Controversial ads or just plain funny?

So the World Cup is on its way and with it, lots of memorabilia and British flags. My local pub looks like it is geared up for the Queen’s coronation and a royal wedding all in one go. Half the nation (mostly male) is going to go loopy for a few weeks, I wonder if the release of Sex and the City 2 was deliberately timed in this way? Extra seats sold as women across the nation flee?

Anyway, happy days for most people while the world’s favourite game takes centre stage. However, on the flip side, rather worryingly, there are already stories circulating however that some people in public situations are being told not to fly the English flag and not to be too overt in their national pride. Most of these stories are unsubstantiated for the moment so I shall reserve any further comment; I just hope that people are going to be allowed to celebrate (or commiserate) in a normal way without being worried about who they might upset.

It was with this thought that I was relieved to hear that the ASA still have some sensible people working there – not taken over by such a level of political correctness that creativity is stifled. I like to think they have a sense of humour too and some of their recent decisions reflect this.


You see I really chuckled when I saw that ad for Homepride ovencleaner that claimed “even a man can do it”.




OK, so I am a woman and some men may feel differently but isn’t it just tongue in cheek? Can’t people see that? Well thankfully the ASA think so, despite being the 2nd most complained about advert in 2009, ASA did not hold up the complaint.

More recently a Burger King advert was also complained about by 52 people. The internet audio ad featured a conversation that began: "Oh officer don't give us a ticket, I was just getting some king lunch," with the officer replying: "I can see that and it looks king good."

Again the ASA did not uphold it. Come on – it’s a clever play on words, you take it how you want to.

So good on them for not stifling all last remnants of creativity as we standardise and legislate in every area, and good on them for letting brands have a go at some more interesting advertising so long as they stay true to the product's attributes and the reality of using them.

Will you remember me tomorrow?

Getting some cut through in the clutter of brands and advertising is a challenge for any company, small or big. The internet has created competition for local businesses where previously there may have been none. Our competition is now only a click away.

Even for individuals, who are consulting or freelancing, therefore selling their own expertise, competition is everywhere due to remote and virtual services. You can employ a PA, a marketing expert and a bookeeper virtually, the actual people don’t need to be by your side.

So getting some cut through is even more important than it ever was before. If you can find a way to be a bit different this may go some way in a highly competitive environment. There are plenty of ways to do this and one of these is to be memorable. I wanted to share with you a site I came across for a Lawson Clarke which is highly memorable. He is an advertising copywriter.

Advertising is a creative sector in itself so you really need to be clever to get cut through in this area. Believe me – you won’t forget Lawson if you have seen his web site.

He decided to pose naked on his home page as a parody of the famous 70’s photo from the Cosmoplitan magazine where Burt Reynolds lay naked on an animal skin rug. Don’t worry his modesty is protected by the TV!

The site is then a very simple and easy to navigate portfolio of his work. Take a look at his “contact” section. I believe that it is the simplicity that makes it work as much as the creative idea.

Finally it is also a success because he has considered his sector and his audience. You shouldn’t be creating a grey linear site when you are marketing yourself as an advertising exec. Having said this, standard communication and drab design is not going to be memorable for B to B, financial services or other more traditional sectors either.

So even if you don’t fancy posing nude on your site home page, let’s dare to be a bit different, let’s look at an idea that is not quite as safe as usual and give it a try.

Are Marks & Spencers off their trolley?

I read with great surprise that Marks & Spencers have dropped their famous ads for food “it’s not just food it’s M&S food” or otherwise known as “food porn ads” because of the sexy portrayal of the food.

This campaign has been one of the most successful campaigns ever, not only winning awards but increasing sales significantly for the brand. Sales increased by 288% of the hot chocolate pudding after the ad and sales of panacotta increased by 1207%. And this is only for the individual products, the extra footfall of customers walking through the door to buy the chocolate pud must have had an effect on overall sales.

Aside from revenue success, I think that these ads marked a change in the M&S story, when it left behind the difficult years and turned towards the future.

Finally, the concept was just so clever, simply because it wasn’t trying to be clever. Just featuring good food, with great filming and using emotion to sell, instead of blinding consumer with a whole load of different messages about the multiple benefits of the product as us marketers love to do.

So why oh why on earth would you ditch this campaign? Yes it has been around for a few years but so as “have a break have a kit kit” but Nestle aren’t daft enough to throw it in the bin because the marketing staff are a bit bored with it.

Even worse, the new ads to replace them will aim to “concentrate on food quality, provenance and ethics.” Yawn yawn yawn. And the message will be “Just because”.

Just because what? Just because…the new marketing director wanted to make his mark? Just because… the new CEO is coming soon and we need to look innovative? Just because….we fancy a bit of change? Just because…ditching on of the most memorable and revenue generating campaigns in recent history seemed like a good idea in the pub the other day?

I think this is a classic case of marketers forgetting what makes a brand famous (see David Taylor and Brand Gym since this is one of his favourite subjects) and binning far too early the core of a campaign instead of updating it. Tragic.