I usually try to keep my critiques to categories I’ve worked in, primarily because I think it’s irresponsible for me to comment on what works and what doesn’t when I have little basis for my assessment other than being a consumer. So I initially demurred when some folks have asked for my POV on AT&T’s new campaign, Rethink Possible.
If you’ve been in the business long enough, you come to understand there are some basic rules to follow when running an ad on the Super Bowl. Humor works best. Use animals or big-breasted women – or both. Wow people with extraordinary settings and production values.
Many of the advertisers on last night’s big game followed the Super Bowl advertising playbook to a tee (view all of the spots here). And, yet, they violated some fundamental rules of advertising in general.
T’was the day after Thanksgiving and all through the mall
Shopkeepers and sales staff had prepared for it all
They’d hung their over-sized sale signs and filled all their racks
“Shoppers start your engines,” they suggested, “not a moment to relax.”
Windows were a sea of red posters, red tags, and red decorations too
Promoting not the color of Christmas but the more common sale hue
Advertisers had stuffed local newspapers with flyers and FSIs
Featuring deep discounts, limited quantities, and other special buys
E-tailers stuffed my in-box full of promotional emails
Every subject line was announcing a deal or a sale
The signs of sales desperation were everywhere I looked
Even TV ads eschewed entertainment and went straight for the sales hook
Instead of enjoying shopping and having some holiday fun
Finding the best price seemed to be job number one
Looking for good gifts and their trimmings lost its appeal
Since I wasn’t sure each offer I would find was the absolute best deal
I got tired just thinking about shopping before I headed out the door
All the talk about prices made it seem like a chore
And so I decided to pass on Black Friday and just stay home
In feeling overwhelmed I’m guessing I wasn’t alone.
(the image above is a partial view of all of the FSIs from my local Thanksgiving day newspaper — the stack was almost 2 inches piled high)
Last week Ad Age announced that Anheuser-Busch InBev is holding an online contest in China in which consumers can pitch ideas for a Budweiser TV spot which will run during next year’s Chinese New Year. The only brief to the aspiring ad-makers: the commercial must include ants (a recurring theme for the brand’s Chinese New Year ads.) I’m liking this idea as much as I did when these so-called “user-“generated content first emerged as an advertising approach a few years ago – which is to say, not much. (more…)
Advertising legend David Ogilvy once said, “Our business is infested with idiots who try to impress by using pretentious jargon.“ Those are pretty harsh words and I’m not sure I agree (entirely), but sometimes I see ads that seem to have been written by folks who are trying to impress vs. persuade or sell. Their words, it seems, have gotten in the way of their points. (more…)
This post was inspired by a recent tweet from Gabriel Rossi, a “branding strategist” (as he calls himself) based in Sao Paulo — I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Gabriel through my blog and Twitter (more…)
Once again Microsoft’s ad strategy is off-base. 
Their newest ad criticizes Apple for being expensive by “documenting” one woman’s quest to find a laptop that (more…)
Last week I wrote a quick response to a piece in Brandweek by Robert Klara, the magazine’s Features Editor — the topic: “many domestic makes seem to be spinning their [advertising] wheels in the same territory they’ve been stuck in for decades.“ Do you agree with me and Robert?
In this week’s Brandweek is an article about the internal marketing Pepsi 
undertook prior to launching its latest campaign. The piece reported that (more…)