(almost) always thinking

Say hello to a good night with Mr Sleep and the Zzz Squad

1 May, 2010 at 4:58 pm 3 comments

Travelodge’s new campaign featuring ‘Mr Sleep and the Zzz Squad’ breaks tonight. 

It comes courtesy of Mother (I think) and apparently marks Travelodge’s return to TV after 10 years.  According to this piece in Marketing Week the new campaign is focused on positioning the company as a ‘retailer of sleep’

In the ad, a crack team of cuddly toys do whatever is necessary to ensure a good night’s sleep (youtube link here):

(big shout out there to Begbie in Trainspotting and every film Guy Ritchie has ever made)

Its cute, memorable, I like the ‘sleep tight’ line (see what they did there?) and it’s undoubtedly got legs to run and run.  But…

…in this article in The Times, Travelodge MD Guy Parsons says that the success of Aleksandr Orlov, the star of comparethemarket.com’s advertising campaign, had influenced Travelodge: “The criteria was to have a campaign that was as memorable and successful as the comparethemeerkat campaign. Like him or loathe him, everyone has heard about him.”

[ bangs head on desk repeatedly ]

If I had a quid for every time a client has asked for a campaign that was “more like that Meerkat one” I’d be typing this on an iPad.  If you added in the client requests for communications campaigns “more like Virgin / Apple / Innocent” I could retire tomorrow.  Don’t get me wrong, VCCP did an amazing job with Aleksandr and Virgin, Apple and Innocent are brands that inspiringly zig when others zag, but it doesn’t mean that what’s right for them is right for your high volume retail business or B2B catalogue.

Just sayin’.

Entry filed under: advertising, Campaigns, clients. Tags: ad, Mr Sleep, sleep tight, Travelodge, TV, Zzz Squad.