Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Tyre'd of this bluntness

Always proof that huge media spend, big budgets and amazing celebrity endorsements don't buy you good creative; Gillette have sunk to a new low with what I can only describe as an appalling piece of work.

Not content with being the only brand able to make Thierry Henry lose his natural suave, they feel like forcing a blunt message down our throat (oh the irony) is the only way that we will absorb anything.

For fucks sake.
The latest compares using a blunt blade with using a worn tire. Makes sense in a way, though whether people actually don't know this or they are just trying to sell more blades I'm not sure.
Either way the ad is cheesy, dull, looks weird, and is so so damn annoying. So bad that I can't find it online to show you.

I don't want to point blame at the creatives or agency because the brand has suffered from this crap for years... But Proctor and Gamble didn't pay billions of dollars in brand value for the company in order to see it systematically damaged and knocked by work that would shame a two graduate startup agency let alone a multi national group.

At least the 80's stuff was full of pride and boldness in its quest to bombast us with positive male imagery. It's was overblown and American, but at least it felt like a real statement of the brands desire to keep us looking good.

The new stuff almost apologetically trips over itself in trying to mix a bit of creative with a blunt sales message. It fails to do either and makes the brand look half hearted, loud and old fashioned, like an 80 year old crazy man rambling at volume about something incoherent before falling over his shoelaces.

The agency does much better work, P+G do better work, the brand deserves better, why does it just not happen? Surely someone must see this and think 'my god this is awful'?

4 comments:

Andy said...

it's here

I agree, just awful.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-gnrMZTsPs



they should back this one... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6Pfp0oIz4g It's like having an angel by your side!

Claire C said...

These razor ads are always utterly terrible, but I saw the car garage execution the other week there and couldn't help thinking that the agency had at least tried to use some sort of creative idea instead of parading cleanly shaven sportsmen around the screen.

Of course, the ad is still toe curlingly bad. I wouldn't have expected anything less!

Rob Mortimer (aka Famous Rob) said...

Andy - Agreed, at least they left you in no doubt what Gillette as a brand stood for.

Crabbit - Tried is sadly the key word there. Sportsmen would be good if they actually used them properly. Even Renault made brilliant use of Henry back when.

Promotional Products said...

Alys a straight shooter... and that is why I keep coming back... Thanks for the post!