Announcer: ‘This man is an imposter. He’s not really a Shell dealer. He’s going to see if he can talk our customers out of buying Super Shell. Let’s watch through this hidden camera.’ Shell dealer: ‘I’ll bet you get bad mileage with Super Shell.’ Mrs. Longo, a customer: ‘It’s good. I’ll tell you where a penny saved is a penny earned.’ Shell dealer: ‘Aw, come on. What do you know about gasoline?’ Mrs. Longo: ‘You see this little dog I have back here? I bought this little dog because it saves money on food. Now I can save on Super Shell.’ Shell dealer: ‘Bunk! B-U-N-K.’ Mrs. Longo: ‘You are absolutely wrong. That is the best gasoline. Why, if I were them, I would fire you’. Announcer: ‘We’ll give him another chance because he got you to say nice things about Super Shell.’ When you pick loyal users to testify, avoid those who would give such polished performances that viewers would think they were professional actors. The more amateurish the performance, the more credible. A French agency picked an 80-year-old laundress as the heroine in a campaign for washing machines. This keg-shaped, wrinkled old woman came to be recognized by three out of four people in France, and sales of the washing machine went from fourth place to second. This French commercial demonstrates how well Super Glue-3 works by applying it to the announcer’s shoes and hanging him upside down from the ceiling. Super Glue-3 became the brand-leader and the commercial won First Prize at the Cannes Festival.
Ogilvy on Advertising Page 154 Page 156