Cut Price Thrills

I love it when brands do things you don't expect. When they do silly or amusing things that show genuine warmth or humour.

The new Aldi ad features one of those rare things, a piece of copy so good as to change the way I feel about an entire brand that I already know a lot about.

I don't want to oversell it, but this ad made everyone in the room erupt in belly laughs the first time they saw it. The previous ad in the series was ok, and now I have no idea how they can top this one.

No going for bland 'let's not offend anyone' half-humour here. No Tesco family observation, no Morrisons cute quip, no Sainsbury's Jamie joking. The writers went for a genuine gag in a price/product ad and hit it right on the head. A price/product ad!! This is the equivalent of putting real humour into a DFS script.

I have to give a lot of respect to the client here, I can imagine a lot of clients looking at a script like this and asking the agency to tone make it safer. (Warning - Amusing but bad sounding reference coming up) This isn't Hitler raping Ghandi's corpse but it's still risky enough to make you chuckle.

So not only have I smiled and felt better about a brand, I've remembered an ad that focuses on product and price. For a brand like Aldi surely there can be nothing better. I for one love it, and wish more brands would take these risks.

Sofa, so good

I know I know... bad headline ;)

I was shocked at DFS' new cinema ad yesterday, it features no product shots, as far as I recall no mention of the word sofa, no prices, three penguins, humour, and did 'i say no product shots?!



It's not the greatest ad in the world, but it is a: a bold step for furnishing ads, and b: a bold step for DFS. Normally ads for furnishings (especially sofa's and soft furnishings) leave you with a cold clinical taste, or poor celebrity endorsements, or sale overload, etc. This ad leaves you with a chuckle and a positive memory, especially (on second viewing) the penguins.

DFS have started to get it right in 2007, firstly with their idea of the importance of a sofa in the house, then with the (initially shaky) introduction of humour and self-reference (Another sale!), and now with relative subtlety.

I hope this continues into 2008.