I’m quite looking forward to the Royal Wedding and rather wish I had a Royal Wedding Party to go to (big hint to any mates reading this…). But nevertheless, on The Big Day I will be happily sat in front of the telly, albeit with a laptop running twitter alongside, mainly for the snarky comments the TV presenters wouldn’t dare make on live TV.
Magazines are currently packed full of wedding inspired spreads, both editorial and advertising. And I’m sure it all seemed like a good idea (at least to the clients) a few months ago when creative briefs were being written.
But we are fast approaching Royal Wedding Fatigue nearly two weeks before the event itself, and some brands are getting it a bit wrong. T-Mobile’s royal wedding viral (as covered by Famous Rob last week), not only is a poor fit with their ‘Life’s for Sharing’ line and previous flash mob efforts, but it’s also a direct rip off of the rather lovely and genuine JK Wedding Dance, which at the last count had 65M views on youtube, so I can’t be the only one making the negative comparison.
It also seems like every fashion brand in the country has rolled out a ‘wedding wear’ spread in honour of the occasion. I do appreciate that it is non-royal Wedding Season too, but those of us who don’t have a big church ‘do to go to in the next couple of months are left wondering if there’s anything in the shops apart from fascinators and knee length dresses at the moment.
Matalan also possibly need to have a word with their media agency since this spread in The Sunday Times’ Style magazine was sandwiched between the Interiors and Food sections rather than in Fashion.
I can sympathise, clients can be very determined about doing a themed ad or promotion – I’ve already had to tell one client that they can’t plan an Olympics themed campaign for 2012 because a) everyone else will be doing it, b) their category is not what you’d call a natural fit with sporting prowess and c) since they aren’t an official sponsor they’ll get sued.
In fact I’m starting to dread the Olympics, just because I know I’m going to be spending the next 12 months being asked to think of ways to communicate ‘hurrah for the Olympics’ without using the words games, 2012, London, Olympics, event and so on. If you’re having similar problems already and need some ammunition for client meetings, the official advice from the London 2012 Organising Committee is here.
BBC just played at least 60% of the T-mobile viral on Have I Got News For You at peak time. On BBC1, a channel where you CAN’T BUY airtime. I take it all back.