Crap Advertising

Brendan Leary wrote in the latest Saturday Star of what a fine job The Jupiter Drawing Room have done with their new ABSA account. Errr...no. I bought both the English and Afrikaans Sunday papers this weekend, and only once I came to face to face with what can only be described as a fullpage 'footsun' in the second newspaper, did I bother to look at what it was about. It took a while to spot the Absa logo, and I certainly didn't bother to read the loud scrawl radiating around the page. It doesn't work because it is too loud, too overwhelming, too confusing and worst: what the hell does a foot of many colors say about a bank?

I tested this theory by holding up the page and saying, "What do you think this is about?" Long blank look. "Okay, at least tell me what brand this is promoting." Long blank look. Eventually I had to say: "Errr...the logo is at the bottom..."
"Absa?" A surprised, somewhat disgusted, very confused look. And that, your honor, concludes my opening argument.

I don't doubt that TJDR is creative. I do doubt though that they particularly care about selling more stuff. They're often guilty of what I call 'self-conscious' advertising. The execution is great, award winning. But do you even remember the product all the glitz and glamour is for? And therein, lies the rub. In this case, it chafes.

I believe we are in for a new era in advertising. The functional characteristics of a thing are going to be endorsed (as we did once upon a time) and reliance on the touchy feely, on image, and defining yourself through a brand or product, will be important, but less important. But wait, there's more.

Red Bull needs to rethink their latest ad, featuring a bunch of rowers. Okay so it gives you physical 'vitality' as well as mental vitality, and the latter is illustrated because the guy who offered Red Bull to the rival team only offered it to rowers on one side. Brilliant? Well, if Red Bull made you so smart how come 5 or so oarsmen rowed in a circle? How come having consumed Red Bull they didn't come up with some sort of clever solution? See, the logic breaks down. Redo from start.

Final gripe is with a VW radio commercial. It's amusing. It features a chick thinking of different ways to break up with her boyfriend, and then grosses him out in the end with a finger trick. Then it makes a huge leap. From the boyfriend/girlfriend thing it moves to cars, and that in life we have a lot of choices. It took a while for me to realise this commercial was to advertise VW, and I still haven't made the link between the concept 'choice' and whatever cars they were advertising.

Sometimes a little bit more boring is a lot more effective. Think about how effective 94.7's Bucks or the Box is. Incredibly simple, incredibly effective.