today's AMAZING TV AD : honda's "cog" 2 minute tv spot

for more on this, go to this post : http://the-wawam-file.blogspot.com/2008/04/cog-honda-tv-spot-another-amazing-ad.html; april 14 post.
the inspiration is mount pinatubo when some years ago, all of a sudden, after decades of being dormant, it decided to erupt, spewing debris and ash several kilometers high, blowing ashes to float everywhere, far and wide, turning the skies gloomy gray as far away as metro manila, hundreds of kilometers away, covering metro manila streets and rooftops with thick ash. the pinatubo eruption was so powerful that its ashes changed the color of sunsets not only in the philippines but also worldwide.

that's what happens when clients and advertising agencies decide to run ads not worthy to be called advertising. its dark, its huge and very irritating and unfortunately, everywhere!

all they are doing is wawam! what a waste of advertising money!

here is a first row view of Philippine Advertising and Philippine Marketing.

mount pinatubo erupts shooting ashes several kilometers high, then floating to blanket many other towns hundreds of kilometers away

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Saturday, October 18, 2008

Six Flags tv spot - how the power of brand character can make you dance! move over ellen!

we have come to expect to see certain things from ads of certain brands. we expect to see these communicated either as visuals, part of story plots or copy. it's like when we see these elements, we know what kind of product is being sold. these are mostly the obvious ones - refreshment from drinks, clean from detergents, power and ride from cars or beauty from cosmetics.

in advertising terms, we call that generic benefits. these are benefits that all brands that compete in the same category can offer.

caution: positioning your brand on these "generic benefits" is a double edged sword - it can harm your brand or it can benefit your brand.

it can benefit your brand as your target audience will see things that are familiar to them and will readily sympathize with them. but because your competition have the same benefits, it can harm your brand as you are not offering anything different or unique. one of the things an ad is supposed to do is to set your brand apart from competition. that is one of the core reasons you advertise in the first place and also one of the characteristics of a great ad.

aside from product benefit, the other component that makes an ad a great one is brand character. actually i think having a great brand character is a lost art in many ads specially in the philippine market. it's one component that is largely forgotten and ignored and i would say something many creatives in the philippines do not understand at all.

this Six Flags tv spot is one ad that has practically nothing but brand character in it. and it works brilliantly! you have to love Six Flags after seeing this ad. you very quickly and strongly understand what Six Flags stand for and yes the compelling reason why you should visit it the next time you go to an amusement park.

they could have shown the fantastic rides Six Flags has. it is very popular for their rides, they have one of the most exciting rides in the market. but that's not what they talked about in the ad. instead they dramatized the feeling one gets in going to a Six Flags park. you get it. you smile and you may have even danced to it a little bit.

brilliant advertising!




thanks to charlotte from san francisco, california for sending us the link for this Six Flags tv spot.
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1 comment:

  1. AnonymousOctober 22, 2008 at 8:13 AM

    its good to see this ad featured here. i think it is one of the best ads ever.

    ReplyDelete

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