
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