Veteran advertising executive Ron Bliwas has spent his career at the helm of an agency that creates advertising that utilizes immediate response techniques, also known as 800 numbers.
Yesterday afternoon, Bliwas, the president and CEO of Chicago-based A. Eicoff & Co., spoke to a crowd of approximately 50 MBA students about media theory and his career in advertising.
Bliwas' agency, a division of Ogilvy & Mathers, creates "direct response" television campaigns for major corporations, including IBM and Sears, which use toll-free numbers with advertising to evoke an immediate response from viewers.
During his more than 30 years in advertising, Bliwas has developed his own theories about television habits and the most effective spots for advertising.
"People watch television for two reasons," Bliwas said. "First, to be entertained and second, because they are bored, and we want to reach people watching out of boredom."
In Bliwas' experience, his advertising spots receive more positive feedback when aired during shows with lower ratings, which generally have a harder time keeping their audiences' attention focused on the show itself.
"Certain times of the day and the week have different levels of sales resistance," he said.
The gregarious executive used clips of an advertising campaign for Liberty Medical, a medical delivery service for diabetic individuals on Medicare, to illustrate the drawn-out process of developing a successful campaign.
The first two commercials, which portrayed an older woman and her daughter praising the services of Liberty Medical, failed because they sent the "wrong message" of old age and dependency, according to Bliwas.
After these flops, Liberty Medical's executives pressed Bliwas to hire a celebrity endorser, and they turned to Lauren Bacall, even though she is not diabetic. Unfortunately, the Bacall spot also failed.
Bliwas finally found success with overweight veteran cowboy actor Wilford Brimley. In the spot, Brimley appears on a horse and casually talks about his weight, diet and diabetes.
"You know you have a successful advertisement when it is spoofed on Saturday Night Live," Bliwas said.
Bliwas concluded his visit with a lively question-and-answer session where he expressed his skepticism of ratings, which are blatantly inaccurate, according to him.
Attendees enjoyed the talk.
"Bliwas had a lot of interesting stories and was able to communicate well with the audience," Wharton graduate student Olivia Chen said.
"I enjoyed speaking and love teaching," Bliwas said, noting that he frequently speaks at "the Harvard of the West -- University of Arizona."
