and they are less persuasive. Two commercials were made for a fabric-softener. One used live action, the other used cartoons. The cartoon commercial had no effect on the downward trend in sales. The live-action commercial reversed it. The funniest commercial I have ever seen, by Doyle Dane Bernbach for Volkswagen. I used to reject funny commercials on the grounds that people don’t buy from clowns. Now research shows that humor sells as efficiently as other techniques. Click here for hi-res image and text. 3 Musical vignettes, with a parade of fleeting impressions, were once fashionable, but are on their way out. Entertaining, perhaps, but impotent if you want to sell. Sixteen tips 1 Brand identification. Research has demonstrated that a shocking percentage of viewers remember your commercial, but forget the name of your product. All too often they attribute your commercial to a