When Neil Armstrong landed on the moon, his quote, “That’s one small step for man; one giant leap for mankind.” resonated with the world. An article in The Guardian made a similar stride in the world of beauty, and even as an advertiser I have to say – this is one giant leap for womankind!

There are two issues at hand; the first being the American ideal of beauty from a cultural standpoint, the second our Constitutional rights.  Now it is true, we as a society want to look at beautiful people.  We want them to act on screen, pose in pictures and model clothes for us.  Unfortunately, however, this can be a double-edged sword; especially when you compare the rates of eating disorders and self-esteem issues in our country to other nations.  It seems the rest of the world holds the statement “beauty is in the eye of the beholder” more true.  But maybe if Europeans are pulling overly airbrushed ads from their magazines, Americans can’t be too far behind.  As a woman and an advertiser, I see both sides of the coin.

The purpose of advertising is to deliver a message, but it becomes a slippery slope when the message gets lost in the art of retouching…  So who’s to blame?  The American standard of beauty or the Advertising Standards Authority?  What do you think?

If you’re looking for a war game – from World War II through the modern era, it is hard to beat the graphics or popularity of the Call of Duty franchise. Originally created for PC, it is now offered across almost every platform, including most handhelds.

Call of Duty (COD) Live pits players from all over the world against each other in teams – with the goal being to destroy the players on the other team. When playing, you can hear the voices of your team-mates and see the Live handles of those you’re playing against. Talk to anyone who has played COD Live and the first thing they talk about is the N00b’s, 13 year old boys and middle-aged women that can school them and the fact that sometimes, you just might be playing with someone famous. Live play video games have bridged the gap between demographics in a way that very few things can. Call of Duty obviously understands this – and is capitalizing on it. Their new campaign has taken the voices and turned it visual – placing real people (and a couple famous faces) into the call of duty world to “act out” playing the game. No matter your personal opinion on war games this ad captures the reality of the COD Live game world brilliantly.

*Personally, my favorite moment is the concierge answering the phone while hiding behind a cement wall.

Superbowl Sunday. It means one thing: Football. Unless of course you are in marketing, then it’s Football and commercial critiquing! I swear, I spend every Superbowl Sunday yelling more about the commercials than the games themselves. Most are just an absolutely pathetic waste of money, but there are always a few shining stars.

I know that I am looking forward to seeing what the big brands do…and although I know the commercials are all taped, and there is nothing I can say to help them to make better commercials, if I could, here’s what I would tell them:

1. Make sure that I know what your product is after the commercial is over. Just because it is funny/sexy/stupid does not mean that I can remember your product. No remember, No buy.
2. Stop with the obnoxious songs. If I have to mute my TV because the song you choose as your background music is absolutely torture, I am not going to be paying attention to your ad. No watch, no buy.
3. Don’t try to be clever. Funny is funny when it is simple, easy to understand and makes you laugh. Clever is confusing, and usually fails to make anyone laugh. Funny failure, no buy.
4. On that note, don’t be stupid. Are you trying to sell your product to the woman of the house? Don’t show half naked women. Know your market, and make them happy. Unhappy customer, no buy.

What would you tell the commercial creators if you could?

By the way, if you’re feeling sentimental, and need a little humor from the past, superbowl-commercials.org has a great collection of the ads from past years!

What can $120 million media buy get you?

Hopefully a new brand. But if you’re Brinks Home Security, you might as well have set that money on fire.

On July 1st, Brinks Home Security revealed that they would be separating themselves from the red trucks and armored guards we all associate with security and would be renaming their home security brand to Broadview Home Security.  Huh?

They started their campaign with a collection of new ads run on an aggressive media push:

Did you catch why they changed their name? Me either. They’ve poured money into ads that explain nothing. They’ve grabbed your attention just like they used to, and terrified you about home invasions. But all of a sudden the name is different without any explanation…that’s a little terrifying too.

How could the campaign be improved and be more effective at both selling the service while establishing the brand transition? Easy. How about answering the questions that you know everyone is going to be asking when the ad ends instead of just showing a new logo?

Let’s start with: Why are you changing the name in the first place? People know Brinks. They know what it means. They know the brand. Brinks is serious security – trucks, guns, tough black suits. You know your money is protected with Brinks, why not extend that to the home as they’ve done in the past? Clearly there’s a business decision behind this but c’mon, we’re adults we can take, go ahead and tell us the reasoning behind the decision to change the name and let us embrace you as smart business people serious about security, not awful marketers.

Once we’ve established the reason for the change, then we can move on to: What’s Broadview and why did you choose it? What new services are you offering? Are you better, stronger or more secure now? Did you improve my services in anyway?  Create and establish a believeable, marketable strategy for the name so that existing customers feel secure with the change and potential customers establish an understanding for the brand and the company behind the brand.

Those are the tough questions these ads should be answering, otherwise they are just pouring the $120mil down the drain.  What their competition should do now is to run a switch campaign to capitalize on the uneasy feeling existing Brinks customers will have with this sudden shift.  Most consumers don’t realize that you can switch your service provider anytime you like.  Just because you have Brinks branded security panels in your home  doesn’t mean that you have to use them for monitoring and you can just as easily use ADT or another provider, which at this point seems like a pretty good idea.

This all seems pretty shaky to me.  If your brand is all about security, you don’t want your customers thinking your company isn’t secure, do you?

1. Not only is this ad gorgeously done, but it became a part of pop culture, different than what all the other alcohol companies were doing.
2. It is an ultra premium brand using an ultra premium artist.
3. Was it successful? I would say so, Absolut was just sold to Pernod Ricard for $8.3 billion.

Ad campaigns are not difficult. They are difficult to do right. These 5 steps will help you to break apart your advertisement to make sure that the next one you create is stronger than the last.

1. Capture the big picture – When someone looks at your advertisement, they should see the story behind it. It isn’t just pictures on a page, it should stir an emotional response. Make the viewer laugh, cry, be happy or angry, whatever emotion, make sure that it is powerful. should tell a story.
2. Your brand/logo – You would be amazed at how many ad campaigns place their logo in a place that it is impossible to find, or forget it altogether. How can people have brand recognition without a brand?
3. Simple and clean – People don’t have the patience to sit and try and figure out what you’re talking about. Make it easy to understand, easy to read and to the point.
4. Extensible – should be able to convert it through all the mediums
5. Memorable – If all 4 of the above have been done properly, #5 should just fall into place. But, the key is to make your advertisement something that people are going to talk about and remember.

Next time you are working on an advertisement, or are just looking at them, see if they fit the 5.

What are your thoughts on ad campaigns and following these 5?

Earlier this week, we talked about the horrible Burger King ad. But, one of the commenters made a valid point: “Horrid commercials are more noteworthy than the ones that warm your heart. I don’t remember a Snuggles commercial more than 20 seconds after it’s done.”

Is this true? Do horrid advertisements make a bigger impact? What makes you remember an advertisement?

Are there advertisements that you still remember from years ago?