“Bob Odenkirk, who portrays Breaking Bad’s resident shyster Saul Goodman with gleeful shamelessness…. [sits] down with Vulture’s own Julie Klausner to get his thoughts on some of the country’s best so-bad-they’re-good lawyer ads.” [Vulture]
“Bob Odenkirk, who portrays Breaking Bad’s resident shyster Saul Goodman with gleeful shamelessness…. [sits] down with Vulture’s own Julie Klausner to get his thoughts on some of the country’s best so-bad-they’re-good lawyer ads.” [Vulture]
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I’ve often wondered why lawyer ads are so incredibly lame and cheesy … maybe a course on “The Fundamentals of Advertising” should be part of the law school curriculum …
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Lame and cheesy because the ads are cheap, from midsize firms (White & Case LLP does not “do” TV), and because they are usually PI firms, their target audience is not the CEO of Disney, but normally the guy who got injured on the job, or was hurt in a rear-end auto collision.In other words, punchy and memorable ads which dangle imaginary cash in front of the viewer are deemed best by the law firms…and who am I to disagree? I assume these people know their own business.
The ads are trolling for first-time clients. A more sophisticated client (like me) would probably want, and be able to get, a referral from someone they know who had been a client of the firm. There is no way I would retain an attorney who claimed to be a Heavy Hitter, or a Shark, or any of that other nonsense.
I love that character. He plays it so well. Over-the-top but not so far over the top that it is not somewhat plausible.
Mike, you are making a mistake when you underestimate the Shark.
Ron Miller: The Shark may be just fine, but the posturing and clownish behaviour in the TV lawyer ads would make me look for someone else, just as I would not be the patient of a surgeon who advertised himself as the Heavy Cutter, or Dr. Blade.
I don’t buy auto insurance from Geckos, either.
Clearly I am not among the target audience for these people.