Commercial star tells businesses to entertain first
The author and co-star of the popular Walter E. Smithe Furniture + Design commercials told members of Schaumburg's business community Tuesday that businesses or nonprofits of any size can reap rewards from adding greater pizzazz to their marketing.
"You have to break out," said Tim Smithe, one of the three brothers who appear in the humorous commercials. "Nobody's made money boring people to death! Make it fun, make it different, make it stand out."
Smithe, who's been writing his family company's commercials for about 15 years, told the Schaumburg Business Association at its monthly breakfast gathering that he stumbled across this obvious truth almost by accident.
His first attempt at a commercial was very strait-laced, with his brothers and himself each giving a few lines of a sales pitch. About $400,000 was spent, which was completely ineffective in generating attention or sales.
But for his mother's birthday, Smithe prepared a two-minute gag reel from the commercial's outtakes. One of the people who saw it and thought it hilarious suggested it should be their next commercial.
After thinking about it, Smithe edited the video down to 30 seconds. Its success set the tone for almost every commercial since.
Trying to reflect what's happening in pop culture - whether it be others' commercials, the change in Comiskey Park's naming rights or a new "Star Wars" movie - has proved a way to stay fresh and relevant.
The fact that Smithe himself writes and stars in the commercials has allowed for an immediacy that comes from their quick turnaround.
Inspired by the first episode of Donald Trump's "The Apprentice" more than a decade ago, Smithe was able to write and record a parody of the program and its host in time to be broadcast as a commercial for the real show's second episode.
The popularity of the commercials has opened some unexpected doors.
Oprah Winfrey invited them on her show to help furnish a Chicago home she'd bought for a woman in need. And when movie director Steven Soderbergh asked Oprah which episode she'd like included in "Ocean's Thirteen" for a scene in which George Clooney and Brad Pitt humorously tear up, she picked the one the brothers were in.
As funny as the Walter E. Smithe commercials usually try to be, the one most people seem to choose as their favorite is the more sincere depiction of the brothers' father retiring from the company, Smithe said.
He said the recession of 2008 was undoubtedly the biggest challenge in the company's more than 70-year history, when sales dropped 30 percent overnight.
Some competitors - like Plunkett Furniture, which is now out of business - panicked, cut all their advertising and lost their presence in the market.
While Walter E. Smithe certainly reduced its advertising, it still led the market share in furniture advertising and survived, Smithe said.
"Entertain first, inform second," he said. "If you can make your commercials entertaining first, people might pay attention for your sale message."