I have always wondered how most people feel about loud TV commercials. I find them to be one of the most annoying things and always have different reactions to this scenerio. Recently, Harris Corp.

Did a survey about this very topic – loud TV commercials. The remainder of this article comes to us from Television Broadcast.com.

Harris Corp. reminds that it stands ready to sell volume-mitigation gear in the wake of federal legislation aimed at quelling loud TV commercials. The broadcast equipment vendor published the results of a telephone survey of 1,000 people, asking them how they dealt with loud commercials.

Not too shockingly, 41 percent turned the volume down. Another 22 percent hit “mute,” and 17 percent changed the channel. Harris further asked how they responded to those ads that blow them out of the room. Sixty-one percent overly loud commercials left them with a negative perception of the product being advertised. Thirty-eight percent said they’d be less likely to pay attention or consider buying the product. Another 23 percent said they switch channels (as opposed to the 17 percent considering volume only, not content). Only 5 percent said louder volume is more likely to make them pay attention.

Congress just passed a bill to compel the FCC to regulate commercial audio volumes. A companion bill is pending in the Senate. Harris’s pollsters said 29 percent of the folks in its sample considered legislation unnecessary, though 33 percent favored it.

The survey was conducted between Nov. 15 and Nov. 22.

1. Go It Alone – Never, ever mention competitors in your TV ads. Mention the name of a similar branded product confuses the consumer and actually gives more credibility to the competitive brand. If the consumer sees that you are concerned about the competition, he or she may actually consider the opposing brand instead of yours. Similarly, if your campaign looks like that of a competitor, you risk more confusion because the entire time consumers view your commercial they are trying to identify why yours looks vaguely familiar instead of focusing on what you are saying.

2. Dumb Down Your Message – Remember, most scientist report that consumers are only paying 50% attention to any visual stimulation. TV ads are intrusive and that’s why they work. Consumers are not watching for your TV ad, instead they are waiting for their program to return. Your ad needs to factor in that the consumer is actually distracted. Thus we are proponents of literal instead of abstract marketing. Asking a consumer to understand overly clever writing will ensure that 90% of the audience does not get the joke. Keep your message simple, use common language, communicate well and watch your results soar. A Bounty paper towel has a 55% market share thanks to its “Quicker picker-upper” slogan and decades of continual and simple TV ads.

3. Numbers Don’t Lie – If you have a goal of a significant sales increase for your company, then a significant audience reach and frequency is mandatory. So often we see television creative designed to accomplish great things aired on a weak network or YouTube, only to achieve terrible audience impact. What’s the point of designing a powerful message and then hiding it on low-rated programs? Chose the right media for the task. If you want massive reach and frequency with a low cost per thousand, buy local broadcast television ads. Don’t ask your TV ad to do the job if not enough people can see it.

4. Be Smart – Use the skill of others. Sometimes we can too close and too personal about our television campaign. Get second, third and fourth opinions, and listen to them. Just because you came up with the world’s greatest slogan doesn’t mean the consumer will get it. Remember, the ad business is not science; it is an art, and art is interpretation of a visual concept. Listen to the interpreters.

5. Be Smarter Yet – Remember that women rule the consumer world. You may point out that women are not always the deal makers in every consumer situation but she can be the deal breaker as well. And doesn’t that power appoint her as the real consumer in the end anyway? In most cases, she buys the goods so her opinion matters most.

6. Make It Easy – Help consumers buy from you. When a consumer is ready to buy your product or service’ they have to be able to think and contact you first and foremost. Be reachable by phone, web and email. Consumers don’t always do what you want them to do and they will find odd times and ways to reach you. Be ready and always be responsive. In today’s consumer world, it is so important to have a web presence and consumers must have the ability to find you. Build brand awareness by partnering with television stations websites. They have the traffic and the means to generate visitors.

7. Listen Up – Use quality research data when affordable. If you are on a tighter budget, then use high grade secondary data that is used for a similar product type and demographic to which you are marketing. You can ask you television network to assist you with this approach. They have access to the latest information through their resources.

8. Don’t Put Lipstick On A Pig – Great ads for good products sell. Great ads for bad products lie to the consumer. Remember that bad products are bad and all the advertising in the world can’t help them. A great ad campaign will make a bad product fail faster as it will get more people to know it’s a bad product.

9. Wow ‘Em – Give the consumer something they’ll remember. Bring your product to life. Be exciting and never dull. Say it loud, say it proud and say it often. Frequency and repetition are part of the keys to success. 10.Television Works, Even If You Can’t Quite Measure It – If we waited for resulting statistics before moving forward with the next TV campaign, we would be out of business. Testing TV is a waste of time, use it! We have found that advertising works the way grass grows. You can never see it but every week you have to mow the lawn.