Fosbury Flops

I'm sure we're not the only ones to have noticed Dick Fosbury being used to advertise two very different products in a very similar way.

I've no idea which commercial came first but, putting aside the ridiculousness of agencies not doing their homework to find out whether Fosbury was going to be gainfully and simultaneously employed in any other marketing campaign, I think both ads demonstrate lazy thinking.

It's this depressing "advertising by association" trend which, instead of finding something meaningful and motivating to say about a product, seeks to align a brand with the intrinsic values of something or somebody else often totally unrelated to their core business.

In this instance, Fosbury's pioneering method of jumping over a bar onto a mattress is being used to draw a [lame] parallel with the offerings of Wuaki and Mazda. The ads rely on a detailed voiceover to spell out what they want people to take out from the communication and the products end up being a mere bolt on at the end. It's easy for me to say that this kind of generic approach can be taken for any brand, especially as two companies have already done this.

Pardon the pun, but in both cases, this is not a great leap to take. By making these associations it's painfully apparent that Wuaki and Mazda desperately want us to think that they too are revolutionary.

If they had bothered to focus the communication on informing people about why they might be revolutionary rather than just saying that "we're also revolutionary/rule changing" then I might be arsed to think about their products differently.

Instead, the ads feel like a bit of indulgent, self-congratulatory, trumpet blowing.

The only person I can see benefiting from these campaigns in the long run is Dick Fosbury who undoubtedly got a very comfy landing on a mattress full of cash.

Skateboarding ads are guff

With the exception of Lakai of course. A more detailed look at the standard of skateboarding advertising coming soon. Ish.

Ad of the year so far.

Gary Goals. He's scored in "every match he's ever playsed in" dontcha know. Surprised Sam Allardyce hasn't been on the phone yet.

January is crap

But if you are in London, here are two things to make it a bit less crap:



Mark Denton's D&AD lecture

and Dave Trott's talk at the Typographic Circle.

Who's your mate?

Humour is as much a part of Advertising as the beloved starburst or product shot. During recent toilet sessions I've pondered why a brand would want to be 'that funny guy', and how Advertising can play a balancing act between Marketing and Entertainment. Here's where I'm at...

No one wants to listen to a dry faceless life-sucking rainforest-destroying multinational corporation selling them stuff - boooooring - the public are much more receptive to a friendly human guise (puppet old aged pensioner loan sharks for example). Whether the Frankenstein's monster personification is revealed explicitly or not, a brand's persona could be male or female, old or young, and just like real people they can be largely serious or playful and funny.

Comedy in Advertising can be a great way to relate with people, broach an otherwise awkward subject or just poke fun at life's little ironies. I'm sure you can think of ads that have made you laugh out loud, but also some real stinkers. One size rarely fits all. (For the record, I don't believe ANYONE finds the smarmy Money Supermarket bloke chatting shit about running with cats funny.)

So trying to make a brand/ad funny is a big gamble. On one hand if it's a good fit for your product, comes from a truth and it's well crafted you could really resonate with someone, or on the other it could crash and burn and make you look like that desperate friend of a friend trying to ingratiate themselves into the gang.

I don't have a resounding final thought on this - but would say that all too often humour, irreverence and randomness is employed to distract from a brand not having anything interesting or differentiating to say, or as fluff to pad out a very simple idea to fill a 60 second spot.

Back with a bang

I know it's already been seen by 43 zillion people and shared by people that aren't even born yet, but this commercial is simply far too good not to appear on this blog.

To get all poetic, it's a shining beacon on a foggy hill overlooking a sea of piss.

Thank you, Old Spice and W&K. Thank you very much indeed.

Fancy a Furtle?

Hot off the press are two new additions to Fentimans' range of Furtling Mats - 'Rose Lemonade' and 'Orange and Seville Mandarine Jigger'.

Thanks to Iain McIntosh on the illustrations.