schering-plough's claritin print ad turns product superiority to pffft!

"fast acting (in 15 minutes), long lasting (24 hrs), no drowsiness" - those are powerful product benefits that creatives really love to work with. they can go to town with those. it gives them so many options at turning these into a great product superiority story. not only that, the number of possible creative concepts are so wide - speed, long-lasting and no usual side effects. very rich with possibilities.

but what did schering plough do? well, they turned the pot of gold that they had into pfffft!

it's a print ad devoid of any kind of imagination or creativity. this ad was created by an ad agency who do not believe creative is what ad agencies strive for. there is even no strategy visual, which given the product benefits present a huge trove of what can be done. there isn't even a creative concept to speak of.

there is an attempt at being creative or strategic with the headline of "power over allergy", but it's too lame given with what they can work on. they have this copy at the bottom enumerating what causes allergy, but it's just there and not made use of in the ad.

it amazes me how one can throw away such excellent copy points and not use them at all. there are so many products that are advertised that cannot make any superiority claims and yet they are able to squeeze some creative juices to make them appear superior. any adman knows a superiority story is what you always aim for in advertising. claritin has a few angles and yet unused. go figure!

although, i think i know what this print ad is. i think it's from a powerpoint presentation of the brand manager of claritin that they literally made into a print ad. i hope schering plough was not charged with any fees for the artist and art director on this one.

it's a WAWAM!