Thursday, April 27, 2006

What are you good Ad?

Its been a truly yawning gap since my last post. Work in office was a bitch!
Also, am married!!! (No Pun Intended, OK??)

The other day, my wife was cribbing about their (Ad) agency not getting even a single nomination at the local awards. This despite some of their work to be far better than the works of the winning ticket, apparently! My wife’s agency is a large MNC but with clients that can influence apocryphal mood swings in her, that I fear I’d very soon end up on the wall, on a foto frame with a smoking agarbathi (Incense).

Am a lay person, and to me Ads are the time you run to the loo, or catch up a bite or quickly browse what’s on other channels. In print, Ads are where I keep my coffee mug so it doesn’t block my read. On the roads, my attention is drawn, since school, to the Amul butter Ads and those that show a nice, healthy looking woman saying something that is completely ignored or over-shadowed by ooommpphh!

Agree, there are some very good examples of creative excellence, but how effective are most of it in getting the cash registers ringing for the brands?
Definitely not like this Ad, actually a super slink advert induced sales, that happened in Winnipeg, Canada. Only difference, this ad was thought of by the brand owners themselves!

This one came out in a free farmer’s journal and in a handful of other rural and small town papers catering more to the agricultural fraternity. It was that of a super-efficient bug killer. A crop-bug killing instrument, to be more precise.
The Ad goes something like this:

“a sure-fire, quick-kill, instant, always ready potato bug killer. It never missed, and easy to use. Only $1.50 or $1.25. Even a child can use it”, the ads said.
Now, rural Canada was constantly faced with the menace of bugs and what kinda toothless farmer didn’t have a dollar to spare??
There was a formal warning as well, “Limited Stocks Only, Order Now and Don’t Be Told We Ran Out Of Stock”. Now that sure did kick in the urgency and in a week, by the time the papers realized and removed the Ad, over 10,000 pieces were sold pre-paid to the hapless farmers who sure got the marvelous invention.

Two small pieces of wood, with an instruction Manual that read:
“Place the bug on one piece and crush immediately with the other using your own hands. Very Easy, even a child can use!”

See Creativity??

2 Comments:

Blogger marciano guerrero said...

That is a wonderful knee slapping story. Thanks.

9:54 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi susheel..really enjoyed ur "what are you good ad?" blog..did tickle my funny bone..ur fantastic ...keep blogging..gues i knw where to luk wen i need a laff..ash!!!

4:49 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home

Cultural Creative

81%

Modernist

69%

Materialist

69%

Romanticist

63%

Postmodernist

56%

Idealist

50%

Existentialist

50%

Fundamentalist

38%

What is Your World View? (updated)
created with QuizFarm.com