Tuesday, July 08, 2008

Advertising that should burn in agency hell for all eternity Part 1

Combine a brand famous for terrible tv ads with the band most hated (and by hated I mean violently disgusted by the sheer awfulness of) by the rock community.

What do you have?

DFS and Nickleback. Singlehandedly lowering the bar for ad music, creative relevance and cliche handling. I understand the idea of being influenced by a video, and it works in that respect, but dear god get a better band to utilise.

Hell, if you get some Machinehead into your next ad I will singlehandedly start the campaign to get it into Cannes next year.

DFS ads were improving... were.

9 comments:

nikoherzeg said...

Mr M,

I gotta ask you something on a totaly different note (thought it has some relevance to your blog and this post)

How much do you think deconstructing the strategy behind ads is the role of a planner? Is it still as important as, say 5 or 10 years ago? I kinda feel that planners are more and more needed on the businessmodel side of the brandproblem than on the ad side...

perhaps it's my natural inability to dissect ads (I have to admit, at the risk of not ever getting a planing gig, that I kinda suck at that aspect) and my natural instinct to look at the businessmodel, but I am just curious.

It's very helpfull to me to read these kinds of posts, but for how long, I gotta wonder?

Rob Mortimer (aka Famous Rob) said...

Very good question.

I wouldn't say you have to deconstruct rather than construct in the first place.

But as to your point: I think the best planners will look at and understand both. You have to understand the business model, which leads you to a good brand, which leads to you to good ads. If you can solve the problems and ensure that the right messaging and tone goes throughout the chain you'll be doing a good job.

Just make sure you read the business news and marketing news alongside the advertising news and blogs!

Robert said...

Deconstruction is vital - but it's important to look deeper than just interms of one ad because when done correctly, it can give you massive clues as regards what the competition are doing interms of their business and communication strategy ... however as Mr M points out, you can't spend your life just being influenced by what your competitors are doing or you'll never move forward, it's just a case of being well armed and being able to exploit/protect against opportunities that may or may not present themselves.

God I've even bored myself with this comment, sorry ...

nikoherzeg said...

paint me pink and call me piggy!! Mr Campbell...how ya doin'?

S & L boring you to death with math problems, so you decided to get in the blogosphere again?

You both make very valid points, which means going back to the drawingboard for me.. damn you two ;)

Robert said...

I aim to displease :)

David Mortimer said...

Never made it as a salesman
I couldn't tell when they had poor stitching
I picked sofas like a blind man
But Nickleback made my wallet start itching

And this is how you remind me
This is how you remind me of your double discounts
This is how you remind me of your double discounts

It's not like you to say sorry
This sale was for two weeks only
This time I'm mistaken
For handing you a cheque worth bouncing
And I've been wronged, I've been down
Into the bottom of every warehouse
Yeah these words in my head
Scream are you having a sale yet?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, no no
Yeah, yeah, yeah, no no

It's not like it had no back
With cushions I could just about do
but the seats they had no slack,
and living with it made me walk like Pingu

And this is how you remind me of your double discounts
This is how you remind me of your double discounts

It's not like you to say sorry
This sale was for two weeks only
This time I'm mistaken
For handing you a cheque worth bouncing
And I've been wronged, I've been down
Into the bottom of every warehouse
Yeah these words in my head
Scream are you having a sale yet?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, no no
Yeah, yeah, yeah, no no
Yeah, yeah, yeah, no no
Yeah, yeah, yeah, no no

I’m sorry Mr Salesman
Apparently this wasn’t enough bitching
And this is how you remind me
This is how you remind me
This is how you remind me of your double discounts
This is how you remind me of your double discounts

It's not like you to say sorry
This sale was for two weeks only
This time I'm mistaken
For handing you a cheque worth bouncing
And I've been wronged, I've been down
Into the bottom of every warehouse
Yeah these words in my head
Scream are you having a sale yet?
Yeah, yeah, are you having a sale yet?
Yeah, yeah, are you having a sale yet?
Yeah, yeah, are you having a sale yet?

Anonymous said...

At least the girls come easy and the drugs come cheap - nothing to pay for a year and 0% interest thereafter.
And now available in The Designer Collection Pez dispenser.

Rob Mortimer (aka Famous Rob) said...

Thanks for reappearing RobC.

Also, two top standard comments there from David and Anon 2.05

Anonymous said...

DFS... they also massacred Bob Dylan's Subterranean Homesick Blues two years ago. That was far more heretical, in my view.