The Mudd Fab 5 of Writing Automotive Radio and TV Commercials

“MY DEALER NEEDS TO SELL MORE CARS!” Over the course of my 27 years writing automotive radio and TV commercials, along with web videos,  I have probably heard that phrase hundreds, if not thousands of times. Luckily, there’s a formula that I learned from Jim Mudd Sr. the first week I started with Mudd Advertising back in 1989. It’s a formula still holds true today when writing retail advertisements for our dealer body. The formula is called the Mudd Fab 5.

• Attention Getting Opening – “Once a year it happens… and it’s happening right now.”
• Simply Stated Value to Customer – “Our best new vehicle selection has been marked with once-a-year event offers.”
• Make an Offer – “Like 25% of MSRP cash back on select new models.”
• Repeat the Offer – “That’s right! 25% of MSRP cash back.”
• Ask for Order with a Sense of Urgency – “Hurry and buy today because 25% of MSRP cash back ends when the month ends.”

By following this simple formula, our dealers will have a much better chance of meeting their goal of selling more cars.  As simple as this formula seems to be, sometimes the dealer will want to include additional information; this information may not have anything to do with actually selling cars in the commercial. A few examples may be “we’ll be open late every night” or “give us a try, you’ll like the way we do business.” It’s not that this information isn’t important to me, but the more time I use on those previous phrases, the less time I have to make an offer that will sell more cars.  This means valuable time is taken away from retailing/merchandising to the customer. So next time you want to sell more cars, let the Mudd Fab 5 work for you!