Barbara Brebner's store, constructed to look like an old farm building

A SINGLE 10-SECOND TV AD accomplishes more for Barbara Brebner’s wild bird store than a whole year’s worth of print advertising ever did.

This savvy retailer has hit on a successful formula for producing her own ads, then running them on the most-watched morning show serving her eastern Wisconsin community. And they bring in new customers in droves.

I firmly believe in selling the sizzle, not the steak.” Each of the ads features birds instead of focusing on her store or its merchandise. An ad will spotlight the magic of migration or the miracle of nesting, with only the briefest mention of For The Birds, her popular store in the town of De Pere.

Goldfinches star in a screen grab from a 10-second TV spot.

The ads produce immediate results the weeks they run.

At a minimum we see sales increase by 30 percent, and our hummingbird ad last summer drove sales up by 40 percent more each day,” Brebner says. “It’s hard to argue with numbers like that.”

The increases have been measurable with growth every month over the same month a year ago.