http://dennyhatch.blogspot.com/2022/08/163-selling-yourself.html
#163 Blog Post - Wednesday, 3 August 2022
Posted by Denny Hatch
Selling a Product or Selling Yourself on TV?
Always Talk to the Camera's Red Light!
Look at Jonathan Lemire at left above. He's looking you in the eye, obviously at the top of his game and talking to you in a cool conversational way.
Lemire is a pro who knows to focus on the lens of the camera with the red light and speak directly to it.
Now look at his guest, Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney at right. She is in the fight of her life. A member of Congress since 1993, she was continually re-elected in New York City's 12th Congressional District. The same was true of Jerry Nadler representing New York City's 10th District. He, too, came to Congress in 1993. This year — after 29 years as close colleagues — Maloney and Nadler are victims of redistricting. Their two districts have been combined into one, and they are forced to run against each other for that single seat.
Last week Maloney was a guest on the early segment of MSNBC's morning show where she was asked about the recent Roe v. Wade decision in the Supreme Court and whether she was a better candidate than Nadler.
For the entire time she was on camera, she never once looked up. Our eyes never met. She looked sullen and sour talking directly to someone (or some thing) at her lower left. Her message: women were better candidates than men on the abortion issue. Clearly, she did not give a hoot about her on-air audience.
MSNBC gifted her with hundreds — maybe thousands — of dollars-worth of free airtime to sell herself. She blew it. Her voice was flat, delivery matter-of-fact without one scintilla of warmth or enthusiasm.
After 29 years of campaigning, it was plain to see she was never mentored nor coached on how to sell herself on TV.
Knowing the Difference Between
A "Cool" and a "Hot" Medium
It
was the great Canadian Media Scholar Marshall McLuhan (1911-1980) who
came up with the concept of hot media vs. cool media. His book: The Media Is the Massage (a pun on The Media Is the Message),
• A "hot" medium is a movie — action and sound on a huge screen that overpowers everybody in the theater with larger-than-life visuals and loud sound. As an audience member you do not have to work to participate, because everything comes at you big time.
• A "cool" medium is television where the action is in a corner of your living room or den. You, the viewer must work to pay close attention or you'll lose the message. What TV viewers do not want is a loudmouth amateur who storms into privacy of your home with big hand and arm gestures and — as one media critic put it — "vomits all over your rug."
The Greatest Communicator in
My Lifetime: John F. Kennedy
Nobody mastered media appearances like Jack Kennedy. His biographers marveled at his ability to mentally stand outside of himself and watch his own performance. Like the great mass leaders of history — Hitler, Mussolini, Roosevelt, Churchill, the Rev. Billy Graham, Kennedy was able to dazzle an audience of any size.
•
When Kennedy was doing an intimate TV interview, the red light
on a television camera was a real person — his audience of one. He
spoke directly to it. And he was low-key, utterly charming and
persuasive.
•
In a room of five to fifty or 100, he would make continual eye-contact
with his audience who would believe he was talking directly to them. And
he could be totally disarming and funny as hell.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRcTCUTXr5M
•
At a giant rally of thousands, Kennedy would glance at the faces of the
people down in front and closest to him to see how they were reacting
to his words. If they were paying rapt attention, he would continue to orate to the far reaches
of the hall or stadium. On the other hand, if the folks down front
looked bored or yawned, he would shift gears to recapture their
attention.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1NzrR4GYqs
• All the while, he would be mentally outside himself — or hovering overhead like a helicopter — analyzing his own performance as well as the crowd reaction.
The Spooky Wyeth Portrait
A sidelight: In 1967 — four years after Kennedy was assassinated, American artist Jamie Wyeth did an oil portrait of Kennedy in contemplation — hand on chin, index finger on mouth. Kennedy's right eye was intensely and directly focused on the viewer; his left eye was gazing over the viewer's shoulder, perhaps contemplating his current performance, perhaps rehearsing a scene yet to be played. Apparently when Jacqueline Kennedy first saw this portrait, it blew her away. This was the real Jack Kennedy!
Other Masters of TV
Messaging: the Pitchmen!
If you love to watch riveting presentations by great salesmen, the advertising spots by Billy Mays and the infomercials of Ron Popeil are masterclasses in TV marketing. Throughout their presentations the gleefully look you in the eye every chance they get and draw you deep into the nitty-gritty of their marvelous products, irresistible offers and guarantees sheer delight.
Billy Mays (1959-2009) was a phee-nom pitchman who obviously loved every one of the 44 products he sold over his career and loved touting them. At his passing, Billy May's net worth was $10 million.
Ron Popeil (1935-2021) was far more than a great TV pitchman. He was also world-class inventor, industrial designers, manufacturer, packager and marketer of extraordinary kitchen wares and gadgetry. At his passing, Ron Popeil's net worth was reported to be $200 million.
For sheer fun — as well as a masterclass in salesmanship — have a look at my blot post #85.
http://dennyhatch.blogspot.com/2020/02/85-americas-two-greatest-tv-pitchmen.html
Enjoy!
Takeaways to Consider
• The television studio is the ultimate "cool" medium — the equivalent of another room in your viewer's home.
• The only way you can make eye-contact with your remote viewer(s) is by focusing on the red light of the camera and talking to that red light as if he/she were an actual person sitting opposite you.
• If you are doing a sales pitch, video tape your performance and forget about it. Do yoga. Take the car and run errands. When you return, sit down and run the video. Seeing it fresh, you'll know immediately whether it needs more work.
• As a guest or interviewee on television, always remember the light is another person in the room. In the course of your conversation, periodically look over to the red light/live camera and include that "person" in the dialogue.
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Dr. James McAnally (www.bigcasemarketing.com) gave me the okay to share his email in this omment section. It includes a link to a niche business (dental implants) testimonial that is drop-dead brilliant!
ReplyDelete= = = = = = = = = = = = =
Denny!
Guess who!
You can’t beat the power of network TV – hard to believe that grumpy Politician you featured isn’t on board with this especially for us who know what those minutes cost.
Our reptilian and emotional brains respond to talking heads and as a result, for better and worse, we TRUST who we see. If and when the speaker connects to us be it for the news or selling a service etc. that trust just goes up and up.
Cronkite, Jennings at his peak, Walters all stand-out.
Reagan, like a political version of Billy Flynn, Razzle Dazzled us, and look where that has finally landed us!
Here’s a great example for you from my world.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPUSOoSeNiE
Google ad pricing has gotten to be so insane in our niche and with so many crappy ads clogging up the search pages that we must crawl over we are looking more and more at heading back to old, boring, broadcast TV. Far fewer competitors and we get the bonus power of emotion that blows away even the most kick a** copy in a Google ad (and we think our copy is pretty darn good).
All the best,
James
Good afternoon, Denny!
ReplyDeleteSmall point: The red light doesn't blink. I worked in TV for a long time, and if it blinked, it would be too distracting. It stays on, solid, as long as that particular camera is selected by the director.
Typical behavior is when the light switches to another camera, the talent looks down (as though at papers) briefly, then looks back up at the newly selected camera. In a studio with actual techs on the floor, they may also point to the new camera, but the look down, then up technique is the same.
Otherwise, you are right: Television when done best addresses one person, not an audience. Eye contact is vital. In fact, seasoned pros don't even look at the red light; they look directly into the lens.
Best regards!
Tim Orr
Hey, Tim...
DeleteOops.
Obviously I never worked in television. (Not quite true. In college I worked part time as Page at the NBC New York studios and theaters around town.)
Really appreciate your time and lesson. I quickly made the changes.
Thank you... Thank you... THANK YOU! You are a life saver.
Do keep in touch.
Long-time subscriber David Amkraut gave the okay to share this eamail in the Comment Section.
ReplyDeleteDenny,
It is always a pleasure to read your insights. My comments:
1. Your comments about the Wyeth painting of Kennedy were acute. My understanding is that master painters, as far back as Leonardo, understood how to get messages about the subject’s character across in these subtle---- really subliminal---- ways. For example, there are a number of paintings where one side of the face does not match the other side, and these paintings can be arresting and emotive, even if the viewer doesn’t understand what is being done.
2. JFK had a trick of personalizing his huge number of letters, which of course were largely written by assistants. Given a letter to sign, he would cross out a word or two and put in a replacement with the same pen that he signed with. The amendment wouldn’t change anything important, but it made the recipient feel JFK was personally writing to him.
Regards,
Your faithful reader,
David Amkraut
Semi-retired copywriter, marketer, attorney, businessman, chessmaster and judge pro tem. (Of these, selling things by mail was the most fun.)
Denny;
ReplyDeleteway back when I was in TV, I had to be the person doing the live on-air pledge drive. I found that if I looked and talked through the lens to the person behind the camera I would make contact with the viewer. Years later I was told when doing public speaking divide the audience into thirds and pick a person about half way up in each group and them focus on them going from right to left and them back again. Most people in the audience will think you are just talking and looking at them.
Phil Freedman