Snowman spoof – genius!

Kudos to Aldi for their spoof of this year's John Lewis Christmas ad, here:

And here's the original:

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Licensed to newsjack

This is the top half of an ad I saw in my local paper this week. Ha ha! He's cleverly riding on the back of the current hype about the new Bond film, Skyfall.

The image doesn't work so well on his website though, as I can't be sure what he's holding. Ooer, Miss Moneypenny.

If you're in South East London and you want a plumber with a bit of creativity, see Economic Plumbing.

Mine's a JD. Sweet.

Every time I stand on the platform at Oxford Circus underground station, there's an ad for Jack Daniel's in the same place. Every time I take care to stop and read it, because the copy always tells me something interesting and different, and is beautifully crafted (like their product, one assumes).

This time, it's about the bees that make their honey. Click the image to enlarge it and appreciate every word. (If I'd taken a better photo on my iPhone, you could also see the full picture of the hive). 

Each ad has the same dated look about it, emphasising their heritage. And each ad is written in that Southern US drawl. 

It's an object lesson in delicious brand advertising.

Cheers.

What does pride come before?

I heard an Esso ad on the radio today, that started: "We pride ourselves on making fuels that operate at the molecular level."

First, what doesn't operate at a molecular level?

Second, it fails the 'Who cares' test.

Who cares what you pride yourself on? Customers only care what's in it for them.

When I Googled 'Esso "we pride ourselves"', these are the results:

• "At Esso, we pride ourselves on developing advanced fuel that works"
• "At Esso we pride ourselves on developing fuels to help your engine run more smoothly"
• "Like Exxon®, we pride ourselves on our environmental consciousness" (!)
• "We pride ourselves on going that little bit further"
• "We pride ourselves on being locally owned"
• "We pride ourselves as [sic] being a leading technology company"
• "We pride ourselves in [sic] professionalism and honesty"

Don't write about how proud you are; write about what you do for your customers.

Reassuringly confident

Admire the bravery of this poster. The copy doesn't mention the product. The logo is not dominant. It's beautifully written to back up the brand promise. And you can even get a 'chalice' of your own.

It's the Stella Artois of adverts.

 

Thinking outside the box, man.

Did you see the shocking open letter to Leo Burnett from Asylum Films? The small production company was complaining that the film they were commissioned to make for RMHC was 'copied' and remade without consultation. In the interests of fairness, here's a report about Leo Burnett's reply.

I'm not sure the situation does either business any favours. Either way, they're not the only ones using a box-man character. Here's one used by Amazon:



And here's another for Challenger Packaging:

What is this - invasion of the box-men?

P.S. If you're worried that your web content has been copied, use the free plagiarism checker at www.copyscape.com.

Clever Cats!

In the same week that a rover named Curiosity is roaming Mars and a lion was reported to be loose in Essex (it turned out to be a big domestic cat), Prince Harry was snapped playing strip billiards in a Vegas hotel room. No wonder August is called 'Silly Season'.

The clever cats at Lynx capitalised on the news with this topical ad:



This is a prime example of newsjacking (riding on the back of a relevant news story to promote your brand). It's on brand, on message and timely.

Well done, Lynx. Have some (virtual) kitty treats and a tickle behind the ears for your quick thinking.

Your homework: Watch the news with an eagle eye. When you see a fit with your product or service, think of a creative way to use it.

Bottoms up!

The trend for 'top down' marketing communications has almost completely switched to 'bottom up'.

This week, I saw a VO5 customer on TV, demonstrating 'The secret to getting a 40s look*'. The ad ended by inviting viewers to share their own demos online.

It's just another example of how things have changed since the days when people used to demand "we want real people" in the catalogue, but sales dropped compared with the same outfits on professional models (while the photographic 'hassle factor' increased exponentially).

Now, we the people make the ads.

It's over to suppliers to make good enough products and provide good enough services, and we'll sell them for them through word-of-mouth and social media.

*Sorry, I can't find it on YouTube.

The editor must be on holiday. It's the only possible explanation.

The banner headline on the front page of my local paper screams:

'FIND OUT HOW AREA'S OLYMPIANS PERFORMED'

Surely they intended the word 'area' to be replaced with the name of the local town? At least replace it with the word 'our'!

Maybe it's commonsense that's gone on holiday.

What do you think?

What in the world were they thinking?

Judging by the comments on this YouTube clip, the new Mattessons' ad 'You must be Hank Marvin' is causing confusion up and down the country.

For one thing, most of their target market have never heard of Hank Marvin and don't know what he looked like or what he did*.

But even if they know that much, they probably don't know that Hank Marvin is Cockney rhyming slang for 'starvin' i.e. hungry.

The problem is targeting. You need to know what your audience knows and what they don't, if you want to market to them effectively.

I'd be surprised if Mattessons are aiming their Fridge Raiders product at 60-somethings who were born within the sound of Bow Bells. What do you think?



*He played guitar in the Shadows in the '60s (Cliff Richard's backing band) with distinctive dance steps as seen in the ad. Their cross-over box step is called 'The Shadows Step' at dance classes to this day.

Whoopsie! Bad ad placement

 As seen on http://bookmole1.wordpress.com

Selling books

At Brighton station this week, I was handed a booklet containing sample chapters from two new books by Peter James – Perfect People and Not Dead Yet. The writing is compelling, but the copyright is Really Scary Books and that put me off buying them.

Top tip: Giving away a 'taster' of what you do is a really good route to market (and an excellent way to filter out customers you don't want).

Love it or hate it? I love it!

It can't possibly have escaped your attention that some Really Big Things are happening in the UK this summer. Especially here in London.

One of those things is the Queen's Diamond Jubilee, which Marmite is cleverly acknowledging with their limited edition 'Ma'amite' jar.

Trouble is, etiquette guidelines say you should address the Queen as "Your Majesty" followed by "Ma'am" pronounced Mam as in ham not Marm as in farm.

Off with their heads, say I!

"Welcome to the UK"

Yesterday, I flew back from Northern Cyprus. In passport control at Stansted, one of the officers was shouting "Next. Next. Next." at the incoming queue. When people didn't step forward quickly enough, she snapped "Jesus Christ. NEXT!" That's English customer service for you. I do wonder what our Olympic guests will make of it, when they arrive in their droves later this year.

Injecting a bit of drama into proceedings

That's exactly what a Flemish TV company did, here.



Would you have pushed the red button?

Classy.

For possibly the classiest ad you'll ever see, watch the cinema epic 'L'Odyssée de Cartier', brought to my attention by @mediacoach

Extract from 'Notes from a Big Country' by Bill Bryson

I was re-reading one of my favourite books recently and found this passage:

I'm thinking of an unexpectedly diverting documentary I chanced upon three or four years ago comparing the marketing of proprietary healthcare products in Britain and the United States.

The gist of the programme was that the same product had to be sold in entirely different ways in the two markets. An advertisement in Britain for a cold relief capsule, for instance, would promise no more than that it might make you feel a bit better. You would still have a red nose and be in your dressing gown, but you would be smiling again, if wanly.

A commercial for the same product in America would guarantee total, instantaneous relief. An American who took this miracle compound would not only throw off his dressing gown and get back to work at once, he would feel better than he had for years and finish the day having the time of his life at a bowling alley.

The drift of all this was that the British don't expect over-the-counter drugs to change their lives whereas Americans will settle for nothing less. The passing of the years has not, I can assure you, dulled the nation's touching faith in the notion.

Later in the book, I found this passage:

There is an advert running on television at the moment that says something like 'The new Dodge Backfire. Rated number one against the Chrysler Inert for handling. Rated number one against the Plymouth Repellent for mileage. Rated number one against the Ford Eczema for repair costs.'


As you will notice, because luckily for you your brain has not been dented and dimmed by years of over-exposure to rapid-fire American advertizing, in each category the Dodge is rated against only one other competitor, which makes comparisons a trifle hollow, it not actually suspect. I mean to say, if the Dodge were rated top against ten or twelve or fifteen competitors in any of these categories, then presumably the ad would have said so. Because it doesn't say so, one must naturally conclude that the Dodge performed worse than all its competitors except the one cited. Ergo, it is effectively inviting you to think twice before buying a Dodge.


All of this makes me doubly relieved that I live in the UK.


The book was first published in 1998. The passing of the years has not, I can assure you, dulled my recommendation that you buy it. Not just for the insight into British adverts v American commercials, but also for a most enjoyable use of the English language.

5 great ads, all banned

Dear Reader,

You might like this blog post by CreativePool. I do!

With love from,

Me xxx

Best ad so far this year

Failing the 'so what' test

I saw one of the new British Airways posters today. It reads:

"In 2012 we'll fit enough cable on board to lap an Olympic track 80 times"

So they're jumping on the Olympic bandwagon. Fair enough. But what's in it for me, the potential passenger?

• What is all that cable for? Is it to make the plane work? I'd hope so – that's the minimum standard that customers expect. 
• Is it to make the entertainment system work? Then tell me, so I know I'll have a better in-flight experience. 
• Is it just to say 'BA is big'? I think I knew that. But I'd want to know how much cable is in everyone else's planes too, to make an informed judgement (although I don't care that much about cables, to be honest).

Anyway, does bigger necessarily mean better?

And so it came to pass

Back in March 2009 I predicted that a TV comedy show about advertising that I'd seen on a flight across Australia would eventually be launched in the UK. And it has been (sort of).

Watch the Mad Bad Ad Show on Friday nights.

Going viral

Advertisers dream of producing an ad that's so creative, so compelling, that their friends, fans and followers pass it around amongst themselves (at no further cost to the advertiser) so they reach a wider audience and ultimately, sell more stuff.

However, those that try to 'go viral' rarely do. 

After much research and analysis (well, a little bit of common sense and thought), here are my 5 components of an effective viral ad:

1. Creativity
2. Humour
3. Fit with brand
4. Music
5. Cats (optional)

As I've banged on about time and time again in this blog, advertising these days boils down to providing entertainment as well as, or instead of, just information.

Here's a great example of a viral ad that works:

 

Now that's what I call customer service!

With thanks to Nikki Pilkington on Facebook.

Perfect casting

Actimel's latest ad campaign is about "the little bottle with a lot inside". I recognised the voiceover as Ronnie Corbett. Perfect casting!

This post could save your life!

It was great to see Vinnie Jones in this BHF ad demonstrating resuscitation with humour.

When I was taught first aid years ago in the Girl Guides, the ratio was 15 chest compressions to 2 rescue breaths. It was the same when I trained years later as an Emergency First Responder as part of my PADI scuba diving qualifications.

But the advice has been amended due to modern research findings.

These days, I produce manuals for a client who trains paramedics. Through that, I found that the European Resuscitation Council (ERC) and American Heart Association (AHA) changed the guidelines in 2010. 

Once someone's heart has stopped beating, they are, in effect, already dead (so don't worry about hurting them when you compress their chest).

You don't need to breathe into their lungs via mouth-to-mouth because there is still some oxygen in their bloodstream. You just need to keep the blood flowing round the body, so oxygen reaches their brain until the paramedics get there. You do that by 'pumping' their heart for them, through their chest. Do not delay or interrupt chest compressions. Stop only if/when they show signs of regaining consciousness.

Like Vinnie says, it's not hard.

BTW, if you don't like Stayin' Alive, then the rhythm of Nellie the Elephant works just as well!

P.S. Trained rescuers who are willing and able are advised to do 30 compressions and 2 rescue breaths for a better outcome.