How to tell a funny story about concrete in 10 seconds
Radio is a difficult medium for which to write ad copy. You have no visuals to fall back on. All you have are words and sound to create a story in the theater of the listener’s mind.
Quikrete is known for its fast-setting concrete. Imagine trying to tell a fun story about that in a :10 radio ad.
Well, they did it. The brand’s “Long Story Short” campaign from Fitzgerald & CO takes well-known stories and distills them to a few seconds in ways that are utterly ridiculous, and then caps it off with a tough-sounding guy with an East Coast accent barking, “Long story short. Quikrete. Fast setting concrete,” as a sack of Quikrete slams to the floor in the background.
The ads are hilarious (depending on your perspective) or borderline offensive (depending on your perspective). The Donner Party, Hitler, teen pregnancy, skin cancer, and the 2016 US Presidential election all make appearances.
Unfortunately, we can’t find the whole campaign in one place but here are some links where you can hear various spots.
“Long Story Short” won Best Campaign at the Radio Mercury Awards and a Bronze Clio Award, among others. The ads work because they feature recurring production elements and also bring a differentiating product attribute to life in a compelling way. Plus, they’re memorable and funny.
There isn’t much in the ads about the emotional payoff a consumer will experience as a result of using Quikrete – you have to co-create that – but there is certainly an emotional connection to the ads themselves, which broke through in a medium where breakthrough is not easy.