ad: Annual 2024 Now Open For Entries!
*

What will happen in advertising in 2013?

Published

by Ashley Morrison.


It seems clear to me that adverts are getting cleverer. Gone are the days of naive wonder with small children pondering how Mummy gets the dishes so clean, or young teenagers dancing around in waistcoats while sucking on their Chupa Chups. Not a euphemism. 2012 saw some truly stonking examples of super clever advertising campaigns. Out of those I blogged about, two really stand out: the Volkswagen ads and the Kevin Bacon EE ads.


These two couldn't be more diametrically opposed. Volkswagen have historically played with the idea of minimalism before, with their superb "Think Small" campaign dating back to 1960 by New York's Doyle Dane Bernbach (DDB). It was brilliant partly because, at the time, Americans were all about massive gas guzzlers. How ballsy was that, to go completely the opposite way? Well, it was ballsy enough to be voted the number one ad campaign of all time in Advertising Age's The Century of Advertising.

This minimalist approach was also used in their "snow plough" TV ad in 1959. In 60 seconds, the only words that are uttered are: "Have you ever wondered how the man who drives a snow plough drives to the snow plough? This one drives a Volkswagen. So you can stop wondering."

More recently, their minimalist The Force ad, by Michael Kadin and Eric Springer at Deutsch definitely wins my award for cutest-without-being-sickly ad (and it contains no dialogue at all); and the VW Value ad by adam&eveDDB - as well as the corner shop-based VW Up! ad - with their brilliant one-liners make me want to salute the creatives responsible.

In stark contrast, Rob Potts and Andy Jex at Saatchi & Saatchi are responsible for the funniest garrulous campaign I think I've ever seen, with their EE (Everything Everywhere) ads starring Kevin Bacon. Their latest one, featuring Bacon in five of his most famous guises (his characters from Footloose, A Few Good Men, Friday the 13th, Apollo 13, and X Men) is 60 seconds of laughs-every-line dialogue between the characters which is so finely honed that it's like watching a really compact sitcom. I've seen it many times in the cinema and I've rarely heard an ad make the audience laugh so much - the one exception being, coincidentally, for another mobile phone operator: the Orange campaign where actors pitch their new movie ideas to the board. Gotta love that Darth Vader one - not to mention Rob Lowe...

So the question is, where can ads go from here in 2013? How can they get any better? What can they do differently?

Despite the plethora of films available over the Christmas period, I recently rented the 1990 movie Crazy People, starring Dudley Moore as Emory Leeson, an advertising executive who is sent to a mental institution because he is deemed to have "lost it" by the MD of an advertising agency. But when Leeson's apparently inappropriate ads are accidentally printed, the response is staggering. Rude, offensive and inappropriate they may be, but they're honest and they speak to people - so much so that sales rocket more than ever.

Leeson's whole argument is that he has grown weary of selling products which are either trying to deceive people by over-promising, or because what the adverts communicate is meaningless. "Let's face it, Steve, you and I lie for a living," he says to his boss Stephen Bachman.

So he comes up with a whole range of adverts which just state exactly why the product is good without trying to dress it up in any way at all. In fact, he even points out flaws:

Buy Volvos. They're boxy but they're good. We know they're not sexy. This is not a smart time to be sexy anyway, with so many new diseases around. Be safe instead of sexy. Volvo: boxy, but good.

Fancy a holiday in the US but worried about the crime?
Come to New York. There were fewer murders last year.

Or maybe you want to be sure of a friendly welcome:
Forget France. The French can be annoying. Come to Greece. We're nicer.

Ah, but how are you going to choose your airline, particularly if you're of a nervous disposition?
United Airlines. Most of our passengers get there alive.

Leeson's boss bellows that it's just not realistic as an approach: "We can't level - we're in advertising!" But maybe there is a lesson to be learnt there. Perhaps the next wave of genius ads will be born thanks to this movie from over 20 years ago. Will it be a case of:

"Let's cut the crap, you know we're trying to sell you something. Here's why you should buy it in just one line." I for one can't wait to see what new advertising gems appear in 2013.

Here's three of the funniest ads from the movie - just to put the happy into happy new year:

CONTINENTAL EXPRESS (courier delivery service)
Strapline: We'll screw them to get your package there on time.

AT&T (phone service provider)
Strapline: We’re tired of taking your crap.

SONY
Strapline: Because Caucasians are just too damn tall.

VOLVO (a short collection also featuring Greek holidays and Jaguar)


Ashley Morrison is a blogger, copywriter and editor.

Comments

More Features

*

Features

Global creative calendar: April 2024

Across this month’s full slate of alluring extracurricular activities, everyone open to new experiences has worlds to gain. Current and future leaders spanning all industries are going all in: Curtains will soon draw back and stages will...

Posted by: The Darnell Works Agency
*

Features

Enduring Brands vs. Fading Stars: Standing the Test of Time #Brand Month

Not every brand can be an icon and even those that achieve iconic status are not guaranteed immortality. Of course, changing consumer and economic trends are always going to play an important part in whether a brand sticks around for months, years or...

Posted by: Benjamin Hiorns
*

Features

Creative Freedom vs Cultural Sensitivity: The England Kit Controversy

As creatives, we’re always treading a fine line between letting our creative souls run free and pleasing not only our clients but our audiences. Never is this more apparent than when a piece of creative stirs controversy and we’re forced...

Posted by: Benjamin Hiorns
ad: Annual 2024 Now Open For Entries!