Picture it. The Poe Family dinner table.  Any night of the week.  7:10PM.  There’s chatter about how days have gone, who is feeding what to the dog, how much homework there is to do and usually a bed time negotiation.  Pat Sajak is just finishing up the first round of Wheel of Fortune and is heading into a new toss-up puzzle.  All at once, everyone stops what they’re talking about and someone exclaims, “here it is!”  The Poe Family has instantly turned into Kevin James from Hitch.

What happened, you might ask?  Our favorite commercial on television has just started blaring across the family room.  Someone has reached for the remote to try and turn it up before the 30 seconds is over and someone else is playing air-keyboard.  The night is complete.  The Wegmans commercial has just aired on TV. 

We absolutely love it.  The video is mouthwatering.  The audio is addictive.  The copy is changed at just the right time.  How do they know when I’m ready to see cheese melting on hamburgers on the grill?  I’m calling it now.  In about 3 weeks there’s going to be something amazing with roasting squash.  They nailed it with this one and I’m not afraid to shout from the rooftops that it is far and away, my favorite spot on television.

My hope is that Wegmans is starting a trend in television creative that doesn’t include hired talent, testimonials, rehearsed scripts, endorsements or any other traditional, stale television spot element.  It stands on its own because it good.  Really good.  Different.  Fresh.  Catchy.  Compelling.  Ironically, I could list a million adjectives here but there are no words necessary in the spot to convey the brand emotion that they’re trying to achieve.

I’m encouraged because other brands are following suit.  University of Phoenix hit it out of the park with their “We Can Do It” creative.

Isn’t that what we talk about when we talk to clients about goals and objectives of great creative execution?  Actually, isn’t that what we strive for with clients in ANY marketing/communications execution?  Make sure it’s good and it works.  I don’t have specific ROI on these Wegmans commercials.  Being that we’re in Rochester and have had a love-fest with Wegmans for years, the needle may not have moved significantly here.  My guess would be that in markets new to Wegmans, this is even more impactful in getting people to buy into the tribe.

Here at Tipping Point, we’re going to continue to use this as an example of a great execution.  And we’re going to continue to strive for the really good, different, fresh, catchy and compelling executions that drive results.  The mecca for me would be, in early February 2018 when we’re analyzing this year’s Super bowl ads, there is something that has risen to this impactful level and creative execution.  If that happens, I’m happy to shout that from the rooftops.  Until then, as a Rochester girl at heart, congrats Wegmans – you’ve set the bar high.

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Sara Poe is the Vice President of Media & Content at Tipping Point Communications. Follow her on Twitter at @rochgirllvsnyc, or email at sara@tippingpointcomm.com