2009: The 3 ads I hated that everyone else loved
As a preface I'd like to point out that I'm not saying that these ads were bad campaigns. They weren't. In fact, they were all phenomenally successful. But I still hate them.
3. The Skoda Cake Car
Oh my god it's a car made of cake!
Yeah, it's a car made of cake. And that's all it is.
Since PR companies discovered that 'stunt advertising' got column inches and TV coverage (ushered into the mainstream by the media's blanket coverage of the Bravia Bouncing Balls ad) we've been increasing presented with more and more ludicrously extravagant set pieces intended to wow consumers into submission.
Sony's ad was brilliant because it said that colours weren't static; that they were alive. Colours exploded and tumbled, jostled and jumped. It looked exciting and it made a clear link between the Bravia experience and the jaw-dropping spectacle you'd just witnessed.
And that is why the Skoda ad is so disappointing. Yes it's kind of cool that they managed to construct a car out of Victoria sponge but what does it actually say about the vehicle? Soft and squishy? Bad for something that can do 70 mph. Put together by some TV extras that couldn't book panto in Croydon? Well that's build quality for you.
It's just event advertising for the sake of it with nothing to say and for that reason it's going on the list.
2. Cadbury's Eyebrows
The brief: Create an ad that is more memorable and inexplicably brilliant than a gorilla drumming along to Phil Collins.
The pitch: Er .. there are these kids .. and their eyebrows wiggle .. .. .. in time to music!
If this was the best idea they came up with I want to know what they rejected. I'm not saying they should have milked the gorilla for another campaign but I did expect something a bit more well thought out than some sub-standard 'wacky' YouTube video. The fact that it seems to have been so successful amazes and depresses me in equal measure.
1. The T-mobile flashmob
By the time big business cottons on to anything remotely underground it, by definition, immediately fails to market it to the people that might be interested because the ads usually resemble something akin to your granddad dressing up as Ali G to tell you about the benefits of sexual health check ups in the style of an Eton educated grime MC.
Remember flashmobs? They were pretty cool in 2006. Well, unless it took T-mobile 3 years to co-ordinate a couple of hundred people dancing to one of the decade's worst mega-mixes I'd say that they missed the boat on this one.
At least the ad has a point: sharing is fun. Yes, sharing things on the net is fun. Watching things sent to you is fun. But not when you've already seen it and not when you already saw it nearly 5 years ago.
"Hey everyone! Look! Have you seen this wicked BADGER BADGER MUSHROOM MUSHROOM video?!"
Honourable mention (NSFW)
I don't think this was really anyone's favourite advert and, to be honest, it's not even from 2009 but I do like what Brooker has to say about it.
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About
Tom Hubbard-Green is the E-marketing Executive at Alzheimer's Society and a freelance technology journalist.
His articles have been published in a variety of magazines and industry publications including Figaro Digital, O2 Venue magazine and City magazine.
January 19th, 2010
Agree with you on all but the first one. You know why you didn’t like that one, don’t you? Because you’re not a girl. And girls don’t care about what’s in cars. But they do like cake. So associating a car with a bad reputation for quality with cake was a winner. Boys wouldn’t fall for it because they care about revs and mph and other car things. But full of lovely stuff? That’s pretty much the level of detail I need. Sold!
(I know this is horribly sexist, but… it’s kind of true)
Totally with you on the eyebrows though. Who on earth was that for??