Our Hunger for Relationship - a podcast by Roy H. Williams

We have a need to belong. We want to be seen and heard. We want to be missed when we are not around. We want to have genuine connection. This is the basis of relational ad writing.

Never heard of it? That is because most ads are transactional, not relational.

In a transactional ad, an air conditioning company might claim to be, “The Honest Air Conditioning Company.” But in a relational ad, the owner does not claim to be honest. They just say something that only an honest person would say.

The people in relational ads are marked by their vulnerability.

KARLA: When something at home isn’t working right and you need a guy,  your friend says,

JOHNNY MOLSON: “I’ve got a guy.”

KARLA: Hi, I’m Mrs. Michael and I want to be your guy. You need a plumber. You need an electrician. You need an H-Vac technician; I want to be your guy. I’m a happily married woman with two grown children, but back when I was raising two babies, my husband and I started a plumbing company, an electrical company, and an air conditioning company. Make no mistake: Mr. Michael is a genius with tools, but he did NOT enjoy running 3 big companies, so he asked me to do it. Guess what? I LOVE IT! I know that if I make your problems vanish into thin air, then when your friends say,

SARAH: “I’ve got a thing at home that isn’t working right, and I need a guy,”  

KARLA:  you’ll say,

JOHNNY MOLSON: “I’ve got a guy. Her name is Mrs. Michael.”

KARLA: Plumber, Electrician, H-Vac technician. I’m Mrs. Michael, and I want to be your guy.

DEVIN: Go to MrsMichael.com

KARLA: OR… go to Iwanttobeyourguy.com

DEVIN: MrsMichael.com

Relational ads are not portable. They are true only of the company that airs them. Transactional ads are portable. They can be used by anyone who wants to make the same offer, use the same gimmick, tell the same lie.

Mrs. Michael does not use transactional ads. She uses relational ads that let you know who she is, what she believes, and how she thinks. You are free to like her or not. Most people like her. A lot. No surprise, right? We tend to buy from people we like, people with whom we agree, people who remind us of ourselves.

Did it ever occur to you that a transactional ad with an urgent, “limited-time offer” is erased from the mind as soon as the deadline is passed? We do not retain information that is no longer relevant or meaningful. The only thing we remember is to never pay that company their asking price because they will soon be having a sale.

Goldcasters Fine Jewelry sells a startling amount of jewelry per capita in a town that is located less than an hour from the inspiring city of Indianapolis. Goldcasters’ sales volume would be impressive for a jewelry store in Los Angeles, San Francisco, or Chicago.

Like Mrs. Michael, Goldcasters uses relational advertising.

DEVIN: Brad Lawrence, owner of Goldcasters Fine Jewelry.

BRAD: When I opened the store, I had no money. We didn’t have the money for inventory. I brought wax models from school to use to cast into projects for customers. And hence the name Goldcasters. Things were so tight at times I remember the backside of my wedding ring was gone because I didn’t have the money to buy gold to size rings. So I’d cut the pieces out of the back of my wedding band to use as gold stock to size rings for customers. And then when we could afford to, then I’d replace it back onto my...

Further episodes of Wizard of Ads Monday Morning Memo

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Website of Roy H. Williams