Roger Federer + Nike

Posting this one especially for you Elaine K. I like it.

Via Toddand

Darth Vader plays golf

One of several spots, made by the agency, Mother, promoting all the Star Wars movies on Spike TV.

Via adland

The 'crucial bit' is coherency

While I'm not overly fond of the actual executions (except this outdoor ad), I think Club Orange's latest advertising campaign is pretty solid.

'Some bits are crucial' is consistent with many of their previous advertising campaigns during the years. They have actually been talking about the 'bits' for a long time. With good reason, as this is linked to why we should all drink Club Orange. As explained on their club.ie site: "it’s all in the bits!! Club uses over 11% fruit juice and contains real orange bits, making it a premium and great tasting product".

But for me anyway, the idea itself felt a bit weak in the past.

For example, a previous TV ad, Club Steam, shows a guy dancing naked in a steam room with his bottle of cold Club Orange, only to notice at the end that a few girls are in the steam room watching him. And we're told "It's a Club Orange thing, when the bits kick in". This feels a little vague to me.

However, their "Some bits are crucial" idea is stronger. No ambiguity here - choose Club Orange because it has bits of oranges in them, and this is the crucial part to a quality orange drink.

But it has also given them more scope to play with very different executions while having a coherent campaign.

• For example, their TV ad, produced by McConnells, is about a guy 'Jumping Jack', that tries to jump a load of trucks on a honda 50, but forgets the ramp. The ramp is the 'crucial' bit.

• Their online video, produced by vstream, is a video about a couple of dolls trying to get it on, but they can't because the male doll is missing some 'crucial' bits.
  
  
• I spotted this clever outdoor ad in Ranelagh, where the 'crucial' bits are the large bolts keeping the billboard up.
  

The TV ad, online video and billboard look nothing in common - and this is perfectly ok, as the idea is coherent across them all. This coherency is in fact the 'crucial bit'. The lazy route might have been to copy and paste a scene from the TV ad onto the outdoor ad and host the TV ad online.

The online presence is not as seamless as it could be.

• For example, there is a (nice) site dedicated to this campaign called somebitsarecrucial.ie which shows both the TV ad and the online video but doesn't have any info about the '11% fruit juice'. I found this at the club.ie site. Is there a need for two sites?
  
  
• And if you go to Club.ie, there is no reference to the campaign at all. In fact, an older TV automatically plays as soon as the page is loaded. Which is a pity. But these things happen, and I'd say this is result of internal processes, as opposed to just not thinking about it.
  
  
• Finally there is a facebook page set up, which is a nice idea in theory, but I wonder if this will be maintained? Maybe it will.
  

Overall though, I like it.

Do premium brands need expensive ads?

Do premium brands need expensive ads?

I suspect most would agree that they do not. Perhaps fashion brands need them, but I wonder. Or cars? Again, I'm not sure. If the answer is no, then why do expensive advertising? Sometimes the brand has been built using expensive, high end advertising and this is what is expected. Catch 22?

Doritos are happy to do it cheaply, having recently spent just six pounds making this ad.

Given the opportunity, I think any new brand should consider how to do cheap advertising - without looking cheap. Easier said than done. Red Bull seem to have managed this balance I think. Their ads clearly cost very little but they don't seem to have damaged the brand perception, going by the prices they charge.

Innocent Drinks and The Economist also come to mind...

Most creative use of press advertising I've seen in a while.

Most creative use of press advertising I've seen in a while.

It might be a bit difficult to see here, but they've used the numbers at the top of newspaper pages to illustrate stark statistics on AIDS. So for example, on page 6, they've written "6 million people in South Africa are living with HIV".

I'm sure you couldn't help but read these when flicking though the paper. Very clever.

Via Ads of the World

Billboard ad in airport

The copy says "Uninterrupted talk with the best mobile coverage in Sweden".

I like that they used the five billboards as one canvas. Nice.

Cheering on Spain tonight

My girlfriend Marta is spanish and a big football fan. So we will both be cheering on Spain this evening...

Blink and it's gone

Sunday morning and I can see the sun breaking through the clouds. It's not going to last though. Sporadic. Reminds me of this charming ad. Very insightful.

Why do marketers dumb down communications?

Why do marketers dumb down communications?

The worst examples are 'enter to win' competitions. You know the formula...we're asked a simple question and given three possible answers, but two of them are not only incorrect - they're often not even real words.

Why do brands do this? Is it because:

(a) They think we are not up to a difficult question
(b) They want as many people as possible to enter
(c) They are lazy

Which is why it is refreshing to see the above. Google did this when recruiting. They wanted smart, curious people - so they made their competition difficult. Those that figured out the problem were directed to a webpage asking them if they'd like to apply for a job with Google.

Brands communications that involve us more can often leave us feeling more rewarded.

More creative media by McDonald's

Via The adBlog

McDonald's 'Fresh Salads' ad

I thought this was eye catching - part of McDonald's Fresh Salads campaign. Leo Burnett are the agency. They took silver in the Media category in Cannes for their campaign where they actually planted and grew salad on a billboard over a 3-week period. You can see the video here.

Found the ad at Scamp's blog. There was a bit of chat going on about the awards if you are interested.

The most popular online ad format

Read some stats from brandeo that the 'Leaderboard' ad format accounts for 61% of online banner page impressions, according to the centre for media research. Although this format is the most popular, this doesn't mean it is the most effective.

I'm pretty sure the MPU format gets more clicks.

I'll have a dig around for some research on this to make sure.

Rewind City

I think it is their story-telling that makes their advertising so appealing. Nice pace, building up slowly.

I especially like that they have resisted jumping to the brand or product till the end. Very confident. Although you'd almost guess the brand from the tone and style. Tell me you can walk away without waiting till the end to see what is going on. I couldn't.

I loved the barber scene.


Thanks to Adblog for original post.

I bet you haven't heard all the excuses.

I see this is back on air. It's not a bad ad in fairness. Comprehension is very clear. There is a story and I'm sure there is no doubt after the first watch what this is about. Job done.

Wouldn't it be nice however if they built on this? And asked consumers to suggest their own excuses? There is an element of fun or cheekiness in this already. They get it - we don't like to pay. So why not have a bit of fun.

At the moment, this is the classical one-way message from RTE to us. But it could be more. How about we text in our excuses, and the best ones are used in future ads or the one with most votes get their TV licence paid for?

Honest advertising stands out

"Text messaging while diving prevents you from seeing what really matters". This was shortlisted for a Clio award. Found via adpunch

A few bloggers have commented (rightly) on the boldness + honesty of a mobile phone company asking people not to text. This is clever stuff and is a lovely example of getting cut-through by expressing a viewpoint that is not expected. You can't argue with their logic and is worth doing, as I doubt that they would really lose any significant revenue from this.

Of course, this is not the first time Orange have done this. They took a similar position before with their New York City Blackout ad - one of my all-time favourite tv ads.

You can see it here at 'Sometimes things need to switch off, for people to switch on'. Let me know what you think.

Lynx Wash Me

I write about Lynx a lot.

Now I'm guessing this would grab the attention of their target audience of teenage boys - and most men, regardless of age. This execution itself reminds me a bit of the famous 'Hello Boys' Wonder Bra ad. And while sex sells, it's not just sex, Lynx always add their cheeky sense of fun.

Lynx must be one of my favourite 'advertising' brands.

I'm not sure if their products are actually any better than those of competing brands. But if all the products are pretty much the same, this battlefield is fought on the marketing communications field. And this is where Lynx's expertise clearly lies.

This above ad is not a new one. It's a few years old, but still great. Found via Ads of the World

Other Lynx ads include Lynx Pulse ad or Getting Dressed

"For those little things you'll forget"

The copy in bottom reads "For those little things you'll forget".

Via the AdBlog

"Save your life and ours. Use a head set"

Thought this was pretty good. Nice idea anyway. From BBDO. Copy reads "Save your life and ours. Use a head set"

Found via Adpunch.

Mini Summer

More great Mini.

I attended a Mini brand induction earlier this year. They understand that Mini owners have a strong sense of 'fun' and 'adventure' and they really execute beautifully on these.

Found via picarad

More great Mini outdoor

Another clever use of outdoor media. Not sure if this is CP&B but looks like their work.

Image courtesy of blankstrider