Can we talk about...buttons?

OK, so we’re at a made-up award show. Zach Braff and Donald Faison are accepting some made-up for T-Mobile for some reason. Not the CEO, not the CMO, not even the CFO, but two comedians who were famous on a show, like, 15 years ago, they’re the ones collecting the made-up award.

But that’s not important.

Because look, there’s Zach desperately trying to deliver his made-up acceptance speech for this made-up award when the music starts playing them off and, oh no, now the bloody mic is disappearing into the floor and Zach’s crouching down, crouching down, desperate to say his piece and…oh, the humanity; oh, the hilarity.

And cut.

That was your ad, thanks for watching.

But as the late great Billie Mays used to declare, Wait, there’s more.

The AVO guy does his thing about the actual not-made-up offer on actual not-made-up phone plans and then Zach’s back. He’s not done, because here is now desperately trying to yank that mic back up so Donald Faison can thank his grammy or some such thing.

Ladies and gentlemen and everybody else, you have experienced a button.

A tag, a stinger, a little bonus gag

Buttons are the post-credits scene of advertising, if you like. One last zinger to give you a chuckle so you go away from the ad thinking good thoughts about the brand.

Problem is, they’re rarely zingers, and rarely are they chuckle-worthy. Which has the opposite effect from the desired one: instead of chuckling or guffawing your way to purchase whatever it was the brand was selling you’re instead left deflated.

I get it, comedy is hard. And comedy when viewed through the lens of a hapless marketer or, god forbid, laundered through the paid-to-play braindead-ery that are focus groups, is even harder.

Pro tip: don’t bother. Spend your time on crafting the final gag with as much precision as you can. Don’t give in to the temptation to add yet another ‘final’ gag cos some idiot GCD told you buttons are a good thing. They’re not, and we should all stop now.

In conclusion, buttons distract, they are overused, they are unnecessary, you shouldn’t use them.

Here endeth the rant…or does it?

(Yes, of course it does. I’m not a hack).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDdjxzyDgAY