Good vs Great Advertising
Advertising is so incredibly difficult to get right.
The benchmark for your advert’s success these days is that it goes viral… along with a correlated monster increase in sales.
Easier said than done.
Oh, and just to make it a bit more difficult…
With video ads, you better grab the attention within the first 6 seconds… for the Youtube pre-roll/bumper, hoping to somehow avoid the impulse-like click on the ‘Skip Ad’ button.
So, all the creative genius and execution stars need to align to make great advertising.
About coming up with the killer creative, David Ogilvy said:
It will help you recognise a big idea if you ask yourself five questions:
1. Did it make me gasp when I first saw it?
2. Do I wish I had thought of it myself?
3. Is it unique?
4. Does it fit the strategy to perfection?
5. Could it be used for 30 years?
Bearing that checklist in mind - and some other points we’ll look at in a mo’…
Let’s have a close look at three eye-catching adverts and see if they are on the money.
After all, the whole point of advertising is to generate mo’ money!
Each of the three ads are super cool in different ways, but are they simply good… or great?
Good vs Great Advertising
First up, what do you think of this ad?
Pretty creative, right?
Works nicely when you get the big reveal at the end to tie it all together.
Like good comedy, good advertising makes the audience brains work a little.
What do you think? Is this a good ad or a great ad?
In a few moments, you’ll see 2 questions, to test if your brain can recall some important details.
Next up, do you like this advert?
Again, it’s a really nice creative idea and execution.
However, it would be super interesting to see the engagement data, to discover what percentage of the audience watched all the way to the very end of the 2 mins and 20 seconds.
That’s quite a long time for the audience to reach the pay off.
The viewer doesn’t really know what this is about, until the final seconds.
Before the conclusion, the temptation to click ‘Skip Ad’ may have been too strong for a large portion of viewers.
BTW, those 2 questions about Mr Wind are coming soon!
Final ad now, for your viewing pleasure…
No big reveal moment here - you are given the Heineken logo and branding front and centre from the get-go.
Opinions are obviously totally subjective, but I think the Heineken ad really stands out here as great advertising because…
Great advertising
Branding - the audience is under no illusion as to the product they are being prompted to remember
Branding again - the Heineken green is everywhere in this ad. The green of the football pitch. The green of the gift box. The green of the shop sign, the apron, the bar, the bar background wall of pure Heineken bottles.
Scene Variety - the viewer doesn’t get bored as the visuals switch from animation, to real life social media footage, then hand held camera through Amsterdam interspersed with more low-fi social media/smartphone footage. The action, editing and scene changes keep up a fantastic pace and rhythm
Humour - self deprecation, friendly jokes about the Dutch, the joke on Totti at the bar. None of it feels forced and it makes the viewer smile, maintaining the attention.
Authenticity/ Emotion - The reaction of the footballer (not an actor) Totti, when he realises who the waiter is, feels totally genuine. The audience sees it and feels it. A great emotional hook that connects the viewer to the storyline.
Timing - this ad was released in June, a few days before the start of the Euros 2020 (actually 2021) tournament. It fed off and fed into the excitement and anticipation of the impending attention. Timing is everything :)
More Emotion - the old friends drinking together, enjoying each other’s company. All football fans deprived during Covid of going to the pub to watch big games together with their friends would feel the release of energy at this point. They desire to do the same. Heineken’s bet is that when this audience gets the chance to feel the same experience in their own life, they will make that psychological connection to Heineken through their subconscious recollection of this ad.
I could go on and on.
Safe to say that, in my opinion, the Heineken Spoon advert is great advertising, because it ticks off so many of those crucial points above.
Which perhaps the previous two ads don’t.
Oh, and those questions about Mr Wind…
With the Mr Wind advert (first video above), what was the name of the company doing the advertising?
What was that company’s brand essence (like Nike’s ‘Just Do it’)?
It’s probably quite difficult to recall.
And that was just a few minutes after seeing the ad.
We are subjected to thousands of adverts every day.
Bad, average and good advertising gets forgotten.
In the UK, 89% of advertising isn’t even noticed, or remembered!
Just to repeat that and attach a monetary value to it - that 89% tots up to £17 Billion annual expenditure in the UK advertising industry that isn’t noticed or remembered.
On the other hand…
Great advertising creates sticky ‘front of mind’ memory recall, as Les Binet says.
Great advertising creates an emotional connection to the product and brand.
Great advertising makes you want to buy.
