I caught the most recent Nestea commercial on TV the other day, and the 15 second product spot perplexed me enough to comment. I’ll provide the link here, but I’ll give a breakdown of how I took it.
A Pretty although somewhat homely girl turns to arms-length guy and says, “Jake, I love you.”
Completely plain and unmemorable male actor replies, “I, uhhh. (undecipherable moaning)”
The recent lawsuit brought back old marketing discussions I used to have about Red Bull. Though I’m not going into detail about the legal case here, it was interesting to note that the overall underwhelming nature of the product was called into question. It doesn’t give you wings? We all knew that, but it’s complete underperformance compared to the competition is an interesting topic to explore, particularly with the product’s popularity.
I don’t think it’s a revelation to most people that sponsored content exists. We’ve seen it in media, games and promotions for generations. So what’s different now? Now we’re seeing sponsored content inserting itself into mainstream journalism with any skepticism being met with shrugging shoulders.
A little shy and very much conscious of the people around the office, my friend whispered “It looks like a uterus.” He shared in the popular consensus that the new Airbnb logo does in fact resemble certain body parts. Genitals in fact; junk, vagina, whatever your mind leaned towards.
“To you marketers, the greatest burden of your generation will be the Old Spice ads.”
This was proclaimed at a lunch and learn some time ago, with some guy I’ve forgotten, but I will remember his words. The brilliant idea propelling sales and reinvigorating the old man brand into a modern essential of the iconic bro culture was a catastrophe because of its success.
What the hell does cranberry and frost smell like? Or vanilla and moonlight? I’m not interested in how an air freshener borrows from Pocahontas to transport me into a whole new state of being. How does a fragrance, or anything else for that matter deliver on the expectation of altering our physical interpretation of reality? Particularly when I need it to remove dog odour, not promise me a voyage through 'blossom and breeze'.
Bad advertisements. The failure at charisma and transparency; those faked, or at best, sub-par emotional vulnerabilities that trudges into the TV screen to get you to buy out of fear.
Must be a new beauty commercial! Dove is at it again, playing with one of their recent beauty campaigns using fake patches that are supposed to make you pretty. Media blogs pounced like hungry kittens at how the advertisement portrayed women as dumb, I however want to pull out one particular component of the promo.