Advertising

Of creativity and generic benefits

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Came across a couple of creative ideas that set me thinking. One is where the idea is pathbreaking but the execution makes the ad fall flat. This ad for KitKat is a fresh take on ‘Have a break, have a KitKat’. The idea is that when the chocolate breaks, the crumbs resemble the things pertaining to that environment. The ad titled ‘Office’ has office furniture and other things related to the office, showing in the crumbs.

KitKat Office

As the AdsoftheWorld link says,’it’s hard to see the detail even in the high-res image, but the small pieces are actually objects related to a subject’. I thought the idea of having the environment breaking into crumbs had merit, but the final ad falls flat. At a glance, it is just a chocolate stick breaking and the casual reader may miss the point completely.

Ogawa Ventilation-Fan-1

This ad is for a ventilator fan. The generic benefit of ‘keeps foul air out’ could be true of any brand in the category. But the execution makes it arresting. More here.

Reminded me of the old work for Ambuja Cements which dramatized the generic benefit of ‘strength’ visually.

For me, the Ogawa and Ambuja ads demonstrate the effiacy of the print medium – allowing you to communicate telegraphically through a single visual. When a brand decides to own the category benefit a lot rides on the execution to the make the communication memorable. For example, this piece of work for Kodak re-chargeable batteries. All rechargeable batteries are er…rechargeable. But the execution made it interesting.

Did the KitKat ad work for you? Any thoughts on communicating generic benefit? Pliss to comment.

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2 Comments

  1. I wonder why every “award winner” or “done in December for you know what” ad nowadays is just the pic and a teeny weeny logo!! My heart aches to say the least…. are we too busy to even bother about poor ol’ copy rich layouts? And it irritates the cr*p outta me when they have the audacity to make me think about what they intend to say for a good 5 minutes. I can almost see the smarty pants who made it sit sprawled on a chair-on-wheel go “well THAT caught your attention didn’t it?”. Aaha lemme see YOU sell it to the client!!!

  2. Acerbic comment, Gitanjali. I agree that when ads are inward directed they please only the creator. But there *are* ads which make you think for that wee moment and when the penny drops, it leaves a lasting impression.

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