Power to the people

I've been banging on about it for ages, that what your customers say is more convincing than anything you say yourself. Kia's latest ad demonstrates this overtly.



Old-style advertising ("Buy me!") is dead, so I predict more ads will tap into social proof like this (and so they should). Does yours?

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.