According to an article I once read, ‘The Cure for Baldness’ is the most powerful headline to get the attention of bald people. I loved the obviousness. Ten years on in the game and I know it’s not quite as simple as the baldness example, but the principle of ‘matching need to headline’ is sound and I’m still eager and passionate about finding the messages that serve readers best.
Of course, today it needs to be beautiful and engaging (and digital and integrated) but let’s just dwell on the service element. Does your advertising serve the reader? I like that question. It’s a good one when so much communication actually serves itself, the creative people who write it, or the client who doesn’t want to make a fuss internally. So let’s look at the service level of the ads in The Business, which has recently gone to magazine format.
Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers once warned fellow bass players to avoid the creative trap of being ‘all flash and no smash’. Unfortunately, the Samsonite ad for the X’lite range of luggage falls into it. It’s big on celebrity but small on persuasion. I think Joaquin Cortes and the art direction usurps the no doubt fantastic product. The copy is too passive as well. The Richard Branson ad was far better (and perfect for this media). He’s a believably discerning businessman. Don’t get too luvvie, Samsonite.
Reader says, I forgive you because I know you make great luggage. Can I see that in your next ad please? By the way, I’m the celebrity in this ad.
In the body-copy of this ad there’s a line that says, ‘IBM helped the CIO of a heavy equipment manufacturer… cut their IT spending by more than £100 million over two years.’ I think the creative concept although intelligent gets in the way of this powerful proof point. Okay, I see it’s part of a wider campaign and the art direction is very professional; but if adherence to the creative execution stops you getting to the point, change the execution.
Reader says, Sorry, I didn’t read the body-copy.
This ad looks very sexy. Black background, Lovely product shot. And in the main it does a very good job. Perception says, ‘Blackberry = brick with silly keyboard’. Advertising says, ‘Blackberry can be a style accessory like your phone.’ But then there’s that paranoid subhead, which butts in with, ‘And, it’s tiny’. After the headline and picture, I was already convinced it was small. The ad doth protest too much. Now I want to know how big it really is. And now the ad doesn’t tell me. Is Blackberry hiding something? Probably not. Businesses will be inundated with requests from employees desperate to look a bit cooler as they feed their email addiction.
Reader says, It looks good. But how brick-like is it? Oh, you can’t be bothered to show me.
Only British Airways have done the in-flight bed-thing with imagination. That’s because the creatives just couldn’t bring themselves to do advertising that shows people asleep. Far better to own the ‘waking up refreshed’ position (that’s true insight). The Jet Airways ad is a ‘professionally blending in’ ad. I can smell the brief. ‘We just want to be up there. We just want to be credible. Our beds are just as flat as everybody else’s. Just use the catalogue shots’. Well, Jet Airways, you’ve succeeded in being totally me-too. And your agency has served you well. You look like a safe, quality-conscious airline. Creatively it’s poor. But you didn’t want to stand out. (So maybe it’s brilliant!)
Reader says, Thank you. Yawn.
I love the visual/verbal concept. The art direction leaves a lot to be desired, but who cares, it communicates. With two words I get the simple attitude of the editorial style of The Spectator. I would have done it without any extraneous elements: the border, the tag-line, the product/logo shot (The Spectator is so recognisable). Although jarring with the tone of the headlines, my day was a happier one for reading the line: ‘Champagne for the brain’. If you’re going to do naff slogans that reveal your boyish Eton-ness, do them well.
Reader says, Thank you. I know what your editorial style is about and you entertained me with a bit of visual wit. And that naff pun cheered me up.
Bad ads like these give me the security that, whatever happens, I can always find work in advertising. David Ogilvy gave great advice when he said,’Check that the headline isn’t in your body copy.’ (Are you listening, IBM?) It is in this ad. Right there in the first line. The fact that these properties have doubled in value in four years (while the owners played golf) will get attention, don’t you think? Okay, maybe there was that weird moment you sometimes get when you present a great ad and the client says, ‘This might get too much response.’ (I kid you not!). Good photography and layout wouldn’t go amiss either.
Reader says, No thanks. I expect better communication from someone who wants me to spend £220,000.