Under the Influence with Terry O'Reilly - Candid Commercials: Real People in Advertising

Episode Date: August 6, 2022

The advertising industry has a long history of using real people in advertising. It may be a testimonial, a hidden camera, a man-on-the-street interview, a prank phone call or a blind taste test. The results are often hilarious and memorable.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hi, it's Terry O'Reilly. As you may know, we've been producing a lot of bonus episodes while under the influences on hiatus. They're called the Beatleology Interviews, where I talk to people who knew the Beatles, work with them, love them, and the authors who write about them. Well, the Beatleology Interviews have become a hit, so we are spinning it out to be a standalone podcast series. You've already heard conversations with people like actors Mark Hamill, Malcolm McDowell, and Beatles confidant Astrid Kershaw. But coming up, I talk to May Pang, who dated John Lennon in the mid-70s. I talk to double fantasy guitarist Earl Slick, Apple Records creative director John Kosh. I'll be talking to Jan Hayworth,

who designed the Sgt. Pepper album cover. Very cool. And I'll talk to singer Dion, who is one of only five people still alive who were on the Sgt. Pepper cover. And two of those people were Beatles. The stories they tell are amazing. So thank you for making this series such a success. And please, do me a favor, follow the Beatleology interviews on your podcast app. You don't even have to be a huge Beatles fan, you just have to love storytelling.

Subscribe now, and don't miss a single beat. Due to popular demand, we've dug very, very deep into our archives and are pleased to announce the re-release of episodes from the last season of The Age of Persuasion. And we've remastered them to fit our Under the Influence format. Here is an episode from 2011. This is an apostrophe podcast production. Your teeth look whiter than no nose. You're not you when you're hungry. You're a good hand with all teeth.

You're under the influence with Terry O'Reilly. It all began on June 28, 1947, one full year before television was formally launched. It was a new program on ABC radio that didn't feature singing stars or comedians or celebrities of any kind. The American Broadcasting Company presents The Candid Microphone, the program that brings you the secretly recorded reactions of ordinary people to all kinds of situations. No one ever knows when he's talking into the Candid Microphone was the precursor to Candid Camera,

and it was created by Alan Funt. Funt was born in New York City in 1914. After graduating from the Columbia University business course, he attended the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn to take art courses. That led to a job in an advertising agency where he became an ad writer and joined the radio department. It was there that he found his true calling and became a radio idea man, creating gimmicks for radio shows.

When World War II came around, the Signal Corps put Fun's radio experience to good use, and he began experimenting with the relatively new art of location recording. He used a wire recorder, the forerunner of the tape recorder. The portability led Fun to try out various concealment techniques while recording soldiers in order to get spontaneous responses. After the war, Funt took that experience and created Candid Microphone. The show used the technique of a hidden recorder to elicit funny, real-life moments from unsuspecting people. In this clip, a candid microphone actor takes a 10-second ride in a New York taxi.

Total fare? 25 cents. But listen to the reaction of the real-life cabbie when the actor gives him a $20 bill at 8 in the morning and asks for change. Here you are, pal. Thank you. All right, so all you got is a $20 bill? That's all I have. morning and asks for change. The responses from real people were genuine, funny, and most importantly, unscripted. They were a breath of fresh air on airwaves that were already populated with slick and polished Hollywood performers. The public loved Candid Microphone. They loved hearing real people, like themselves, on radio. They could

relate to them. And while ABC happily watched the radio ratings shoot up A few blocks over on Madison Avenue Advertising executives quietly took note They listened with amazement as the antics of real people drew millions of listeners Just like celebrities did They realized that the faces and voices of everyday people could be very compelling And real people talking about the brands they loved that the faces and voices of everyday people could be very compelling. And real people talking about the brands they loved might just be highly persuasive. Candid Microphone changed the way Madison Avenue talked to their customers.

And it changed the way customers responded to advertising. Real people delivered a level of credibility that actors or paid celebrities could not. Because when the ads are aimed at you, starring you, it's a whole different pitch. You're under the influence. James Webb Young was a legendary ad man who worked for advertising agency JWT from the 1920s to the 1950s. He was also one of advertising's most articulate observers. His books are among my favorites on the industry. He once said, every type of advertiser has the same problem, namely, to be believed.

In a world of uber competition, where a brand competes for attention not just with the other brands in its category, but with every other brand in the world, the resulting hype is overwhelming. Everyone knows the advertising message has been written by the advertiser itself. Everyone knows all the actors are paid to say what they say.

Therefore, believability is the elusive ingredient in advertising. One of the techniques that advertising has long used to achieve believability has been the recruitment of real people in commercials and advertisements.

It's a technique that offers out of spontaneity. Because spontaneity equals believability. Real moments have a feel to them that is singular. So much so that seeing and hearing real people on radio or television is always a little jarring and unexpected. That's because radio and television is a very polished, tightly compressed and highly managed environment, populated with attractive professionals who have been trained to work a camera or a microphone. They know which is their best side.

But when an untrained person is put in front of a camera, none of those tricks are employed. The eye contact is uneven, the speech is halting, there isn't as much confidence, there is no makeup, and there is no script.

We, as a species, have incredible antennae for genuine human moments. Listen to this radio commercial I directed for Labatt. The goal of the campaign was to link spontaneous fun with Labatt Blue, hence the tagline that fun things happen out of the blue. In this radio series, we called up real people and created situations they had to spontaneously

react to. Here, our fearless actor, the wonderful Cameron Hughes, calls up a real florist right out of the phone book, wanting to send two dozen roses to a new girl he has just met. Good morning, LaFarron Pouria, I'm Bobby speaking. Hi Bobby. How are you today? It's Cameron calling out of the blue. I was wondering if I could get some flowers, please, to be sent. Sure. What I'm trying to do here is this is really, this is young lady I'm really trying to impress. We've gone out on a few dates and things are going really well. And I really want to take it to the next level.

And I thought that some flowers would be a great idea. Don't you think that's neat? Mm-hmm. Sure is. What kind of flowers would you recommend? Roses. How much per rose? A dozen longsand is $50 or $5 per rose. Okay. Now tell me, like, what would you want as a young lady? Like, what would you...

What would I want? Two dozen. Two dozen? Let's do it. Okay, and how... Are you putting it on a credit card, right? Can I do it COD? Okay, you're ordering roses for her, and you want it cashed on delivery, so when we bring her the roses from you, she's going to pay for them? Perfect. Let's set it up. Can you hold a minute?

Hey, I'm calling out of the blue. You could be next. The Bat Blue. The florist's unscripted reaction to the COD moment was priceless. There's a feel to real-person commercials that doesn't exist in performed commercials. That genuine, unprompted response is a powerful marketing tool. It's one of the reasons why, since the dawn of modern marketing, advertisers have recruited real people to be in their ads. Back in the late 1800s, Pears Soap was one of the first brands to use real people in their advertising. The company wanted to link their product with quality and high culture, and pioneered branding built on testimonials.

On the first of a two-page Pears print ad from 1890 is a testimonial from a famous stage actress named Lily Langtry, known as Jersey Lily, on account of her unsurpassed beauty. She gives a glowing testimonial for the soap, saying, I have found it matchless for hands and complexion. Since using Pears soap, I have discarded all others. On the second page of that ad, it states that Pears has been given awards from 100 of the world's foremost authorities. Included is a testimonial from Dr. John L. Milton, senior surgeon at St. John's Hospital for the Skin.

He says, A lady wants no other cosmetic than pear soap, from an hygienic point of view. The celebrity endorsement was powerful and added prestige to the soap. The doctor, on the other hand, is a highly respected member of society. He seemed to be unbiased with no vested interest. He added credibility to Pears Soap. The resulting business turned Pears into a major brand,

and it marked the beginning of the advertising testimonial genre. When broadcast eventually arrived and multiple advertisers rushed to fill the airwaves with their messages, the need to be believed intensified. It led to pitches that stated, 8 out of 10 people like the taste of a certain brand, or 4 out of 5 housewives prefer a certain dish soap, or more doctors smoke camels. Yes, according to this repeated nationwide survey, more doctors smoke camels than any

other cigarette. The marketing thinking was this. Rather than have the advertiser tout the superiority of their own product, which involves huge self-interest, why not have unbiased professionals endorse the product as voices of authority? Or have regular people recommend the product, customers who used the brands and were vocal about their satisfaction? Advertisers came to realize the one powerful element of real-person testimonials, namely that the people in these ads were their customers.

So it was easy for other customers and potential customers to identify with them. It was the ultimate mirror. As testimonial ads increased, certain rules became established. First, the people in commercials must represent a healthy majority and not an aberrational few. The people featured must have come to these views before any money was involved. In other words, before they knew they would be paid. And testimonials would have to be backed up with documented proof. Madison Avenue learned fast and started to perfect many variations on real-person commercials. Sometimes, the people themselves weren't in the ad,

but the letters they wrote to advertisers were. In this early television spot for Geritol, the announcer sits at a desk with the product and reads a letter from a Geritol user. Tastes good, too. Now, I'd like to read you a letter from Mrs. N.B. of St. Louis, who obviously suffered from a vitamin deficiency. Here's what she says. Geritol certainly does make you feel better. After a recent short sickness, I bought a bottle of Geritol to get back the energy I'd lost during the illness.

I, for one, want to thank Geritol for the wonderful quick job it did in making me feel better. Hidden cameras, inspired by candid microphone and later candid camera, was another testimonial technique.

Folgers Coffee did that to great effect in the 60s and 70s. They would go into top restaurants in New York City, switch the upscale coffee for Folger's instant crystals, and film people's reactions when they found out. While watching real people in ads has convinced the public to switch brands, there was one famous case where real people

caused one of the biggest wars in advertising history. We'll tell that story next. Don't go away. While real people testimonials are a powerful marketing tool, there is another aspect of real people that I love. It's the sheer humor that comes out of a spontaneous situation. Here's another radio ad from that Labatt Out of the Blue campaign. In this one, our actor Cameron calls a real seamstress right out of the phone book and tells her he's stuck in a restaurant washroom with his sleeve caught in his zipper, and he needs help. Good afternoon, Stitch and Time.

Hi, it's Cameron calling Out of the Blue here. You're a zipper expert? Yeah. Okay, good, because I've got a bit of a situation I need your help with. One moment. Yes, hi, love. Yeah, I've got a bit of a situation. My sleeve is caught in my pant zipper. Your sleeve is? Yeah. Right. My boss is out there, and I've been in the washroom of the restaurant for over 15 minutes, and I can't get it undone, and I don't know what to do. Sweetie, you've just got to wiggle it backwards and forwards till you get it undone, and I don't know what to do. Sweetie, you've just got to wiggle it backwards and forwards till you get it to go one way or another.

Try and get it up and down. Okay, just a sec. It should be your... Just a sec, here we go. It's your right sleeve, right? Yeah. Not working. It's not working?

Let me try it again. Where are you? Downtown. What's your... What's your intersection? Just a sec, just a sec, just a sec. I got it. You got it?

Yeah. All right, darling. I was going to drive down there and do it for you. Hey, I'm calling out of the blue. You could be next. The Bat Blue. You have to love that lady. She was willing to drive down to the restaurant,

walk into the men's washroom, and help a complete stranger get his sleeve out of his zipper. People are amazing. Listen to this next ad for Mountain Dew. It features a not-yet-famous Stephen Colbert on the streets of New York City, where he actually jumps into the car of an unsuspecting real person and asks for a ride. Excuse me! Excuse me. Can I get in your car?

It's an emergency. Please. Please. Listen, I'm just curious. I'm looking for somebody to go halfsies with me on a Mountain Dew. What? I've got 41 cents, whatever. I don't have enough money for an entire Mountain Dew, and if you wanted to take the first sip or something, I could take the subsequent sips. And there's a guy right down there selling

them. I don't really have enough for one, but a half. A half? A half a Mountain Dew. You could have the first half, and I could take the second half. You got in my car, so you want to have... I mean, I wouldn't drink it in here. It's kind of hot in here. It would be refreshing. Well, I stopped the car because you flagged me down. But, um... I thought there was like an emergency or something. No, well, there's a thirst emergency. I mean, if I can... Let's just go up there.

Just drive up to this dude right here and let's get, um... Let's get a Mountain Dew. All right, you can just scoot it all the way just a little bit further down. Nothing comes between a Dew drinker and their Mountain Dew. I don't know about this. Put your seatbelts on, please. Do the Dew. You can't beat the spontaneity of real people when they don't know they're being recorded.

But maybe the most famous blind taste test of them all was the Pepsi Challenge. It was the first hand grenade thrown in one of the biggest advertising battles ever, the Cola Wars. We've told the story of the Pepsi Challenge before. It began in 1975 in Canada, actually, then was used as a local strategy to try and gain market share in the southern United States. Coke dominated sales south of the Mason-Dixon line. The reason? They were a true southern company with their head office in Atlanta. Pepsi had just a meager 7% market share in Dallas compared with Coke's 37%. But Pepsi knew, from their research, that people preferred Pepsi over Coke in blind taste tests.

So, the Pepsi Challenge was launched. They set up booths and asked real people to sip two hidden colas and pick their favorite. In commercial after commercial, viewers watched real people sip both colas, then proclaim their preference for Pepsi. It was powerful marketing. In 1981, Pepsi recruited actor Gabe Kaplan, fresh off his hit TV sitcom Welcome Back, Connor, to roam America and test real people with the Pepsi Challenge. Gabe Kaplan, my volunteer fireman friends here

have volunteered to take the Pepsi Challenge. Okay, now I want you to tell me which one you chose. Pepsi Cola! On a 1 to 10 scale, what would you rate the taste of Pepsi? About a 9 and a half. 12. 8 or 9. I don't know, I've never had a 10 yet.

You know, in tests like these nationwide, more people prefer the taste of Pepsi over Coca-Cola. That's a good vintage. A pool of nearly 300 commercials were shot, allowing Pepsi to proclaim, Houston chooses Pepsi, or San Diego chooses Pepsi. All across this country, people took the Pepsi challenge, and Pepsi won, because... You know a way out, when you taste one, it's Pepsi.

Taste that winning taste. Pepsi. In tests like these nationwide, more people prefer Pepsi over Coca-Cola. Okay. John Sculley, the president of Pepsi at the time, who would later go on to run Apple, said of the campaign, never before had comparative advertising had such spontaneity and believability. In an interview, Sergio Zayman, the former head of marketing for Pepsi,

said that the Pepsi challenge was much more than a comparative head-to-head campaign. He pointed to a key element of the strategy, that Pepsi never claimed to taste better than Coke. They just wanted people to believe Pepsi tasted as good as Coke. The insight was that if they made a superiority claim, the public wouldn't have sided with Pepsi. And tasting as good as Coke was all they needed to steal market share. It's interesting to note that the Pepsi challenge did steal market share, but not from Coke. Those share points came at the expense of Dr. Pepper and the other third and fourth

place brands. The Pepsi campaign did, however, succeed in flattening Coke's growth. As Zyman says, part of that was due to the source credibility, meaning that in an unfriendly market like Texas, the campaign overcame the central problem of most advertising, which is self-interest, by letting real people provide the believability. That insight was summed up by a key sentence in all the commercials. It said, let your taste decide. It was a powerful line because it

built credibility and put control back in the hands of the viewer. If a picture tells a thousand stories, the Pepsi challenge commercials with coke drinkers exclaiming, I can't believe I chose Pepsi, told a million. Without a doubt, the biggest element the campaign had going for it was genuine spontaneity. So much more meaning is conveyed through the non-verbal cues we all give off when we speak spontaneously. The facial expressions, the body language, and the intonation of our words themselves. That was the power of the real-person Pepsi challenge. As everyone knows, the Pepsi challenge led to Coke changing its formula to New Coke, then quickly switching back only 77 days later in one of the biggest marketing blunders in history.

As Pepsi famously gloated at the time, after years of advertising warfare, the other guy blinked. In the world of advertising, believability is the holy grail. It's that way now, and it was that way 100 years ago. In the gridlock of commercial messages, advertisers feel compelled to scream louder than ever before to get noticed.

Then, they have to offer a promise that will be highly desirable. And through it all, they have to try and maintain some semblance of credibility. In his book, Pepsi president John Scully admitted that when he took the Pepsi taste test himself, he chose Coke. Lucky for him, there was no press around. Real customers, real people, have no vested interest. They buy what they like, ignore what they don't, and speak honestly from the heart. Real people ads capture that magical human element that is impossible to script.

A laugh, a moment of shyness, a flash of utter surprise. That's why they are so persuasive. People believe people. And that's the power of testimonials. They allow advertisers to step back and let their customers do the selling when you're under the influence. I'm Terry O'Reilly. This episode was recorded in the Terrastream Mobile Recording Studio. Producer, Debbie O'Reilly.

Sound Engineer, Jeff Devine. Under the influence theme by Ari Posner and Ian Lefevre. Music in this podcast provided by APM Music. Follow me on Twitter at Terry O'Influence. You can find this podcast in our archives wherever you listen.

If you enjoyed this episode, you might also like Brands Are People Too, Products Named After Inventors, Season 7, Episode 11. You'll also find it in our archives wherever you listen to podcasts. See you next time. Fun fact. During the Pepsi challenge, 100% of drinkers weren't confident they could tell the difference between

Coke and Pepsi. Fewer than 50% could.