Motrin ads do it again

Motrin has done it again. This time, a lot more people, other than me are upset. The ad featured here created an uproar from moms around the social media world, forcing Motrin to take it off their site and then causing the  Motrin site itself to come down due to outraged or curious traffic.

Motrin may have to clean up their department and get rid of the 'We feel your pain' theme. Here is my rant on one of their previous ads.

Read more...

One of my pet peeves

Ads like this drive me nuts.

The ad says, When you strut...We feel your pain.

What exactly is it suggesting? That a woman can live wearing high heals, simply by popping Motrins when the pain gets unbearable? Surely, that would be great for Motrin.

I only wish that some bozo does exactly this and then decades later sues Motrin for back problems and all those other long term ailments that were caused by those heels.

Can you think of any ads that are full of **** ? Please let me know of the ones that make your blood pressure rise.

Read more...

It's Legal, but is it good?

Last week, I sang the praises of Dentyne and how their marketing department scored big with their one-liner ads. Today let us take a detailed look at a set of ads from a very different company, the restaurant chain, Legal Seafoods.

Let us begin with the commonalities between the Dentyne and Legal Seafood ads.

• Like the Dentyne ads, the Legal Seafoods are placed collectively, usually in pairs to increase the impact.
• Like Dentyne ads, these ads use oneliners to grab attention
• Like the Dentyne ads, these ads are placed to attract T patrons.
  

Now, let us look at the differences:

• Unlike the Dentyne ads, these ads are not placed on the train, but on the far walls of the station, away from the commuter, making them difficult to read,especially in darker platforms like South Station.
  
• The colors used, do not help in making them readable. The background is simply too dark and makes it painful for anyone to read.
  What adjectives come to your mind when you see them? Drab and dreary come to mind. In many ways, the ads defeat the essense of the spirit of Legal Seafood: Freshness is the last thing that comes to mind when one sees these ads.
• The one-liners are actually are catchy enough. They would have been more effective with better visuals than an obscure fishing boat on shown here.

Then one key question comes to mind. Who is the target audience for this ad? Who is the typical Legal Seafood patron? How many people who take the T could fit this profile?

Personally, I would feel that placing these ads on the commuter rail would have been a better idea. Placing them at strategic locations in Boston's Financial District would be most effective.

To summarize, I feel that these ads fall short in effectively communicating their message for the following reasons: the lack of focus on a target audience, the choice of visuals simply does not work, and finally the dark background that diminishes legibilty.

Read more...

Microsoft's I'm a PC ad trumps all those recent Apple ads

When Apple first came out with its 'I'm a PC/I'm a  Mac ads, I felt that it was not effective for the following reasons:

• It was trying to target only a select few: the casual, cool jeans wearing types.
• Bringing attention to the crashes  and other well known PC problems did not seem to matter. Most users have lived with these for decades now. A clearer message that they did not have to put up with them would have delivered impact.
• Just mentioning that more people were converting to the Mac simply did not cut it for me. Even the naivest among us would demand facts and figures from the ads.
• What could Mac applications give the PC user, that she did not have already? I never got it from these ads. One  just 'claimed' that home movies were better without any 'real'  proof. The fact that you you bring down PCs by tripping on a cord is not that big a reason to switch to Mac.
• All these ads focused more on the 'entertainment' and 'attention grabbing' factors than on the 'value' factor.

The only reasons, I believe,  that Microsoft had to respond to these ads, was that there were too many of them and that they were aired too often.  Microsoft's first response using those lame Seinfeld-Gates ads turned out to be a terrible gamble gone bad. 

Microsoft has, several times in the past, brought out a winning product right on the heals of a disastrous one. This time it did the same with its marketing campaign. The "I'm a PC" ad is a big win for Microsoft for the following reasons.

• The first person we see is in the ad is the lookalike of the Apple's personification of the PC. This was a brilliant step to show that they were playing back Apple  with the same coin. It also showed that Microsoft has a sense of humor and could take a joke.
• The use of the individuals from diverse ethnic and geographical backgrounds shows  that people all over the world still use the PC and that it is a global brand.
• The use of celebrities like Deepak Chopra, Gates, Eva Longoria and to promote PCs. (Maybe, they could still have used Seinfeld in this one.)
• The direct references to glasses to show that PCs are not just for the stereotypical nerds(like Gates) who wear glasses. This was followed by a message that said that anyone can use a PC including  those who wear jeans, suits, shorts or anything else. The message here was that using a PC does not change your individuality.

As I wait on the sidelines, watching the two firms battle it out,  I would like to see Apple's repartee to this one.

Read more...

Advertising 101 from Dentyne

If you travel by the T(Its what we call the train in Boston.), you cannot help but notice these ads from Dentyne. They are simple, easy to relate to, effective and ingenious. I think the marketing department at Dentyne has scored a touchdown with these them.

High marks again for placement of the ads. Side by side on the walls of the train, these ads are to attract their(easy to identify) target audience. Their collective presence delivers more impact than any one of them placed by themselves.
Furthermore, by playing with words of today's commonly used cliches, the one-liners in most of them brilliantly communicate what Dentyne can do for you. I hope other advertisers take note of the creativity of these ads. I'd like to see more clever, bulls eye advertising.

Well, not everyone agrees with me

Read more...