This blog.
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– Words by Jeff
All posts tagged Ads
Saturday Spamday
Posted by Jeff Osborn on November 16, 2013
https://dontadvertisetome.wordpress.com/2013/11/16/saturday-spamday-9/
A Walk in the Clouds
Back in the 1990s Airwalk jumped from a young, middling shoe company to one of most dominating footwear firms on the planet.
Malcolm Gladwell wrote about the little engine that could – their successes and failures – in his classic exploration of epidemics, The Tipping Point.
Airwalk rose on the back of focused messaging and edgy, gutsy advertising. Not long after, they slipped on the back of growth and all the hazards that come with trying to do too much, too fast. It makes sense. They had to come back down to ground at some point. Because, you know, gravity.
At the height of their powers, Airwalk was pumping out advertisements that did not just promote their brand but tapped into the veins of their target market. They struck a nerve in a big way. They took a look at what the market offered and what was missing. Then they hit all the right notes with risky, sexy, funny ads – print, television and otherwise – and climbed high in the apparel world.
For me the two big takeaways are: The only thing in this world that matters are people (and what they want) and trajectory matters.
Enjoy a few of Airwalk’s classic ads while you think about how you can not just connect with your audience, but improve their lives.
– Words by Jeff
Posted by Jeff Osborn on November 13, 2013
https://dontadvertisetome.wordpress.com/2013/11/13/a-walk-in-the-clouds/
My Sister Hooked Me Up With A Loan Shark Pt. 2: D-Bag on a Vespa
Sometimes an evil is so great one must post about it… twice… inside of a couple weeks. Again, I focus your attention to the lecherous lending institution, MoneyTree, and dare you not to be outraged by their inexplicable audacity.
This time the compassionate family vibe has been tossed to the side for some shiftless hipster that must bank at some ass backwards institution that nobody who has legitimate expenses and bills would use. Most major banking branches release funds from checks to you within the same business day and his direct deposit should be hitting his checking account bi-weekly. I have a hard time comprehending how in the age of debit cards, ATMs, credit cards, and even scannable cellphone apps that anyone would have such a difficult time accessing funds. This whole commercial doesn’t make sense.
Until you understand that this guy isn’t employed and probably lives off money orders and birthday cards from his affluent parents. There’s no other way to explain some smiling douche bag that shrugs off paying all the excess fees it takes to utilize MoneyTree’s services while using a prepaid debit card as his primary form of spending, but can spend all his time cruising around on his vespa and going to bonfires.
So thank you, MoneyTree, for not only hunting down desperate housewives, but for also supporting a legion of Manchildren stuck in a perpetual quarter life crisis. I suppose I have to give you credit for targeting a sector of the population that could be easily duped by the Peter Pan philosophy of living, but I’m sure their Moms would appreciate it more if you threw in a GED answer key or Taco Bell job interview with every high interest fee you charge them.
-Words by Stuck
Posted by Jeff Osborn on November 11, 2013
https://dontadvertisetome.wordpress.com/2013/11/11/my-sister-hooked-me-up-with-a-lone-shark-pt-2-d-bag-on-a-vespa/
Redd’s Apple Ale
I understand these recent spots for Redd’s Apple (and Strawberry) Ale, which is probably why they went with them.
They are short, funny and to the point.
Slapstick is present because Redd’s knows their target audience will respond to it. The same is true for the presence of football and the absence of the word “cider.”
I give respect and a million extra credit points to Redd’s for making an Ale rather than a cider and staying firmly focused on a certain type of beer drinker since the 2013 Super Bowl, at least. Carving a new lane – making a new map, even – is admirable.
My initial though after reviewing Redd’s ads was that they might have more success if they advertised to lady alcohol drinkers. After all, what man is going to drink a fruit-flavored ale? Are football playing, bar-going dudes going to drink apple and strawberry ale?
Despite what common sense tells us, the answer is yes. If Redd’s can succeed in making it cool, men will drink it. Taking lumps is cool. Being different is cool. Funny is cool. Different, when all is said and done, is cool.
– Words by Jeff
Posted by Jeff Osborn on November 8, 2013
https://dontadvertisetome.wordpress.com/2013/11/08/redds-apple-ale/
Less Phone, More Beer
Amstel recently launched an App that rewards users with free beer.
It is simple: Rack up blocks of 30 minute streaks of not looking at your phone, get a free beer.
Not that long ago companies and marketing firms would have united in their hatred for this idea. Why on earth would you make something and then reward people for not using it (in this case, an mobile application)?
We live in a different world and time.
Every company and brand wants an App. So many have Apps – and entire Internet presences – just because.
Amstel’s App is witty, providing an incentive for something that most people want to do already: Use their phones a little less. And that is something to be celebrated.
-Words by Jeff
Hat tip: Fast Company
Bonus: The ad agency behind Amstel’s App, Next Digital Creative Agency (Next-DC), based in Sofia, Bulgaria, also released this gem of a video that falls beautifully in line with their new App.
Posted by Jeff Osborn on November 4, 2013
https://dontadvertisetome.wordpress.com/2013/11/04/less-phone-more-beer/
Saturday Spamday
Today I want to focus not on an act of spam, or even an organization guilty of spamming. Instead, I want to think out loud a little bit about the principles of spam.
The Internet has changed spam forever, and not in the way you might think.
Most people think of spam and immediately think of the Internet – pop ups, Viagra emails, Twitter hacks, the list goes on.
The thing is that spam was here already. The Internet actually helped us define it and separate it out.
It is now easier than it has ever been to identify spam and spammers, all thanks to the Internet.
And this applies to more than just online spam. People have been mailing us spam and calling us when we do not want them to for years, but it has only been recently that opt-out lists for mailers and “do not call lists” have cropped up. We have the new world as shown to us by the Internet to thank.
The Internet opened us up to a previously rare idea – companies and organizations can be infiltrated and made transparent.
More amazing still, organizations learned that they could benefit from operating with honesty and an ambition to build relationships with their clients and supporters.
-Words by Jeff
Posted by Jeff Osborn on November 2, 2013
https://dontadvertisetome.wordpress.com/2013/11/02/saturday-spamday-7/
A World Without Words
The Marketing team in charge of promoting “The Book Thief” film has done something marvelous.
So often ads are just there. Companies have marketing budgets and they know they need to advertise. They know the rules (repeat your name/product/service; brand, brand, brand; be entertaining) but their end result could be an advertisement for anything.
The Internet allows us to make things personal, and now we expect personal across all media platforms.
The new film, “The Book Thief” caught headlines last week with a blank two-page ad in the New York Times.
Not only were those blank pages – and the guts it took to pay for two empty pages in The Times – perfectly matched to the film they were meant to market, they were refreshing.
I can imagine upper-level executives saying things like, “Why would we pay to not print words in a NEWSPAPER?!?”
The ad was a lot of things. Beautiful. Smart. Engaging. But, most of all, it was personal.
If a picture is worth 1,000 words, the sixteen characters – wordsarelife.com – that ran at the bottom of the second page are worth infinite pictures.
– Words by Jeff
Posted by Jeff Osborn on October 28, 2013
https://dontadvertisetome.wordpress.com/2013/10/28/a-world-without-words/
My Sister Hooked Me Up With A Loan Shark
I have to admit, it’s probably hard to create a positive image for a company like Moneyrree. Most people are not stoked about having to take out short term loans in order to pay for unforeseen expenditures, while the one’s who are jacked up about it probably have some hard times looming in their future. Like car insurance or a can of bear mace, Moneytree is an option most people would be glad to leave in their nightmares.
While I understand the tough spot advertisers have when promoting Moneytree, I find the family theme they use in this commercial downright creepy. The image of children playing and this warm fuzzy atmosphere doesn’t mesh with any kind of financial pitfall. Then comes the line that haunts me the most is:
“…Family came to the rescue. My sister told me about getting a payday loan from Moneytree.”
Gee, thanks Sis, I just upped you to hero status for giving me the equivalent of an invitation to go as your plus one to a Corleone wedding. When I default on my house and CPS takes my kids away, hopefully you can suggest a good homeless shelter and social worker.
Maybe I’m crazy for thinking that coming to the aid of family in a time of need would constitute bringing some meals, watching the kids while they work graveyard during the holidays, or hell, lending them the money without interest, or even a payment plan, YOURSELF. Suggesting a high interest loan while sitting back and watching the situation grow potentially worse is hardly the act of a savior.
This ad scares me off Moneytree so bad that I’ll take my chances at a back alley dice game with my last 20 bucks before setting a foot in their offices, should my own financial situation become that desperate. Or, I suppose I could actually start building a savings account like I promised my mom I would when I moved out years ago. Maybe…
– Words by Stuck
Posted by Jeff Osborn on October 25, 2013
https://dontadvertisetome.wordpress.com/2013/10/25/my-sister-hooked-me-up-with-a-loan-shark/
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