slimmers world discovers the miracle of white space!

that rehab session has done wonders for slimmers world! look at what white spaces have done to their latest print ad:

the new slimmers world print ad and the miracle of white spaces

it's not the ideal print ad layout yet, but more white spaces has done a miraculous job at improving the layout of the print ad. more white spaces forced the layout into a 1/3 kind of layout where the image of the girl dominates the ad and the other elements reduced significantly. the whole thing gave the ad a little more focus and easier to the eyes. the headline now calls attention to itself much better than before.

compare the above, newest layout to the layout before, below:

the palengkera ad where all the white spaces were disrespected

there is a big difference in look, feel and the point i was saying - brand character between the two print ads. the above ad is the quintessential "palengkera" ad. your eyes and brain get so confused with the above ad that you refuse to read any of it.

just to drive home the point, here is the latest layout with more white spaces if seen wrong side up. in this one, you know its the wrong side up.

again, it's not the ideal layout yet. but as shown here, more white spaces in the ads go a long way in forcing a little more discipline into the layout resulting to a better print ad. they have tweaked the layout very often already and yet the improvements have just been baby steps, really.

why just baby steps? the weakness of the ad is not really just the layout, it runs much deeper than that. the weakness of the ad is really at it's core - the ad concept itself. and that is next here in WAWAM!

just the same - congrats to slimmers world for discovering the white spaces! a few more giant leaps and soon you will get out of WAWAM!

read all the posts on slimmers world here : http://the-wawam-file.blogspot.com/search/label/slimmers%20world

part 1: slimmers world palengkera ads

these were the first print ads of slimmers world where we said something needs to be done on their layout. the layout idea seemed to be eat up as much white space as possible and get all the messages crammed in, in equal parts. it felt like a glamorized classified ads page.

while slimmer's world is supposed to be for beauty and sexy bodies for women who belong to the ABC socio-eco class, the brand image communicated by these ads is that of the palengkera who we can hear a mile away and would never, ever want to be with.

they have new layouts recently and that's what's next in WAWAM!

palengkera ad 1

palengkera ad 2

the one below had a tiny bit of improvement from the above ads. this ad now moves away from the 3/3 equal parts layout. this one below has a dominant visual. but still the palengkera brand image is there.

long legged palengkera ad 3

please scroll down for part 2....

part 2 : slimmers world beauty queen palenkera ads

it was beauty pageant time and they probably sponsored the event and got this deal with the beauty pageant. but the crazy layout mania continue to reign supreme.

beauty queen palengkera ad 4

this layout below was breathtaking! you can see baby steps improvements - ah, a little more white space, and not all the visuals take equal space.

beauty queen palengkera ad 5

please scroll down for next and final part....

part 3: slimmers world palengkera ad goes to rehab!

then one morning, i open the newspaper and on page 3 - i got the shock of my life! i saw this slimmer's world print ad that i think went to rehab!

look at the ad below: much more white space! 1 almost dominant main picture! large pictures! much smaller pictures of the other services! they are no longer cramped into that tiny space!

what a big improvement from their previous ads!

palengkera goes to rehab ad 6

but...... it's still a palengkera ad and a WAWAM!. less than the first ones, but still the same. WAWAM! is happy, they are taking baby steps to redemption. hope they continue attending the rehab.

did WAWAM! have something to do with their rehab?

read all the posts on slimmer's world here : http://the-wawam-file.blogspot.com/search/label/slimmers%20world

slimmers world print ad - poster ad of the bad and ugly

that's one of the first print ads of slimmers world that was posted in WAWAM! it's print ads quickly became WAWAM!'s poster print ad for what's bad and ugly in print ad layouts.

the print ad at the left is shown in that way because it's about the same if printed right side up.

but, there is good news for this palenkera print ad. that's next in WAWAM!

marie france vs slimmers world, doing it right versus doing it wrong

there is a different marie france print ad at the PDI, published in the same page 3 space.

first, let me make it clear - i do not see the marie france print ad as winning any advertising award soon or even later, neither do i see it as the epitome of a brilliant print ad, but comparing it to the slimmers world print ad, it's very plain to see what "doing it right" means and what "doing it wrong" means.

it's a great comparison specially because both companies are direct competitors (although i suspect they have the same owners because of the similarity in marketing approach, but that's just a suspicion) and more often than not, their ads are published on the same day, occupying pages one over the other in newspapers. it's a great study at looking at how two different companies competing in the same industry, both going after the same target market comes up with very different print ads, one doing things right, the other doing things wrong. and we're not even talking about strategies, it's easy to see where it fails just on the execution part.

the above marie france print ad have many things right - ad concept was very simple, it had focus and was obviously single-minded in message. the visuals (side-by-side tummy comparison) are also eloquent - there is no way you can miss the message the print ad is conveying. just look at the pictures and you get what it means. there is no doubt at all on the message it is telling you.

there are a few more ways to improve it, here are two - they could have been a little more playful and they could have exaggerated the differences between the two tummies even more to make for a slightly funny but more arresting print ad.

there is a slight problem - bikini tops and bottoms of the two women in the ad are different. they could have made both talents wear the same bikini tops and bottoms to make a cleaner and clearer side-by-side comparison. but that's just being very fastidious.

now, compare the above marie france print ad to the latest slimmers world palenkera print ad:

this slimmers world print ad is an excellent ad if you want to have sore eyes. aside from the sexy bikini-clad, long legged talent in the print at, you don't want to read anything else on the ad, much less pay attention to anything. honestly now, after looking at that ad, can you actually recall what the message is in the ad? when exposed to the ad, most people will just admire the beautiful long legs of the talent and move on to the next page of the newspaper. they are gorgeous legs that are 1 kilometer in length!

comparing these two ads, it tells you the ad agency who did marie france print ad had brains in the right places and are professional enough to make a decent ad for their client. the ad agency of the slimmers world ad on the other hand have their brains only in their wallets whose obvious concern was just to pick up the 17.65% commission on these ads. it's a no brainer ad, and i don't mean that as a compliment. shame on the slimmers world ad agency!

i say it again, this palengkera slimmers world print ad is a WAWAM!

there is a third version of the slimmers world print ad!

it still has the pelengkera brand character! but there is a very slight improvement in the layout - the horizontal lay-out tends to make you read from left to right, no longer does the design elements to confuse and disorient the reader. but the overwhelming palenkera brand character continue to be there.

like the first two layouts, slimmers world could have printed this ad on the wrong side and it would have not mattered. see for yourself, below:

slimmers world WAWAM! print ad

there's a sneaky feeling the slimmers world print ad is a client-developed ad, someone in the PR department or a clerk who knows how to do some basic computer graphics did the layout and conceptualization of the ad. it's that or the high school child of the the owner of slimmers world did the print ad like a class project in her laptop at nights.


this ad is so terribly done that i think they could have printed the ad upside down and it would have been as effective when it was printed right side up.

this is so bad that i refuse to believe this print ad was done by an ad agency or even someone who has some advertising agency experience. i don't think someone who works in the ad industry can do something as bad as this one.

the ad violates every principle one can think of in doing a design lay-out for a print ad. even an art department trainee or a copywriter trainee will not do an ad like this.

if this ad was done by an ad agency, this then is prime example on what ails the philippine advertising industry. this lay-out should be used by every course in advertising in all universities and colleges in the philippines under the heading : "how to screw up a print ad : what you should never, never do. promise!".

the print ad's layout reminds me of those tea leaves fortune telling where the tea leaves are thrown into a cup of water and it's resulting image is read to tell the fortune of a client. everything in this print ad does not make sense. there are many, but let's just mention a few as analyzing this print ad is making me dizzy.

• where in the world is the headline? it's supposed to be "world class slimming, fitness, face and skin by" (yes, the very top of the ad.), then you get lost, you think it's a typo as it's an incomplete sentence! hahaha. actually, if you do some very close scrutiny, you will see the completion of that sentence, "slimmers world". look closely, it's hidden on the next line, center page.


• the lay-out is a nightmare - there is no center to the print ad. every component is given almost equal prominence, that your mind will refuse to look at anything in the ad.


• believe it or not, they have crammed at least 8 products and services into that print ad and none of it you understand what they are. you know they are there but your mind is refusing to read any of it.

the copywriting is of no help either. with this kind of lay-out, you really don't want to read the print ad. but for the purpose of analyzing the print ad, i forced myself into reading the copy. and it's of no help. nothing spectacular or mind boggling about it. the copy lines they have are just like words lifted from a brochure or the manual they got when they ordered the machines and technology they use in slimmers world. here's a sample - what is the difference between "Buy 1 month, get 1 month free!" and "Buy 15 treatments and get 15 treatments free!"???? they mean the same thing, right? but in this print ad, they chose to put them in two separate sections of the ad in the most irritating large fonts. i don't see the point of separating them if the only difference is just "treatments" and membership. collapsing these two ideas into one would have lessened the extreme clutter on the layout.

they have a second layout of the same ad, above. that should have been cause for a celebration and some hope, but all they did was change the image in the center of the print ad, the rest practically the same - a palengkera print ad.

a WAWAM!

if only brand character can kill

there are so many things wrong with the slimmers world print ad (black & white print ad, first of the pair) that it can boggle your mind. but, this will focus on - brand character.

the marie france print ad (2nd ad, color ad) is usually placed on page 3 of the PDI and the slimmers world print ad, on the next flip page, page 5. so that means even from a target audience stand point, they can immediately compare these two print ads and the companies/services they are advertising. in other words my observation will be obvious even to ordinary readers of the newspaper, those who are not working in the advertising and marketing industries.

one quick look at the ads, don't even read them and one thing is very apparent - there is a difference in brand character or brand image between the two companies/services.

slimmers world is the "palenkera" brand character, the noisy, screaming, scandalous neighbor who talks and behaves as if she is in a palengke even if she has a whistle bait body. you might want to look at her, but you will do it only once as you won't be able to stand looking at her again because of her palengkera personality. her personality makes you puke. and, please, you don't want to have anything to do with her.

not that the above description is not valid for some brands, but for a service that promises a sexier figure for women, that's like a mortal sin.

in the first place, who can afford to enroll in a service like slimmers world? slimmers world is not cheap. only the AB upper C and a few of the broad C can afford slimmers world. not to mention slimmer world branches are actually located in places like greenhills and the makati cbd. their location confirms my assumption on the kind of target market they have. would women who belong to the AB and upper C appreciate and get attracted to palengkeras? if you have a body that needs slimming services, you in fact want discretion and privacy. this slimmers world print ad says exactly the opposite.

the core benefit that they are selling goes beyond losing fat and cutting inches, they are actually selling beauty. will anyone see beauty in a palengkera? everybody hates a palengkera. you avoid them like a plague.

what makes matters worse for the palengkera slimmers world is that because of the media placement, their target market can compare them to their direct competitor. to add insult to injury, again because of the placement, marie france is the first print ad to be seen. the target audience will probably sigh and admire the luscious bodies they see in the marie france ad and aspire to have the same kind of sexy body, then flip the page and everything just goes downhill when they see the slimmers world ad.

i have mentioned that brand character is one of the ad elements that are often glossed over or even forgotten and yet it is one of the most important components where many brands fail and is the cause of failures for some ad campaigns. this is prime example of that thinking.

these two ads advertise brands that are direct competitors, they offer a similar service that offer essentially the same consumer benefit and are targeting the same target audience and yet the brand characters are so different and very apparent. for marie france and slimmers world, consumers will chose the brand that they will feel they can connect with, a brand that they think represent who they are.

flipping from the marie france print ad, this slimmers world print ad is an eye sore. it's beyond an eye sore, you can get so dizzy that you might want to puke. there are many more wrong things about the slimmers world print ad, but let me take a break, i feel like throwing up. will post what's wrong with the print ad another time.

it's a WAWAM!