Then one of the new series of Viagra commercials comes on...the ones where the middle-aged couple is eating breakfast together, reading on the couch together, basically going through life in parallel and clearly unconnected private worlds. Suddenly the old guy sees a an ad on a bus for an exotic, tropical vacation spot and his eyebrow arches. The music swells and the singers croon "Viva Viagra!" We see the couple, now very energized and reconnected, on their secluded tropical island getting ready to adjourn to their bungalow in the middle of a sweltering Caribbean day. I look at my daugher, not sure how she's going to react to all of this.
"Daddy, let's go there...Let's go to Viagra," she says emphatically. "But not like those guys...all they want to do is stay in the house."
While I was somewhat flummoxed, I was grateful that she was distracted from the part of the commercial where the announcer mentions erections lasting more than four hours.
Of course, I've told this story a bunch of times, and it always gets laughs. But after further analysis, I recognized that the scene gets right at the heart of what advertising is all about--selling possibilities, selling state-of-mind, selling sizzle. My daughter got it, even though she didn't know what the literal product was.
That's what good marketing does.
