Hoite Caston Productions

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While I'm now concentrating on longer promotional videos, as a past writer, producer, director, and editor of over a thousand 30-second commercials, I used to have the ability to walk into a selling situation and come up with a pretty good concept for an engaging TV spot for various kinds of messages. Today's talented practitioners of those mini-productions that occupy some 25% of each hour of television can pack an enormous amount of information into those fleeting 30 seconds, all designed to stick in your memory and compel you to believe in or "buy" what they're selling.

A recent Netflix documentary about the brain spotlighted three main ingredients that tend to make things we experience memorable. The first was having that mental encounter be part of a "Story." The second characteristic that makes something stick in our minds is an identification with a familiar "Place." The crucial third factor tying all these memory inducing stimuli together is "Emotion," of which music is often a prime inducer.

Therefore, a most memorable commercial should have a captivating story set in familiar places that combine to evoke strong emotions, like inspiration, sentiment, or humor. Such a message will not only be remembered, but as a bonus will also probably be enjoyed, again, and again, giving it an excellent chance that it will also be enacted upon when the "buying" opportunity arises.

I believe this McDonald's commercial below hits the bullseye on each of those critical memory-making targets. What do you think?

McDonald's "Maria Ramirez" Commercial for McDonald's created by Purple Strategies, shot by Rogue Producer, and edited by Utopic.