‘Avis is only No.2 in rent a cars. So why go with us?’ was a thought-provoking, dissonance creating question as part of the now legendary, ‘We try harder’ campaign for Hertz. Created by Paula Greene and Helmut Kone for DDB in the 1960s the campaign resulted in market share growth for Hertz and later a marketing war with Avis. In 2012, Hertz dropped the ‘We try harder’ tag line, in the US. Avis Europe, however,…
I love short duration ads – the ones which are 20 seconds or under. The ad commercial is in any case a challenging audio visual medium – telling a compelling, engaging story that too with a business objective in 30-seconds is fascinating. And to do it in even shorter duration is no mean feat (Miller Lite ran 1-second commercials during Super Bowl in 2009). Shorter duration commercials also have an advantage from a media investment POV…
Products which are used only for specific reasons or occasions, naturally run the risk of low usage. Antiseptic creams, adhesive bandages…even honey, come mind. Think of brands like Burnol, BandAid, Dettol or any brand of honey – a lot of households have them around but such brands come out of the cupboard only on specific occasions: a bruise, illness and so on. In England, Marmite is a brand with occasional usage problem; over 1 in…
The work for Traffic Accident Commission, Melbourne is one of my favourites among what is loosely called public service advertising. The work has been driven by a clear objective (reduce road accident caused due to unsafe driving) and a well-defined, consistent advertising strategy (shock the viewer into changing his behaviour). The creative has risen to the call and delivered by appealing to the emotions of the viewer and almost scare him into behaving while on…
V/Line is a public transport provider in Victoria, Australia. Their business challenge: how to motivate young people away from their busy metro lives and to take a train-trip to see their parents who usually live miles away in rural areas of Australia. The creative strategy used was plain, simple manipulation of emotions. We’ve all witnessed our parents complain about how they rarely get to hear from us or see us. Such complaints are usually laced…
There’s been much brouhaha over Apple’s move to create an in-house agency. Ad industry trade portals and tech blogs have written truck loads about it. The common streak of the opinion pieces: Apple has lost its mojo and the ad agency is paying a price. Read Part 1 of my thoughts on this and related issues here. And now on to Part 2 of the post: Advertising is a shared responsibility. It is said that…
Apple is reportedly in the process of setting up an internal ad agency. This development is seen as a result of Apple being unhappy with the output from their long term ad agency TBWA\ Media Arts Lab. The conclusion that Apple is unhappy with their agency came about in media, as a result of internal emails and the fact that some new ads have been made by an internal team. Not just the advertising trade…
Canal+ has a fantastic track record for great, entertaining TV commercials. Most of them have gone wildly viral. Remember the ‘Never underestimate the power of a great story’ ad? And the ‘bear’ ad with the proposition, ‘The more you watch Canal+, the more you love cinema’? Now Canal+ and BETC Paris have created an interactive website which brings back elements from the bear commercial and allows the viewer to ‘become a film director’. The site…
Years ago, when working on Direct Response ads for clients, coupons in print ads and response cards in direct mailers were the order of the day. The success of the campaign depended on the response rate and whenever donations were involved – on the amount collected. I remember being told that response rates for ads seeking donation are likely to be higher if the ad asked for a specific amount (or higher) to be donated.…
Just how do they do it? Nike and Wieden+Kennedy always seem to create magic with their advertising. The latest ad is even better. The ad is story telling at its best. In fact it looks like a miniature version of classic animation films from Hollywood – the ones Pixar excels in. ‘The Last Game’ is a story about risky football versus safe football. The scientist and the clones want to prove that riskless football is…