Posts tagged ‘advertising’
When Inserts become Binserts
My Dad’s subscription copy of The Dalesman arrived on Saturday (circulation 36,428) . It’s one of those magazines where you can pretty much guarantee that the majority of readers are over 50, like things like nice country drives that end up at nice pubs and think that everything was much better before this internet lark came along and speeded the world up.
So advertising wise, it’s a pretty handy publication if you need to flog stuff like holiday cottages, stairlifts, pubs that do good food and gardening gadgets. But the ad team at Dalesman seem to have also enthusiastically embraced the Insert. In fact this month’s pile of inserts were technically some kind of Outserts as they were bigger (volume wise) than the magazine itself and just popped in the same plastic mailing bag:
I can’t imagine that any of the advertisers above (or their agencies) had this in mind when they signed up. It makes it very easy for readers to pick up all those leaflets and minimags and chuck the lot straight in the bin without even seeing what’s in the middle of the pile. Meaning you’d miss out such delights as a device to safely remove earwax and an extra-small garden tiller…
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)
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):
Trade-advertising-with-a-sense-of-humour shock
I rather liked the cover wrap for cider brand Savanna Dry around this week’s Publican (pic shows the back page):
Close up of the copy :
Ooops
This week’s issue of The Publican (‘Proud of Pubs’) carries a Food Report supplement, sponsored by Nestle Professional, the foodservice arm of Nestle that represents Maggi , Nescafe and lots of well known confectionary brands like KitKat.
It looks like the sponsor also got a couple of pages of ads as part of the deal. Maybe someone just sent the wrong file by accident, but I’m not sure Publicans are the right audience to aim your ‘meets school food trust guidelines’ Maggi products as endorsed by the Menu Planner at Doncaster Schools Catering…
PS Don’t miss my pun-tastic ’12 Tips of Christmas’ feature in the same issue :-)
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 it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight
Thanks to Lunar BBDO’s blog for pointing me towards New York Magazine’s most memorable advertisements Madison Avenue ever sold, which includes this 1980s gem from Federal Express:
I love the end line, but I think you’d get away with somewhat smaller terms & conditions these days!
Give me a ‘B’
Soooooo, the Live Honda TV Ad aired last night. Yes, it really was different, engaging and created loads of buzz. It a perfect fit with what Honda stands for as a brand.
The only tiny, tiny thing is, twenty seconds in, all I could think was ‘isn’t that a 5 series BMW?’. I know its probably some high-end Honda, but that’s what popped into my head!
