Why is this campaign so good?

If you are the type of person who gets teary over the animals in the Optus ad you might want to get your self a tissue before watching this -

Of all the car safety campaigns I have seen this is the one that stays with me. But why? There's no blood, no gore, no dire predictions of injury - there isn't even a car.

I think it's effective because it stays away from two emotions that most safety campaigns are built around - fear and guilt.  People don't like to experience fear or guilt so we push those emotions away - along with the message of the ad. We chose to believe we are bullet proof and so the predictions of horrible consequences are lost on us.
And okay, let's be honest here - in a way those 'you will kill or horribly injure yourself'' messages are kind of untrue. Not untrue in that they are a lie but untrue in that they aren't true all the time. You don't instantly crash and die because you aren't wearing a belt and the more people get away with it the more bullet proof they feel.
This campaign hits us where we live - literally as it's set in a living room. The ad doesn't say 'you will hurt yourself' or 'you will hurt some one else' or even 'you will make a hell of a mess when you hit the pavement'. All it is saying that if we were in a crash the people who love us what chose to protect us if they could. It is saying we are loved. *sniff*

Why you should never say 'moo la la'. Ever.

Once upon a time there was an annoying ad. It was for Budget Direct Car Insurance. Although the ad was dull and it featured a woman with a 'French' accent saying 'moolala' as if it were an actual French word, people watched it believing that, like all ads, it would have its time and then be forgotten. 

What they didn't know was that this ad was a pregnant ad. It was an ad that was going to crawl inside our television sets and spawn lots of other similar ads even more irritating than itself.

And now there was singing involved. And puns. I've mentioned puns.

Although it seemed there may have been some cracks developing in Michael and Michelle's relationship.

I wonder if she'll tell Michael?

Mmm. Maybe they will be ads from a broken home soon?

When I asked some friends which ad was their least favourite a few spontaneously started singing "boojay boojay" while every one in hearing distance yelled "I hate that ad." For a minute it was like being trapped in the crappiest musical of all time. Or a Glee episode.

I know lots of people who remember these ads but I don't know any one who likes them. I do get it. The song is an ear worm even if it's not enjoyable. The characters are memorable even if they're not interesting. And if there's no such thing as bad press then there's no such thing as a bad, memorable ad. But surely it's better to make an ad that is both memorable and creates positive feelings towards the service or the product?

Cheers. Bek

What the F@#$ are they advertising Friday (Now on Sunday)

What is this an ad for?

Back cover (2007 October) Super Food Ideas

Is it

 a) An ad for a body exfoliant?

 b) An ad for dried cranberries?

 c) An ad for coffee?

It's...

b) And ad for dried cranberries. Obviously.

WTF my friends, WTF? 

Cheers, Bek.

Oh so punny!

For the most part, puns shit me. I've got to be honest - it takes me a while to get them. Do you know how many years it took me to realise that Bob Downe

was not just a person's name but was also some thing a person could do? Too many freaking years is the answer to that. Any way. 

It's fair to say puns in advertising don't really grab me. I either miss it totally or it takes me far too long to 'get it' and then I resent the product for making me feel stupid. (Yes I blame the ad.) So it came as a surprise when this promotion

Ayam Legend (2008, February) Super Food Ideas, 89, 49.

wormed its way into my heart. For the record, it's a recipe promoting Ayam Lite Coconut Milk

and the promo came out at the time of the Australian release of this film -

You get it? It's a pun! And I understood it! And now I have a soft spot in my heart for Ayam products for evaaaaa! I'm not even kidding.

Seriously, I think it works like this - I am Legend was a fairly average Sci Fi/Zombie/Horror flick based on a really good book of the same name and not-at-all similar plot. So the demographic who would get that pun are fairly small - Sci Fi geeks and Will Smith fans. And I got it. I am part of that small community the headline was aimed at and now I will buy Ayam products because I feel that they too are part of my tribe. It's not loyalty to the product (because let's face it, there's bugger all difference between tinned coconut milks) but to the company. And not because they are producers of not-noticeably-worse-than-any-one-else's coconut-milk but because they are people like me. Based on one line in a magazine. Which was not created by them but by some head line writer. Which I know but which makes no difference. Ayam too easily played by half. But there it is.

Cheers for now. Bek

I'm a demographic too.

I'm a mum.

If you believed the ads I would be permanently dressed in freshly laundered clothes in shades of pastel and beige. My 'messy' house would have (clean) laundry thrown on to rumpled beds and half a dozen (non broken) toys strewn around an otherwise immaculate living room. When things went wrong I would be comically frustrated - I would throw my hands up in the air and blow my fringe out of my eyes with a big ol' sigh. I would listen to Adele and watch Packed to the Rafters.

The truth is that I am dressed in clothes that range between 'was fairly fresh yesterday' and 'doesn't smell too funky after a quick spray of deodorant'. My living room is a breeding ground, not only for stupid plastic toys that I can't remember buying but also for half eaten pieces of toast, orange rinds and the mysterious, growing 'sticky patch'. When things go wrong I completely lose my shit. I listen to whatever I fancy by link surfing on You Tube. I watch Game of Thrones.

Where are my ads? Where are the ads that speak to my demographic? Am I the only half-arsed 30 some thing in the world? I'm sick of these guilt inducing advertisements about characters living in their perfect little bubble world. It doesn't make me want to buy their product. It makes me intimidated to buy the product. 

It's time for advertisers to lower the bar. I don't want  to have to aim high to use a product. Give me some thing that meets me where I am. 

Don't judge me. 

Bek

Great ads of all time

The bouncing ball ad.

Does any one else remember this ad? I think it came out around 2007 and it was advertising a printer. Or possibly a camera? Could it even have been an ad for bouncing balls? Fuck. I don't remember. But it was an awesome ad. I used to play it on You Tube just to hear the song. 

This ad was great because first of all - bouncing fucking balls! All the way down that huge, steep street in San Francisco. It was like the creators had taken this one glorious idea from your childhood and made it happen. On an epic scale. And slowed it down so you could appreciate it. And enhanced the colour. And then you didn't even get into trouble at the end!
Second of all - great song. Gave act of chaotic madness an old-school, whimsy feel. You know to actually do it would create crazy havoc on the street from people with the running and falling and cars with the crashing. In this version of reality we just get disturbed frog bouncing along with the balls. To music! Gorgeous! Whimsy! (And the frog was probably fine, right?)

How could the ad be better? Well, I guess if I remember what the ad was advertising that would be a win.

.

Oh, it was for the Sony Bravia LCD TV. Well, there you go.

You bought a Jeep?

You bought a Jeep? Fo' realsies?

The current ad for Jeep playing in Australia baffles me. It features a woman telling a man (presumably her husband or at least long term partner) that she has bought a Jeep. He responds by saying "You bought a Jeep?". She responds that that is indeed the case. She has bought a Jeep. He asks the question again. She again responds in the affirmative. He smiles. The ad ends.

I don't know much about Jeeps as a product. I seem to remember they were the car of choice in MASH episodes. Whatever. I guess the point they are making is that Jeeps are a manly car and have steering wheels, gear sticks or seat belts that a woman might find difficult to handle. Or some thing.

So I guess that's the meaning the viewer is meant to have in their mind - that even though Jeeps are manly cars a very cool and progressive type of woman might also desire to own this car and she will gain her husband's (or long term partner's) approval by doing so. (I don't think the ad is trying to suggest they have 'femmed' the Jeep up to make it more appealing to women- maybe with a fluffy pink steering wheel cover?)

This is what the ad is meant to convey. What is actually created in my mind when the ad plays is - "You bought a Jeep?" And then the unspoken question - "Why the fuck would you buy a Jeep?" And the ad never goes on to answer that question.

I think it comes down to delivery. Instead of saying "You bought a Jeep?" (which draws attention to the insulting premise of the ad) the line is delivered as "You bought a Jeep?" which sounds like it's the Jeep that is the slightly unbelievable thing rather than the person who bought it.

This advertising campaign leads me to conclude that I will not buy a Jeep for two reasons.

1) I don't know why the fuck I would buy a Jeep.

2) I couldn't stand all the idiots chanting "You bought a Jeep?" at me any time I mentioned my purchase.

Cheers for now. Bek.

Hi and Welcome

Advertising is every where. Some of it's good. Some of it's bad. Occasionally it's baffling. A very large percentage is forgettable, dismissable and uninspired. All of it is expensive.
Here I am going to pull apart the ads I find the most annoying, confusing and alienating. I will laud the ads I think are the most effective, original and provocative. I will reminisce about the great ads of the past. And I invite you, gentle reader, to do the same. (And also click on the advertising stuff to the side when it's there because you have a keen sense of irony right? Right? Just click the damn link.)