5 ms·
This is how you pitch a new piece of technology.
Here is another motivational thread on HN:
Ask HN: Movies that motivate you?
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1349566
I just watched the first episode of Mad Men and I'm hooked.
- wherespaul 16y agoHere is another motivational thread on HN: Ask HN: Movies that motivate you? http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1349566 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1349566 I just watched the first episode of Mad Men and I'm hooked.
- pclark 16y agoGattaca.
- jm3 16y agoMad Men has great lessons in the art of the high-concept pitch: giving the listener a compelling vision rather than being constrained to a conversation about sales numbers or product features. Funding a startup (or buying an ad campaign) should make the person writing the check want to tell everyone they know that the smart investment they just made is going to make the world a better place, not that they're going to beat the competition by x.y%. aside: bought the Mad Men three-season box set to catch up before the upcoming season 4, but didn't realize I got a Chinese bootleg; producer's listed as Linsgate (sic), not Lionsgate. :)
- astrodust 16y agoHere I was hoping for "Loinsgate".
- dasht 16y agoOne thing to keep in mind is that it's "just a TV show" and that it has the benefit of hindsight. They can look back at history and find the great (or the disastrous) ad campaigns and riff on those. They make it look like Draper (the pitchman in that clip) just knocks out those hits with just a few hours of brooding between sessions of drinking and screwing and being bad towards his wife. In real life, its a lot more random and not so easy.
- Mz 16y agoYou remind me of the scene from "The Graduate" where everyone is trying to tell Dustin Hoffman what to do with his life and someone says "Plastics. That's where the future lies." (Or something along those lines.) If I recall correctly, that bit was used (much, much later) in a commercial for plastics. I didn't know until later, from an older acquaintance commenting on it, that the scene was humorous and the suggestion of "Plastics" was viewed as a rather ridiculous thing to include at the time the film came out.
- zandorg 16y agoThe advert was for Hanson, the junk-bond takeover conglomerate founded by a guy from the same town (in England) as me.
- pedalpete 16y agoI think you're missing the point. The point is that the technology isn't about the things, it's about the people and how it affects your life. Nobody cares that the carousel is a wheel. Just like nobody cares that your phone has a 1gz processor, or that your display has 1080dpi. It's that a 1gz processor makes animations smoother or programs run faster so you can get things done. The 1080dpi is so that you can see your photos or video in life-like quality.
- seancron 16y agoI think you mean 1080p, seeing as the iPhone 4's "retina display" is only 326 dpi. Although I'd imagine a 1080dpi screen would look quite life-like.
- pedalpete 16y agoyes, that is what I meant, though at the same time, the confusion in technology I think further proves the point.
- dasht 16y agoThe point is that the technology isn't about the things, it's about the people and how it affects your life. Right. For example, the technology and social practice of a cable TV show can lead folks to incorrect conclusions about how to pitch technology. Nobody cares that the carousel is a wheel. Just like nobody cares that your phone has a 1gz processor, or that your display has 1080dpi. Uh... those are all false statements. The 1080dpi is so that you can see your photos or video in life-like quality. Sure. Or for some other purpose, depending on what you do. That's not what the linked clip is about, though.
- ek 16y agoI was going to try to find a YouTube clip of it, but I couldn't, so let me just recommend The IT Crowd episode 2.5, in which Moss invents the best bra ever known, except for a few fatal flaws which cause their pitch at the end of the episode to fail miserably.
- shahin 16y agoyou mean having dramatic background music played while pitching? ;)
- erikstarck 16y agoActually, Mad Men uses extremely little background music. In this sequence it's there, but very subtle.
- tzm 16y agoWatch "Art and Copy". A poignant reflection and reminder of why advertising is important.
- latch 16y agoProbably obvious from the clip, but for those who don't watch the show, he's fairly recently "lost" his family due to being a jerk (with respect to being a father/husband).
- delano 16y ago^^^^^^^^^^^^^ spoiler alert
- b1ind 16y agowow, just started watching mad men...spoiler alert would've been nice
- wherespaul 16y agoDang it... I figured that is where the story was going to go. Wish I would have not read this comment. ha.
- watmough 16y agoThat's an incredible scene, and you can clearly see that the FaceTime ads for the iPhone 4 are in the same 'genre'. FaceTime allows people who are separated, perhaps on different continents, or across generations to re-connect, and share important moments, like the birth of a child, or the slings and arrows of adolescence. Just like Draper says in the scene, the technology just has to work and get out of the way. The human experience is the important part.
- drewcrawford 16y agoThis reminded me a lot of the iPhone 4 ad, just fifty years old. It's not about the 1ghz processor or the 512mb of ram, it's about the value of the experiences you have using it.
- masklinn 16y agoor the other way around, the iPhone (FaceTime) ads are built around the same structure and the idea of playing hearts like a fiddle. Except where the carousel brings backs the past, FaceTime gives you the present.
- pvg 16y agoThis is more about how to make a good TV show. He's not really pitching a new piece of technology at all. He's pitching an ad campaign, which in turn is about introducing consumers to a new piece of technology. The scene is so good that you fall for the campaign too. It's a great way to learn something about pitching if you look like Don Draper, have a product that good (the carousel campaign) and you're an actor in a well-written, hit TV show.
- masklinn 16y agoThe first time this clip went round, it was to build a parallel with the FaceTime ads. Because they have the same mechanics, and the same core idea that technology itself is not relevant, at least not to the public at large. What is important is what technology allows/gives/creates.
- pvg 16y agoSure, it's a good scene in a TV show about a good ad. And if you're advertising some new technology to consumers, whether it's on your website's front page or on TV, looking at other good ads and what makes them work is informative. The title suggests this is usefully related to pitching, as in, standing in front of a roomful of people trying to convince them to take your business, write you a big cheque, etc. In that sense, it's about informative as watching Gordon Gekko's famous scene for tips on how to address shareholders or Dwight Shrute for insight into motivating employees.
- masklinn 16y ago> The title suggests this is usefully related to pitching Yes. In that it might make you understand that you need to find your product's emotional appeal (if it has one) and play on that.
- wherespaul 16y agoI'm always fascinated how people can see things so differently. Seems like @pvg missed my attentions for posting this link. Others understood the post and that is why it got 82 votes. I'm not saying @pvg is wrong...he has some good points...but some of his points leave me scratching my head..but i don't want to get into a debate over it.
- hackermom 16y agoI believe the first rule for pitching a piece of "technology" is to repeatedly refer to it as "new" "technology", despite it being neither new nor technology. It's the new buzz. In other news, blacksmith creates horseshoe with hammer and anvil "technology".
- clemesha 16y agoGoogle's "Parisian Love" ad is an extremely potent, real world example of using similar emotions to sell a product: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnsSUqgkDwU http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnsSUqgkDwU
- arvinjoar 16y agoWow, I loved that, I even tried creating a Google story that I hope will one day be my story. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zE4Zh7XXUO4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zE4Zh7XXUO4
- rokhayakebe 16y agoYou forgot "How to sell your product" or "How to generate revenue from 1B pageviews"
- arvinjoar 16y agoYeah, I guess. ;) You can always create a better one if you want to.
- ArcticCelt 16y agoI did a follow up story ;) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rndTuXG51kI http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rndTuXG51kI
- SkyMarshal 16y agoRofl
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- SkyMarshal 16y agoNice, what's the sound track?
- 16y ago
- Scott_MacGregor 16y agoIf you guys are fans of Don Draper, here is the real life Don Draper, a guy named Steve Frankfurt: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjDSqQmcc90 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjDSqQmcc90
- wherespaul 16y agoScott great find! The intro is long so here is a link that cuts to the good stuff: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjDSqQmcc90#t=1m05s http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjDSqQmcc90#t=1m05s
- chewyrunt 16y agoThis reminded me of the Philips ad 'Carousel' (related only by its name, and that it also happens to be an excellent ad): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQ3D4CqHbJM http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQ3D4CqHbJM
- messel 16y agoSo remembering who that's important, not what or how.
- akkartik 16y agoRecently I found apple's facetime ads to be super effective. I'm never buying the iPhone 4 (or perhaps any successor) but man I want that app.
- sjtgraham 16y agoI wouldn't be surprised if this clip was circulated internally at Apple and within the creative agency responsible for FaceTime during that campaign's concept stage. This approach is classic Apple, i.e. highlight and focus on the benefits instead of the features.