Monthly Archives: July 2008

This ad starts with a black and white photo of a kid with a box over his head.

The headline reads:

Kids are famous for their fresh take on things.
Now we are, too.

I don’t know if a kid with a box on his head is the perfect way to illustrate a fresh take on things. Ragú’s fresh take on things is that they’ve put tomato sauce in a plastic microwaveable pouch. I suppose that this is a convenient, if more expensive way to heat tomato sauce.

Below the kid in the box, there’s a strand of spaghetti, and then a photo of the product. Kid in box: spaghetti: tomato sauce.

This is a logical progression in someone’s mind.

I’m a vegetarian and I believe in eating healthy food. So I’m not a McDonald’s customer. If I’m on a road trip, and I’m hungry, and there’s a place to eat off the freeway, and there’s only a McDonald’s, I’ll find something to eat there.

I’m having a little bit of trouble understanding who this ad is targeting. I know it isn’t me or anyone I know.

I haven’t seen this ad campaign before, so I’m not sure if I’m supposed to know the cheesy-looking guy with the cheesy-looking mustache in the upper left corner named Paul, the original Dollar Menunaire. I’m not sure what a menunaire is.

This ad ran in People, whose readers are predominantly women. McDonald’s is apparently trying to lure women into their restaurant so they can buy a hot fudge sundae. And it’s only a dollar. Good deal.

But the person giving the tip, Paul, looks like someone who does needle drugs. And he’s white as a ghost, so he apparently never gets any sun. Is Paul the kind of guy that women trust to tell them about food?

I can imagine the conversation:

Paul: Yo hey, it’s me, Paul, the original Dollar Menunaire!

Donna: Paul…Paul…I don’t know anyone named Paul…oh, wait, are you that creepy guy in high school who was caught pulling all those fire alarms? Your look hasn’t changed since then, I see.

Paul: Got a little helpful hint to, y’know, fulfill a need.

Donna: A need? You always were a pervert. Nice running into you. I have to go.

Paul: It’s called the hot fudge sundae and can be found on McDonald’s superb-ilicious Dollar Menu.

Donna: Leave me alone or I’m going to call the police.

Paul: It’s hot, fudgy and sundae-y.

Donna: That’s great, Paul. See ya. Give my regards to your sister.

Paul: (leering) And for just a buck, it’s just what your desire requires.

Donna: (into her cell phone): I’m at the Mini Mart on Ridge Rd, near Chapham. This guy Paul is propositioning me and he won’t go away. Can you get someone over here?

Paul: That’s probably more than a hint, y’know.

Donna: No, you wouldn’t take a hint. Why don’t you just kiss my butt?

Paul: It’s a sweet one.

I did a Google search and found out that our creepy friend Paul has a creepy web site that will appeal to creepy people: http://www.mcdonalds.com/usa/eat/features/dollar.html.

The next time I’m driving along the freeway and I get hungry, I’ll hold out for Jack in the Box. Or Wendy’s. I don’t want to run into Paul or any of his friends.

I was reading Los Angeles Magazine a few days ago when I came across this ad.

Beautiful woman in fancy red dress, I thought. Then I turned the page. It was only later on when I went back through the magazine to find an ad to post that I stopped to examine the ad.

Here’s the headline:

Sheets
too glamorous
to stay in bed.

Sheets, something about glamorous sheets. I don’t see sheets. WTF? 

Then I get it. The model isn’t wearing a dress. She’s wearing a sheet.

Why do ad agencies fall over themselves to be clever? Nine out of ten times, clever is confusing. Confusion doesn’t sell products.

Note to advertiser: You sell bed sheets. Show a bed. With sheets. Don’t show a sheet that looks just like a dress because a sheet that looks just like a dress is a dress. If you want to be clever, show one end of the sheet draped around a model like a fancy dress, and the other end of the sheet laid out on a bed. At least the reader will be able to make the connection.

This is another example of an ad that gets it right. The image of a mouse on some stones is coupled with the headline: All-terrain.

You get it. This mouse will work on all kinds of surfaces.

Next, you see the logo and the manufacturer: Kensington.

The copy is short, sweet, and to the point. It’s a Bluetooth enabled mouse that works on any surface.  It has a trackball. Read more at their web site.

Good deal.

There’s one thing I would have done differently. The stones are too dark and not all that interesting to look at. The designer made a decision to use dark stones because they wanted the mouse to stand out. It works but it could have been better.

They could have used nicer-looking stones and lightened them a bit. Lighting or Photoshop would still make the mouse pop. If they’d done that, the ad would be perfect.

This ad for Bridgestone Run-Flat tires ran in Wired magazine across two pages. Let’s take a look at what this product actually is. On page two, the copy reads:

Bridgestone Run-Flat tires let you drive up to 50 miles at 50 mph after a flat so you can avoid the potential danger of changing tires along a busy highway.

This sounds like a great product. Who wouldn’t want tires that let you keep driving after you get a flat? If the tires work as advertised, every car owner should want to buy them.

Instead of running one ad across two pages, Bridgestone decided to run a separate ad on each page. Because the two ads are united by the same logo, it looks like one two-page ad. But the images on each page run together in a way that’s really confusing. The tire on the left side looks like it’s part of the car on the right.

The headline on the left ad reads:
RUN-FLAT TIRES
KEEP DRIVERS IN CONTROL.

This doesn’t tell me much about Run-Flat tires. How do they keep drivers in control? In control of what?

To answer this question, I’m supposed to read the copy on the page, which I’m not going to do, because:

1. I’m busy.
2. The ad isn’t compelling.
3. I’m not all that interested in tires.

Bridgestone thinks that I have nothing better to do than to read through all the features of their new tires. They’re wrong. If I don’t read the copy, I won’t find out what Run-Flat tires are.

In the scan, I can read the subhead that says:
BRIDGESTONE’S
SELF SUPPORTING
RUN FLAT TIRES (RTFs)

But In the actual ad, the line is all but illegible because of the blue against the gray background. It hardly matters because all the subhead tells me is that the tires are “self supporting.” What does this mean? Do the tires get a job and turn the paycheck over to me until they’ve paid for themselves?

The ad on the right has a good headline:
He’s about to get a flat tire.
He’s not about to stop.

That’s great. It makes me ask: Why?

And I have my answer in the copy below:

Bridgestone Run-Flat tires let you drive up to 50 miles at 50 mph after a flat so you can avoid the potential danger of changing tires along a busy highway.

But that’s all that’s good. The design of this ad is awful. It looks like something horrible has happened and the top of the car was sliced off. The driver hasn’t yet realized that his torso and legs are still in the car, and that his upper half is flying through the air.

It doesn’t really matter. The reader has probably already turned the page. The expensive two-age ad misses its target.