What A Waste Of Advertising Money! A view on Philippine advertising and Philippine Marketing.
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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just a few days ago, bacchus was featured in WAWAM! for their ad that worked really well. that commerical is an old ad and they have a new current on air.
i have seen this ad many times on tv. i have viewed this ad here a few more times. and i honestly can say this --- what is this tv ad all about? i have tried very hard to understand it, but i still don't get it.
i think the story is that this guy with the messed up hair used his mind in the pursuit of the other guy by using the elevator. he drank the bacchus while inside the elevator. his companion used his brawn by using the fire escape to climb the building and jump across two buildings. i am not sure but i think that's story there. and i got that only now in this blog after watching the ad a few times. i didn't get that story when i saw the ad on tv many times.
here is the most puzzling of all - what has the change in the voice at the end got to do with the story? what did that mean?
when it's an energy drink tv commercial, you know what to expect to see. the category name says it all. but not this tv spot for bacchus energy drink. there are a few things about it that are unexpected and they all work well together!
the positioning is the first unexpected twist for this energy drink. it went beyond brawn, it took in brains - "not just physical energy but also mental energy". it didn't make too much of a sale on it, but the story in the commercial gave it a good enough spin. energy is obviously a generic benefit to the category and being single minded on that makes bacchus just one of all the rest of the energy drinks. smart move number 1.
the target market of young professionals and in call centers is smart move number 2. the BPO industry is a large one and it's where you can find the largest number of young professionals. working the night shift is the thing you do when you work in call centers and that makes energy drinks a most appealing product. next to coffee, energy drinks are probably the second most consumed drink in the call center industry.
these young professionals will also find appeal in the mental aspect of the positioning. most of them are college graduates and will appreciate the ad's recognition that it also takes brains to do well in a call center job.
IT people however will probably laugh at the ad, as the supervisor's copy lines did not make sense. the lines mentioned unrelated topics and did not sound technical enough or mentally difficult enough. they should have consulted an IT professional to help them write those copy lines.
you get the humor and you appreciate it, smart move no. 3. the humor is there not just for relief but used to demonstrate key aspects of the positioning.
it also works very well because of the excellent casting, the main talent in the ad was a perfect choice - his looks were exactly what we expected. the acting was superb - real looking and not at all overly done. over-doing it is a great temptation in a storyboard like this. that means the director did an excellent job.
this bacchustv spot is an energy boost - an excellent cocktail of brawn, brains and humor that works very well.
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Ano Daw Sabi? Sindrome (ADS? Sindrome)
when an ad is unclear in what it is saying, that is the reaction you have -Ano Daw Sabi? (what did it say?).
and whenever an advertising has ADS?, it's actually a "sin" to the client and to the business of the brand.
if an ad is unclear in what it is trying to say, or even just parts of it, what is it's reason for being then? it can be just 10 seconds of the ad or the whole 30 seconds, any second that has the ADS? Sindrome makes the whole ad a WAWAM!
the ADS? Sindrome is a specific malady that makes the ad a WAWAM!
everyone is welcome to join WAWAM! and post here. advertising and marketing practitioners, students of marketing and advertising or anyone who has something to say about advertising or who just wants to be heard are welcome to join WAWAM!.
send an email to wawam.authors@gmail.com and we will send an invite to allow you to post here.
you're in advertising or brand management and you got ads (tv, radio, print, billboard or brochures/flyers, etc.), give WAWAM! a copy and let's discuss it here. give us the link in YouTube if it's posted there already.
know of an ad in YouTube you want to talk about, give us the link! it can be any ad, something you worked on or one your company or friend did or something you just find interesting.
WAWAM! is adding a new section and we're calling it "Brain Food".
Brain Food is where you can find titles of books to read on marketing and advertising and the occasional books on management and leadership.
Unless stated otherwise, these books are available in the Philippines. If available, will also post links, excerpts or reviews of the books featured here. These will be posted in the main blog section but from time to time will post them in this section for quick access.
For easy access, all Brain Food posts will be tagged. To access all the Brain Food posts, Just click "Brain Food" in the "inside WAWAM!" section.
Also, tell us of any interesting book you have read and will post them in Brain Food.
view synopsis here : http://the-wawam-file.blogspot.com/2008/08/brain-food-4-good-to-great-by-jim.html
tracking start august 10, 2008
the anti-WAWAM! word of the day
> Advertising Budget As An Investment : getting your brand in the minds of consumers do not happen overnight. If you want this to be there quickly and strongly, you need to spend for it. Also, there's a reason why the advertising expense is called an "investment". why? think about it.
the anti-WAWAM! words of past
> Advertising Budget As An Investment : getting your brand in the minds of consumers do not happen overnight. If you want this to be there quickly and strongly, you need to spend for it. Also, there's a reason why the advertising expense is called an "investment". why? think about it.
> Brand Character - often glossed over and mostly misunderstood, but is a powerful brand separator and more importantly a powerful cause for WAWAM! brand character success may not be the most powerful success factor but it's a powerful pull down to failure.
> Consumer Insight - a consumer insight is NOT a consumer research finding. if you took the words out of a consumer research finding and wrote it in as a consumer insight, you are in the wrong track.
> Consumer Insight - if you don't have one, DO NOT proceed with your product or advertising launch. do so only if you have a consumer insight.
> Consumer Insight - neither is a consumer insight a marketing objective or problem and not an advertising objective or problem. if your consumer insight sounds very much like these, you are in the wrong track, in a horribly wrong track. change it quickly!
> Entertainment Value - tv spots are aired on TV whose primary role in our lives is to provide entertainment. if your ad does not entertain in some way, why air in a medium meant for entertainment?
> Tag Line : the art and discipline of a great tag line has been lost and it seems it is no longer in practice. A poor or weak tag line means you don't really have an ad concept
> Talents - if you chose a talent to appear on an ad just on the basis of looks alone, you are in the wrong track. Acting ability is obviously needed, but there are a few intagibles that you need to look out for.
> Target Audience - if what you have in your advertising and marketing plan is just a statement of demographics, you are in the wrong track. even if you added psychographics, you're still in the wrong track. make your target definition work hard!
> WAWAM! - What A Waste Of Advertising Money! mostly advertising materials that are failures, unable to inform, persuade or build an image or build business for the brand. they are advertising where good money is spent on bad things. it's impact is equivalent to not spending money at all.
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times. and i honestly can say this --- what is this tv ad all about? i have tried very hard to understand it, but i still don't get it.
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