AD Wonk

11.07.2024 · 09:37:16 ···
01.01.1970 · 01:00:00 ···
20.07.2023 · 11:45:55 ··· 5 ··· ··· 15 ···
11.07.2024 · 09:37:16 ···
01.01.1970 · 01:00:00 ···
20.07.2023 · 11:45:55 ··· 5 ··· ··· 15 ···

1:: Early Guinness Print Advertising

01.01.1970 · 01:00:00 ··· 01.08.2022 · 20:30:29 ··· ···
··· ··· ··· ··· Guinness was founded in 1759 but it was not until the late 1920s that its adverts helped it become one of the biggest beer brands in the world. Its first print advert "Guinness is good for you" immediately helped sales. Amazingly, that tagline is almost 100 years old and has been out of use for 60 years, and yet people still remember it. That alone is a testament to how effective these adverts were in their day. Continuing the health theme, and the first advert from the famous art director John Gilroy is this "Girder" poster. This was one of several adverts in the "Guinness for Strength" campaign that depicted men performing feats of ridiculous strength with the help of Guinness. Who knows perhaps John Gilroy was a Popeye fan given the comic character appeared a few years before this advert and there’s definitely something of the Popeye idea to it. For the next campaign, Gilroy took inspiration from a zoo animal he’d seen. Upon seeing a sea lion balancing a ball on its nose he instantly had the idea for this advert. The humour worked brilliantly capturing attention, using the familiar line in a playful way, and being very identifiable. The campaign went on to feature bears, kangaroos, ostriches, pelicans and for the first time the Guinness Toucan. The Guinness Toucan, which first appeared in 1935 and ran in ads for 30 years, went on to become one of Guinness’s most iconic brand assets and can still be found on the walls of almost every Irish bar around the world. Today this advert perhaps doesn’t have the impact it once did but it’s worth noting the colours of the bird and the way the brightly coloured beak contrasts nicely with two dark glasses of Guinness. Again, the famous "Guinness is good for you" line was included, and the two glasses offer up a similar sound of “too can” and “toucan”. It’s highly memorable and for its day totally distinctive. These early Guinness print adverts set the stage brilliantly for years of great Guinness advertising and helped to build an iconic brand.

2:: Haribo Print Advertising Examined

01.01.1970 · 01:00:00 ··· 28.07.2022 · 20:31:57 ··· ···
··· ··· ··· ··· Haribo has made some stunning print adverts recently, but are the most beautiful adverts always the most effective? In this video, we’ll look at 3 Haribo print ads and compare their relative merits. The first advert is I think the most aesthetically pleasing for me. The orange really punches off the white, the bear shape in the orange is intriguing, and the footsteps are playful. It’s a wonderful bit of art. But, can you get away with just a logo? Is there enough of a connection with the product to be memorable at the point of purchase? Maybe there is for regular buyers? However, my feeling is that this advert compromises effectiveness in favour of pure beauty. This next advert has a similar theme. It’s also a good-looking Haribo advert. Not stunning, but definitely good-looking. It also uses a lot more of the brand’s distinctive assets. There are bears at the bottom and on the logo. Plus, the bear is drinking the Apple juice which visually supports the claim that the sweets contain fruit juice. So, while this ad may not be quite as attractive as the first, I suspect it’s more effective at supporting sales. The last of these three adverts is perhaps my least favourite visually. However, I don’t think it’s ugly and the orange still jumps off the page and commands attention. But, there’s a pack shot which creates a direct link to what people purchase. And, the bear is front and centre supporting the fruit claim. So, I suspect that this might be the most effective version of the ad for generating sales. These three Haribo adverts sum up the compromise advertising sometimes needs to make. Sometimes the art has to give way to selling the product. Disagree? Feel free to comment below.

3:: Does advertising work?

01.01.1970 · 01:00:00 ··· 26.07.2022 · 17:26:28 ··· ···
··· ··· ··· ··· Does advertising work? A lot of people think that advertising doesn’t work. But, one way to show that it does, is to look at what happens when you stop advertising. Take cigarette ads for example. Their advertising has been banned since 1965 in the UK. So, did banning adverts affect sales? Based on the data shared in the video it appears to have had a gradual but significant effect on cigarette purchasing. Interestingly, it appears that the ban on advertising had more impact than the ban on smoking in public places which is surprising. I suspect it’s really an accumulation of measures and public sentiment that’s combining to have that effect rather than just the advertising ban. Even so, banning TV ads has a demonstrable impact. And, the data also shows that further restrictions on cigarette pack branding, and cigarette print advertising also seem to have had small effects as well. Next, we look at some data from 70 brands in Australia. These data show a very clear impact on sales from stopping advertising. It’s also worth noting that the data comes from the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute who are well known for the credibility of their work. The same research showed that bigger brands decline more slowly than smaller brands when advertising is turned off. This makes sense as bigger brands will likely have stronger, more longstanding mental availability with customers. And, they often benefit from being available in more places. So, does advertising work? It must, because when you switch it off sales fall slowly but steadily.

4:: The Burger King mouldy burger advert analysed based on a range of data

01.01.1970 · 01:00:00 ··· 25.07.2022 · 17:03:06 ··· ···
··· ··· ··· ··· Burger King’s mouldy burger advertising is one of the most talked about and creatively awarded adverts ever. But did it work? This video looks at the sales, purchase intent, and sentiment data from a number of sources to find out. It starts with numbers from Publicis who made the adverts. They pass the first test for any advert which is does it get your attention? And, there’s no disputing that this ad worked brilliantly on that front – it created a lot of earned media and is still one of the most talked about adverts ever made. But where there is a bit more debate is how well it resonated and drove purchase. Publicis show some fantastic data here including lots of positive sentiment and a big bump in sales but is that really true? For a start, the advert was launched in February 2020 which was just as COVID hit and all fast food sales fell through the floor so clearly there’s some ‘interpretation’ here. In addition, Ace Metrix who measures advertising effectiveness for brands ran their own analysis which is nothing like as positive. 36% of viewers showed a purchase intent after viewing the ad which is just below Ace Metrix’s benchmark for the category. More worryingly though 26% are turned off from purchasing after watching the mouldy burger advert (vs. 6% for the category norm). This is clearly a lot less positive than the Publicis data. So, given the mouldy burger advert was launched in February 2020 what did sales for that year look like compared to McDonald's (because it was a very strange year with lockdowns and COVID)? We look at data from The Drum publication who suggested that distribution and other factors were fairly similar for the two brands during the pandemic. And, overall McDonald's does a lot better than Burger King. However, in Q1 and Q2 when the advert would have likely had the most impact it’s fairly even. The Drum concludes that the advert likely didn’t hurt Burger King sales. My personal view is that it might have. For me, and for 26% of people, the mould burger ad is a turn-off. And, while I’m conscious that one-off ad campaigns only ever have mild effects I think this ad has received so much notoriety the impact of that is a bit deeper than for a typical advert. But what do you think? Feel free to comment below.

5:: Rolex’s Daily Mail print advert featuring Swimmer Mercedes Gleitze

01.01.1970 · 01:00:00 ··· 24.07.2022 · 17:44:11 ··· ···
··· ··· ··· ··· Rolex today is one of the best know and most premium brands in the world but how did it get there? A defining moment was its first ever advert. The inspiration was the success Mercedes Gleitze, the first British woman to swim the English Channel in 1927. Gleitze was a huge celebrity in her day and was paid to ware the Rolex Oyster wristwatch for her attempt to swim the channel. Rolex’s founder and director, Hans Wilsdorf, who had masterminded this early form of celebrity endorsement celebrated the feat with this full-page advertisement on the front of London’s Daily Mail proclaiming the success of the first waterproof wristwatch and chronicling “the debut of the Rolex Oyster and its triumphant march worldwide”. And subsequently further full-page adverts and then more celebrity endorsements. With Rolex sponsoring daredevil explorers in a similar way to Red Bull today. What makes this such a brilliant bit of marketing and advertising is Mercedes Gleitze effectively became the first Rolex Testimonee (one of the first examples of this approach), symbolising achievement and demonstrating the new watch’s qualities in action.

6:: 1990s Benetton Advertising

01.01.1970 · 01:00:00 ··· 23.03.2021 · 19:53:57 ··· ···
··· ··· ··· ··· In the 1990s, United Colours of Benetton grew to become a huge fashion brand. This was in part thanks to a succession of high impact and highly controversial advertising campaigns. The first of these adverts is fairly disgusting but makes its point, that we’re all the same underneath, very effectively. The second of these adverts is in direct response to the AIDs crisis. It supports a group that faced a lot of prejudice and stigma at the time. It’s also visually striking and was a lot more controversial back in the 90s that it looks today. Finally, is an ad featuring a same-sex couple and their baby. Again, at the time this was a very unusual image. It’s another example of the United Colours of Benetton standing with minority groups. And, it’s this stance, of being very aggressively for inclusion that is consistently reinforced across all its ads that helped Benetton to achieve stunning sales growth. At the time it was highly unusual for a brand to do this and every ad campaign attracted huge amounts of noise and debate. It’s hard to assess the amount of earned media these ads attracted but a huge amount. This, in turn, drove a huge share of voice and the sales followed in a fairly explosive way. So what happened because Benetton is nothing like as big today? This is complex but two of the factors where that Benetton found it hard to maintain it’s shock value. And, at the same time fashion changed and new competitors took noise and market share way from the United Colours of Benetton. The lessons here are that controversy generates noise, and noise generates sales. However, over the longer term, it’s very hard to constantly be provocative and eventually people simply stop paying attention – and when they do that sales follow! #BenettonAds #AdWonk

7:: Yves Saint Laurent Opium Perfume Advertising

01.01.1970 · 01:00:00 ··· 22.03.2021 · 20:40:27 ··· ···
··· ··· ··· ··· This Yves Saint Laurent Opium Perfume Advert featuring the model Sophie Dahl is probably one of the most controversial billboard adverts ever. Back in 2000, it apparently resulted in car crashes, and certainly resulted in over 700 complaints. And, when you look at it you can understand why it was so provocative. The result was that the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) ordered all 500 billboards showing the ad to be taken down, and insisted that all Yves Saint Laurent ads going forward be pre-vetted. Now, is it a good ad? Adverts that get a lot of media attention, as this did, can often be effective. However, in this case, I think this ad may have ended up being a more effective advert for Sophie Dahl than for Opium – Dahl had two best-selling books in the years following the ad. Having said that, Opium continues to be one of the best selling perfumes and based on the sales data I could find it certainly didn’t have a negative impact. The lesson here is that controversy typically creates extra reach and earned media around an ad. However, it can also result in adverts being taken down and negative perceptions if you go too far. #SophieDahlAd #ControvesialAds #AdWonk

8:: McDelivery and other stunning McDonald's Print Adverts

01.01.1970 · 01:00:00 ··· 22.03.2021 · 17:13:34 ··· ···
··· ··· ··· ··· McDonald's have made some brilliant print adverts over the years. The first of these three ads is no exception. What a stunning way to highlight a new mobile ordering service. The colours really reinforce the brand, the use of mobile phones to create classic McDonald's meals is really smart. And, overall these adverts introduce something new and functional in a very elegant way. The second McDelivery ad featured is perhaps even better looking and captures that sentiment of when you want something but don’t want it enough to go out for it. It’s quite subtle but the single line of copy ‘McDelivery’ does just enough for you to get the point. The third of these adverts is a swiss local market ad celebrating local farmers and while it’s really clever and really beautiful the colour tones are slightly off-brand – If it didn’t say ‘Big Mac’ you wouldn’t know whose ad it was. With the other two adverts, I think many people might guess they were from McDonald's. The lesson from all three of these beautiful McDonald’s print adverts is that taking inspiration from art can result in some wonderfully compelling visuals. People appreciate beauty and when it feels like brands are contributing something to the world it supports positive feelings towards them. #McDonaldsAds #McDeliveryAd #AdWonk

9:: L'Oreal ‘This Is An Ad For Men’ Campaign

01.01.1970 · 01:00:00 ··· 21.03.2021 · 09:16:04 ··· ···
··· ··· ··· ··· The 2019 L’Oreal ‘This is an ad for men’ campaign was created primarily for social media impact. It focuses on research looking at gender representation in the corporate sector. The research found that 90%+ of management and governing boards are comprised of men. L’Oreal wanted to champion more women in leadership roles so it created this advertising campaign which aligns with the long-standing tag line of ‘We’re all worth it’. In terms of the lead copy, it’s a great advert. ‘This is an ad for men’, especially with the big visual of makeup is really intriguing and grabs your attention. A paradox is a powerful tool in advertising. And the key message needs a lot of attention because it’s really, really small. However, if you look closely, each version of the advert highlights another fact about female leadership – for example, companies with female leadership make 15% more profit. At this point, I thought it would be fun to have a quick look at L’Oreal’s leadership. A male CEO, deputy CEO, and CFO with 75% of its leadership being men. Oh, the irony. However, 2019 was an excellent year financially for L’Oreal with a 19% operating profit and strong sales growth. The general noise around these adverts at the time was that these were the first cosmetic ads aimed at men. However, that’s nonsense really. This is L’Oreal signalling that they stand with women, particularly professional women, who are a key audience for them. And it worked really well, creating significant earned media. The L’Oreal ‘This is an ad for men’ is a good example of how a paradox can be created with copy and visuals, and how that can drive attention. The message positions the brand as supporting women in achieving their professional ambitions. It’s a strong ad that when you really get behind it provides some great lessons for advertisers. #ThisIsAnAdForMen #LOrealAdverts #AdWonk

10:: Apple 'Think Different' Advertising by Lee Cow

01.01.1970 · 01:00:00 ··· 20.03.2021 · 19:49:03 ··· ···
··· ··· ··· ··· Apple’s 1997 'Think Different' advertising campaign helped to establish Apple as the company we know today. At the time the ad campaign was made, Apple was in a poor financial situation, having lost hundreds of millions of dollars in previous years. Apple’s reputation had also suffered and much of their advertising had been very dull for some time – imagine the Apple we know today running an ad saying they are 45! They desperately needed to recapture some of the mystic and appeal of their early days. The 'Think Different' campaign perfectly responded to this brief – it’s both modern and nostalgic. It taps into Apple’s triumphs of the past and creates a perception of being fundamentally different from other companies – of being genius. The slogan, which brilliantly captures attention and delivers a memorable message, is a phenomenal copy line. Many people suggest it’s a play on IBMs past message of THINK, but I suspect Lee Cow, the legendary creative director of the ad, may have been a fan of the VW ‘Think Small’ Adverts that were similarly brilliant. Either way, Think Different works perfectly with the images of charismatic geniuses from the past. It also reflects back to Apple’s original rebel genius image and gives the company back the magnetism that had largely been lost over the previous 10 years. 'Think Different' is one of the best adverts of the 90s and played a role in starting the success story that is Apple today. It shows how ads can rebuild brands and it’s simplicity, directness, and use of sentiment are great lessons for the advertisers of today. #ThinkDifferent #ApplePrintAds #AdWonk

11:: VW Beetle 'Think Small' Ad

01.01.1970 · 01:00:00 ··· 20.03.2021 · 13:16:10 ··· ···
··· ··· ··· ··· This 1959 VW 'Think Small' advert offers some brilliant lessons for those in advertising. VW was launching into a highly competitive US market where the competition was bigger and more powerful. The VW is a small car with a small engine but this advert makes both those potential weaknesses strengths. It also connects to the biggest reason to buy - the small price. The creative delivers all this in two lines 'think small' with an image that sits perfectly with the copy. The impact is immediate. It's getting your attention, it delivers a memorable message, and that message connects perfectly with why you'd buy this car. The result was a huge uplift in sales for the VW Beetle. Without a doubt, this 1959 'Think small' advert is one of the best ads of all time. #ClassicCarAds #AdWonk

12:: Three Brilliant WWF Print Adverts

01.01.1970 · 01:00:00 ··· 19.03.2021 · 21:37:03 ··· ···
··· ··· ··· ··· The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has commissioned a number of stunning adverts raising awareness of the plight of different animals. The first answers a difficult brief. How do you grab attention and get people to feel bad for fish? Well, you give it a Panda mask, the iconic symbol of both the WWF and the conservation fight. It’s very memorable in the way it suggests we should care about every species – not just the big cute furry ones. The second ad is a little subtler and while I think it’s a lovely ad I wonder if it’s too subtle? You have to see the legs and be intrigued enough to read the tiny, tiny body copy – ‘extinction cant be fixed’. Once you do it works well but it’s easy to miss. The third advert is another brilliant bit of art. I love how it plays with your perceptions and it’s very effective at drawing you in. Again though I find the copy confusing. I certainly get that there are lot’s of endangered animals and that plastic is an issue but what does this copy mean – I’m definitely missing something – if you know then answers on a postcard or perhaps in the comments section. Overall all three of these ads are stunning looking. However, I think the last two would really have benefited from more focus on the copy. Even so brilliant examples from the WWF of how print ads can tell a story with a single image. #WWFAds #AdWonk

13:: 1959 Rolls-Royce advert written by David Ogilvy

01.01.1970 · 01:00:00 ··· 18.03.2021 · 20:24:32 ··· ···
··· ··· ··· ··· This 1959 Rolls-Royce advert written by legendary ad man David Ogilvy is considered by many to be the best ad of its day. And, it’s easy to see why. When you read the copy ‘At 60 miles an hour the loudest noise in this new Rolls-Royce comes from the electric clock’, you can almost feel the tranquilly and luxury of that cabin. It’s this ability to create an emotional connection like this from a functional benefit that makes it a great advertisement. There are relatively few adverts that achieve real fame – especially in their own time. However, this ad is one of them and so much so that Land Rover created its own parody advert. It’s amazing that an advert for such an exclusive car achieved that level of notoriety. This Rolls-Royce ad succeeds in three key ways. It captures your attention in a soft but magnetic way and delivers a highly memorable message. A message that connects directly with the reason many people buy this type of car – the luxury of quiet relaxation. And, so it’s no wonder that this 1959 Rolls-Royce advert written by David Ogilvy is one of the best adverts of the 50s and 60s. #DavidOgilvyAds #RollsRoyceAds #AdWonk

14:: Controversial Protein World ‘Beach Body Ready’ Advert

01.01.1970 · 01:00:00 ··· 18.03.2021 · 14:52:08 ··· ···
··· ··· ··· ··· In 2015, Protein World launched the ‘Are you beach body ready?’ advertising campaign on the London Underground. There was an almost instant social media backlash with lots of comments saying it promoted an unhealthy body image. The UK's Advertising Standards Authority received 378 complaints regarding the advert in a matter of weeks. There was so much noise about the ad that Carlsberg even created a parody version ‘Are you beer body ready?’However, despite the adverts controversial reception, Protein World pushed back on social media and called dissenters 'fatty sympathisers' fuelling the discussion further. The impact of all noise was that the £250,000 campaign resulted in over £1m in sales. So this is a controversial ad that worked. And it worked for the following reasons. This is a small brand with a small media budget. The advert itself is certainly quite bold but it’s the sheer scale of the earned media from this campaign, that delivers the bulk of the sales uplift. We are talking millions and millions in earned media across both social and traditional channels in a few months of 2015. Deliberately using your adverts to spark controversy and earned media is risky. It can backfire but in this case, for this small brand, it clearly delivered huge results. The lesson from this Protein World 'Are you beach body ready?' advert is that for small brands especially, a little bit of controversy can have a big impact on brand awareness, create levels of earned media you could never afford to purchase and ultimately win a greater share of the customer wallet. #ControversialAds #AdWonk

15:: Burger King ‘Women Belong in the Kitchen’ advert

01.01.1970 · 01:00:00 ··· 17.03.2021 · 18:15:46 ··· ···
··· ··· ··· ··· The Burger King ‘Women belong in the Kitchen’ advert has created significant controversy and sparked criticism on social media. And, let’s be clear it was designed specifically to create attention. Run on International Women’s day it’s up there with the most provocative headlines a brand has used in advertising. It’s important to show that there was a bit more to this than first meets the eye. When you read the ads fine print you see that the real message here is about taking action to increase the number of women chefs and head chefs. However, this is a really opportunistic and crass way to get attention for the brand. And, I think that’s at the heart of the negative sentiment here. It’s a media stunt and because of that, it shows a lack of respect for what international women's day is all about. So is this a good ad? Well, it certainly got everyone’s attention. And, it’s memorable, although perhaps not for the right reasons. But in terms of sales? I suspect longer term the impact is zero – this advert doesn’t build a positive memory structure or feeling around Burger King. Short term, it might even mean a small dip in sales but overall I think it does nothing positive for Burger King. The lesson from this ‘Women Belong in the Kitchen’ advertisement is that attention-grabbing headlines are good. But headlines that are directly provocative are risky and if you get them wrong they can backfire in a way that damages the brand. #ControversialAds #BurgarKingAds #AdWonk