Ad Blooper: How They Failed To See The Obvious...

Remind me of Dan Kennedy's sales letter with the headline:
"Do You Hate Your Computer?"
...but what's wrong with it?

Well...look at the picture. It's obviously used to stand out and that's a good thing. People that suffer from sleep apnea will definitely feel like Hannibal Lecter on life support.

However...now that you got their attention...why would you ask such an obvious and generic question in the headline?

Which headline WOULD be calling out their ideal audience?

That's what I'm getting at here....

Breathe and sleep peacefully...Don't Breathe and DIE every other day!

"Is Your Sleep Apnea Driving You Crazy?"

The use of the word "Headline" in the headline is wrong or did you put it there?

What on earth is a CPAP?

I have OSA and I do hate my CPAP. But...I also love it, because the alternative is crappy sleep and feeling tired all the time.

I have no idea what the ad was selling. But I'd imagine it's an alternative treatment method. If that's the case, they need to hit me with that in the headline. Something that tells me I can ditch the CPAP without ditching the positive results it gives me.

Exactly! But....that's not all.

Alright. Alright. I will give you a hint.
Here goes;

I understand what you are saying. This ad is offering an alternative to the CPAP that should focus on the complete package:
sleeping safely, being comfortable... and...look sexy.

Presenting this alternative product as a complete package promotes the unique USP of being the ONLY product developer that provides a solution to every aspect of the problem, in my opinion.

Feeling desirable is important to a lot of people. And not only to women. Men want to feel desirable as well.
And think about teenagers, newlyweds....

Of course, the product developer could run ad- variants calling out ladies, newlyweds etc to test things out.

Either way, I don't think the existing headline does the job and could use mucho improvement.

I too am confused as...
A) How the topic at hand has gotten into a weight loss discussion
B) To why the tone of this conversation has been set negatively by @DaveShu.

I'm not debating the cause of sleep apnea. That's not the topic at hand. I'm debating the headline the company used for this ad.

I would like to point out (again) that using a headline that promotes the complete package...or...solution to various issues a person with sleep apnea has, is a winner in my book.

First of all I know someone who has to wear this very equipment and he is as fat as a pig.

He is not in the slightest worried about whether he looks "sexy" or not, he's terrified about whether or not he's going to die in his sleep.

So what I'm pointing out to you, that seems to be totally lost on you, is that trying to make out that a good sales pitch would be "hey learn how to look sexy" is moronic when the obvious line is "learn how not to die in your sleep".

If someone was stood in front of 2 doors and you told them that if they went through door 1 they would be cured of their ailment and would live, but if they went through door 2 they would get an outfit to wear that would "make them look sexy" but they'd then fall through a trap door to their death on rocks 10,000 feet below, which do you think they'd choose?

Get it?

Christ.

This debate looks like it's being fueled by some confusion about what sleep apnea actually is.

Let me throw down some knowledge that could help.... before going at the headline.

A person with sleep apnea is extremely unlikely to die in his or her sleep.

With sleep apnea, you stop breathing 30 times or more every hour because either your airway is obstructed or your brain doesn't send the signal to the muscles you require to breathe. It's like your choking in your sleep.

So, for a brief moment, your body gets shocked awake. But it happens so fast that most people don't notice.

In fact, 80% of people with sleep apnea don't even know they have it. They either think everyone is as tired as they are and that they should suck it up, or get misdiagnosed by the doctor (chronic fatigue syndrome) which happens most often when the person isn't obese -- of which about 50% are not.

About 60% who know that they have sleep apnea don't use a CPAP even though they should. That's because a CPAP is really uncomfortable, a pain to travel with and costs a lot. People don't say this, but I know that a bunch don't use it because they don't want to be hooked up to a machine for the rest of their life. And don't want their partner to see them like that, either. A loss of self-respect or dignity or whatever you want to call it.

That being said, the main concern is to have energy so you can stay up longer than four hours without taking a nap and to actually be able to do something with your day. The health risks associated with it i.e. high blood pressure, stroke, heart attack, and a lot more, are a close second.

For the ones who don't use a CPAP -- or are misdiagnosed with chronic fatigue -- alternate medications (stimulants) that help with the constant exhaustion can be prescribed. But there's no magic pill for the health problems.

Okay. Hopefully that cleared some stuff up.

Now the headline.

"Do You Hate Your CPAP?" is probably used because it's supposed to target all the people who use or should use a CPAP.

The problem is that it only grabs the people who just began using one. Why? Because, after a while, you get used to the CPAP and it doesn't seem so bad anymore. The people who don't use one... "out of sight, out of mind".

But... I don't think a sex appeal angle would work out too well. Not as the main benefit, anyway.

In my opinion, they should call out all of the people with sleep apnea, not just the ones who use a CPAP.
Like "How To Cure Your Sleep Apnea Without A CPAP, Surgery, Or Weight Loss".

The goldmine, though, would be to tap into the 80% who have sleep apnea but don't know it.
How the hell you would do that is out of my league.

I would suggest using humor to convey a message.

Has the fart hood market gone mainstream?