Excellent.

We had a first today at PJP Buttonwood...a conversation about television advertising.  Two lovely salesmen from a local network stopped by to chat with us about the idea of a PJP commercial.  And even seven hours later, I keep trying to visualize a PJP commercial (and as the camera adds 10 pounds, I promise you all of my scenarios are scenarios that keep Jeanne and I out of the shot.)  Would it be camera shots of our pies?  Would it be customers walking out our doors holding pie boxes?  Would there be music in the background?  Are voice-overs an option?  And come to think of it, who even comes up with the ideas for local commercials?  (Please tell me I'm not the only person who just thought of Wayne's World).

Here is the honest truth, as I've worked through different marketing strategies and even considered some very big ideas for the mere fun of it, never has a PJP commercial played through my mind.  Perhaps this is because in our house, we watch recorded television on our DVR and skip all commercials.  Or we stream through Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon.  (You didn't think Behind-The-Scenes-Tech-Guru Jason was only about the tech at PJP, did you?)  And so when I think of local commercials, I have no perspective.  Or a 1996 perspective of poor camera work and cringe-worthy scripts.

I was interested in what they had to say about television advertising though because I know exceptionally little about how it works.  How do you know when your commercial will air?  Will it costs thousands of dollars for 30 seconds of airtime?  Is the entire concept just a mini-version of a SuperBowl Sunday ad placement?

As it turns out, the process isn't as intimidating as I thought (minus the whole 10 pounds thing and cringe-worthy script).  You actually get to pick the show your commercial airs during.  And while a lot of people would like that feature, it immediately derailed Jeanne and I because of all the options.  Seriously, we could air during Modern Family reruns, during Jeopardy!, during Good Morning America, during the 9 pm news, during...really anything on the network.  And yeah...my brain almost imploded upon itself considering how I would ever make a decision.  Does our choice of slots say something about us?  Should we try to guess what shows our customers like to watch?  Should I make a survey?  Should we ask if the network just carries Jeanne's favorite shows (Gunsmoke and M*A*S*H), air it then and call it good?

And then every show is slotted on some super top-secret sliding scale of cost.  Like if you choose a Modern Family rerun, that is $20 cheaper than a Good Morning America slot.  And I could spend all day thinking about that concept.  Like how cool of a job would it be to make that sliding scale of costs?  I would place People's Court at $5 a slot.  And reruns of Laverne and Shirley at $75 a slot.  And what could anyone do because it sounds like a completely subjective game to me.

I think the network gentlemen sensed we were getting way of track in our conversation because they started to ask reign us in by asking about numbers we were comfortable spending per month.  How did we feel about $500 a month?

Yeah, no.  I feel very yeah, no about $500 a month.

But instead of asking what they offered in the $15-$20 per month range, we agreed to do some thinking about it all.  Thoughts on PJP on television?  What shows do you like to watch?  Do you stay up until 1 am (because I'm guessing those are the cheap slots)?  Were you surprised to find that Jeopardy! is still on television?