Whipped Cream Ads

Here’s a very typical scenario.  Client wants new advertising.  Agency develops some new campaigns.  They get taken out for testing with consumers.  The consumers see one campaign as unique, different and funny – and hey, who doesn’t need a good laugh these days?  Agency gets client to pick said campaign because it is “out of the box” – but it also may be the whipped cream on a pile of poop.  As Mona Lisa Vito said in My Cousin Vinny, “It’s a technical term, look it up.”

 

Whipped cream on a pile of poop means you’ve likely picked the best of the worst.  It also probably means your campaign is off strategy, and that you’re going for the laugh rather than the sale.  Examples?

 

Capital One credit cards.  Do you really want to carry the same credit card as a bunch of bumbling neanderthals?  Is that the image you want to convey when you pay for something?  Tell you what – when I decide to stop showering and wear animal skins in public, I’ll be sure to apply for my Capital One card.  Funny?  Mildly.  Aspirational? No way.

 

The old “yo quiero Taco Bell” campaign.  Boy, when I’m hungry, I really want to get the same food that is coveted by a scrawny dog!  I guess that since dogs have such discerning palettes (we’ve all seen what a dog will happily eat), I’m supposed to think that I’ll love it because a chihuahua loves it.  Unique?  Yes.  Strategic? No way.

 

E-Trade.  Let’s see…I’m supposed to be confident about becoming my own stockbroker and risk my life’s fortunes using E-Trade because a snarky baby can use it.  Clever?  Actually, no…its been done before.  Smart?  No way.

 

And then there are individual executions within a campaign that are definitely whipped cream ads.  Geico is obviously running out of ideas.  There’s now an ad where a mature woman mistakes the gecko for her cheating lover.  Is it me, or is it creepy to think that they’re suggesting that some grown woman has been out cavorting with a six-inch lizard?  How in the heck did the client approve that ad?

 

Ask your target consumers which ad campaigns have motivated them into some sort of action.  Which campaigns have caused them to re-think a brand or company in a more positive way.  Which ad campaigns speak to them as individuals – they’ve captured a truism that is important to them as people.  Then ask if the campaigns you’ve developed do any of these things.  If not, send the agency back to the drawing board.

 

Otherwise, have fun with your whipped cream.  Just be careful, because when it melts, you’ll be left with…well, you know, poop!

 

By the way…would love to know which ads you think are whipped cream.

~ by chuckmattina on October 26, 2010.