Posts tagged ‘ad’
Putting my finger on an art direction trend
I’ve noticed a new trend in TV art direction recently – the Touchscreen Finger Effect.
Watch how we slide seamlessly from one product benefit to another! That’s how cool and relevant to your tech-savvy life our brand and product is!
Recent offenders include:
Recover Energy with ..
and, of course, Nokia (but seeing as they’re flogging a smart phone we’ll let them have this one)
Say hello to a good night with Mr Sleep and the Zzz Squad
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’.
I am woman, hear me whisper
The new Diet Coke ad from Mother had its first official airing last night during The Brits.
I can’t say that I exactly warmed to it – and I’m bang on target audience. Based on the ad, I’m led to believe that drinking Diet Coke will make you want to ride around on a bicycle in the middle of the night, singing your heart out, while women nearby (in scenarios direct from the Singleton Chick Flick Cliché Book) sadly sing along with you.
It’s almost as ridiculous as suggesting we should all be roller-skating in white jeans or skydiving at that time of the month.
I’m guessing the creative brief was something about Diet Coke enabling you to about taking a moment to remember who you really are and what makes you happy (a modern Diet Coke Break for the downturn).
But there’s nothing empowering or engaging about the execution. Every non-Duffy woman in the ad comes across as weak and some kind of blokeless loser, buying singleton ready meals late at night or stuck on the Girl’s Night Out from hell. Duffy doesn’t come out of it all that well either, I don’t think the song particularly suits her style or range.
To be honest, I not impressed with the endline ‘Hello You’ either. It just doesn’t sit right and reminds me too much of Avon’s Hello Tomorrow.
So then, in short, I’m not a fan.
Judge for yourself:
A bit of detective work via google, youtube and itunes reveals that the song I’ve Gotta Be Me was recorded by Sammy Davies Jr. in the late 60s and originally came from a musical on Broadway at that time called Golden Rainbow. Here’s the man himself in action (starts 25 secs in):
On the first day of Christmas, my agency plagiarised for me…
The Argos Christmas Ad is here. Scamp loved it – and then the rest of the world pointed out that it was pretty much a direct rip off of the Rowan Atkinson scene from Love Actually.
Now I like a good RomCom as much as the next girl but this ad seems to be taking the old adage that ‘imitation is the sincerest form of flattery’ a bit far when its pretty much a facsimile shot by shot.
For comparison purposes, the Argos ad can be viewed here,
and here is Love Actually (the crucial bit starts about a minute into this clip):
I can’t help but have a sneaking suspicion that it won’t have occurred to the Argos client or the team at CHI that Love Actually has been watched so many times by the target audience (mostly of Mums, I’m guessing) that they’re practically word perfect and fiercely loyal to anything penned by Richard Curtis. So they might actually be a bit hacked off rather than appreciative that someone has nicked from their favourite chickflick.
Some of the comments on Scamp’s blog have also pointed out that Argos’ version makes the all-singing, all-dancing wrapathon look like quite a nice way to do your Christmas shopping…
The name’s HD, Sony HD
I do like this Sony HD Quantum of Solace ad – its just that something has been niggling me since I first saw it. When they’ve finished trying to blow up the lovely Daniel Craig, the screen shows this:
And then this:
And finally this:
In theatres October 31st. Not on a Sony HD TV yet then.
When you pause upon an ad
I was flicking through the Christmas Radio Times (a festive right of passage) and got quite engrossed in the ad below.
I was having lots of fun picking out all the Disney characters and showed it to someone else so they could join in the fun too – whereupon they innocently asked “so what’s the ad trying to tell me then?”. Um…let me have a proper look…it’s a car…and Disney…and…a Ford! and….
Great creative concept, but perhaps the message got a tad lost?
The Bunnies have arrived
The Sony Bravia ad apparently breaks tomorrow (Friday) during Ugly Betty, but its already up on the Bravia website (takes a while to load at the moment).
I specially like the bits where the pink bunny squeezes out of a drainpipe and the little yellow bunny is waiting to cross the road.
It feels warmer and more engaging than ‘Balls’, but maybe thats just because I bought into it alot earlier thanks to buzz on the blogosphere.
And whats with the wave???
PS Just because I’m posting, it doesn’t mean I’m not still poorly. I had a very weird client pitch briefing meeting today – have lost my voice and had to communicate all stunning insights/opinions etc with whispers and sign language…
Please look after this brand
So Paddington is the new spokesbear for Marmite. Genius.
update: you can now view the ad on youtube
Time for some brand new creative?
I noticed that Nationwide have moved their ‘jobsworth employee’ (“brand new customers only”) campaign into press.
The thing is, I’m starting to associate Nationwide rather than their competitors with poor customer service and inflexible offers. Which probably means that what was once a great way of demonstrating difference has now become so ubiquitous that the core of the creative has become entangled with the brand. Which is a shame.
the new Smirnoff ad…
…is visually, creatively and strategically brilliant – and as Scamp says, is going to sell a lot of vodka. You can see the ad at media guardian or brandrepublic (subscription/registration required for both sites).
