Think twice before you take the last slice
Agency: Ogilvy, Durban, South Africa
Client: Pizzetta

Snow White and the Six Dwarfs

Romeo and Harriet

Thelma

It’s a simple concept, executed well. Famous movie posters and what would happen if one of the stars of the movie took the last slice of Pizzetta pizza. The movie just wouldn’t be the same.

Anyways, I like it.

What do you think?

Molson Canadian is not the greatest beer out there. It’s not even the greatest Canadian beer. In fact, in my opinion, it’s actually a pretty lousy beer. Yet, it’s appropriately named “Canadian”, which naturally gives them the opportunity to do some really great advertising work in relating to the rest of the country.

They have the opportunity to instill that sense of national pride in Canadians. And that’s exactly what they did with the “I Am Canadian” campaign that made so many beer drinking shell out the dollars for a mediocre beer. It was advertising at it’s finest.

Here is the famous “The Rant” spot, below.

The commercial was and still is amazing. It is so effective at hitting the core of Canadian pride, especially debunking a lot of the “American” stereotypes of Canadians. The spot was spoofed countless times, on comedy shows, at hockey games. It was the biggest commercial in Canada at the time.

The spot was followed up by a few commercials of Americans making fun of Canadians with their generic stereotypes and the Canadians responding by hockey fighting or sicking their pet beavers on them. Definitely inferior spots, but still along the same lines of “The Rant”.

Then, in 2005, Molson merged with Coors. This was actually very big in the news at the time because it meant that the “I Am Canadian” brand, was now American. And with that, they dumped their famous tag line and went in a completely different direction.

The “It Starts Here” campaign was born. And it couldn’t live up to the advertising before it. Check out the spot, below.

I’d actually forgotten that this campaign existed. Simply because it fails to connect to the Canadian audience, not only in comparison to “The Rant” commercial, but just in general. It was very forgettable and Molson Canadian pretty much fell off the map in terms of their advertising.

Until finally, last year they woke up and realized what they’d done wrong. As I stated up above, Molson Canadian almost has a built-in message of Canadian pride and identity. Why were they not playing this up? Finally, they released “The Code” campaign.

Check out spots #1 and #2 below.

Molson Canadian had gone back to what made the “I Am Canadian” campaign so successful. In fact, “The Rant” commercial was criticized a bit for being about what Canada is not, instead of what Canada is. Well, that is not the case with “The Code” campaign. In terms of what it means to be Canadian, what they left out in “The Rant” spot they have defined in this campaign.

And it works.

It taps into Canadian culture, connects with their audience, and despite the beer itself not being very good, it insists on being part of our identity. It took them several years in order to come back around, but come around they did.

Thoughts on the three campaigns above? Post below.

Laraque has apologized for the commercial, saying he should never have done the ad, and is sorry if he offended anyone. Watch the commercial below:

Octane 7.0
Client: Blue Spike Beverages

Now if you know anything about Georges Laraque you would know his intention was not to offend anyone. I do feel sorry that he had to get caught up in this. He is the exact opposite of his tough-guy persona on the ice. He is a vegan who supports animal-rights groups, battered-women shelters, Boys & Girls Clubs and has been involved in the Hockey in the Hood inner-city hockey program, in the past. He even won the King Clancy NHL award for his contributions to his community.

Which kind of makes you wonder, what the hell was he thinking?

Not only are NHL players not allowed to publicly support alcoholic beverages, which this drink is and Laraque could face additional fines from the league, the commercial is just bad. It is purely based on the notion that “sex sells” and there is no other message. Maybe something like this could have worked in the 1950′s or 60′s, but in today’s society, not only does the advertising not work, but it will get you in a heap of trouble.

An honourable mention also must go to Laraque’s “spin-o-rama” move in the commercial. I’ve never seen him display skills like that in an NHL game.

What are your thoughts on the ad?

Not much can be said about the spot, it pretty much speaks for itself. Check it out below.

Chase
Agency: DDB Canada
Client: Midas

Very tongue-in-cheek. Very effective. Not the greatest spot in the world but as Canadians, we can relate and find the humour in it. I’m glad they brought it back for year two.

- danvertising

Watch the video below. For some reason, this choppy version is the only one that can be found online.

Isn’t it strange that a greasy fast-food restaurant would be making fat jokes? Let’s forget for a second that Jessica Simpson isn’t even overweight to begin with and the fact that she and Tony Romo are no longer together. The joke’s aren’t effective, especially coming from a company who significantly contributes to obesity in America. Way to understand your audience, Burger King.

Despite the skit being “presented by Burger King”, they claim that FOX produced it and that they were not involved in developing the content. Regardless, their name is attached to it and it is pissing a lot of people off.

What do you think?

May the Best Car Win
Agency: McCann, Detroit
Client: General Motors

Now I don’t know if the 60-day satisfaction guarantee is going to work for them or not. It could quite easily backfire in their face, as let’s face it, GM model’s haven’t exactly been the most reliable cars in the market. But let’s focus on the ad itself. Who the hell is Ed Whitacre, and why should I care? In my opinion, this ad falls flat for two reasons.

1. Ed Whitacre has about zero charisma. He looks like he is being propped up by strings and reading off of a cue card for 60-seconds. Not exactly a strong sell.
2. He looks like the typical rich, Wall Street guy or sleazy politician that got GM and the automotive industry into this mess in the first place.

The ad has zero emotion and doesn’t inspire any confidence in General Motors. Especially now, since the American people are financially on the hook for GM’s “reinvention“, don’t expect any sympathy. Maybe I’m being too superficial, judging General Motors and their brands on the looks of their new Chairman. But then again, in the automotive industry, and especially the advertising industry… perception is reality.

Post your thoughts below.

Also, a quick hit on some classic vintage advertising. Oh, how times have changed. Check out these oldie’s and let me know if you think they’d work in today’s society?

I didn’t think so.

Have a good one.

Not everyone likes surprises
Agency: Bos
Client: Mr. Sub

Mr. Sub has since pulled the commercial from the air, and fired their advertising agency for not meeting the campaign’s objectives of positively engaging with their customers.

I understand the LGBT community’s concerns with the commercial. However, it is not the advertising agency, Bos, who is to blame. The controversy can be pinned on the shoulders of Mr. Sub and Mr. Sub alone. After all, they approved the commercial. It’s not like Bos released the ad without their knowledge.

Here is a quote from a statement released by Bos:

“We would like to conclude by saying that it is most unfortunate that Mr. Sub has chosen to terminate our relationship over the complaints for an ad which they approved”

What do you think? Do you find the commercial offensive? Do you think the agency should be blamed, or Mr. Sub themselves?

Marketing Magazine has the other two spots from the campaign here and here.

For fun, here it is:

1984
Agency: Chiat/Day
Client: Apple

Ah, I still love watching Big Brother (IBM) get blown up by a sledgehammer.

But here is another take on the spot. The following ad is for DoubleTwist, a software company that is planning on launching an iTunes-like product that is compatible across all devices. And since iTunes/iPod products are so inclusive to Apple, they’ve cast Steve Jobs and Apple as Big Brother in their parody. Check it out:

Big Brother
Client: DoubleTwist

It’s a good parody. And a great jab at Steve Jobs and Apple. Although, it would be nice if competitor’s could come up with their own creative/award-winning/watershed moment advertising instead of simply rehashing others.

What do you think about this?

Who Are You When You Drink?
Agency: Forsman & Bodenfors
Client: IQ.com

I think it is a really good commercial. At times it is really funny. At other times it is just sad and depressing. Those drunks that fall asleep in their food, alone, at 4:30AM don’t want to believe that that’s the kind of person they are when they drink. So in this regard, the campaign does a good job of being honest, and telling it like it is. At the same time, for the most part, the spot is very entertaining.

I’m sure there are other categories of “drunk” that cannot all be told in a 60-second spot. The web site itself is Swedish so it’s hard to see how well the campaign works online.

But in terms of alcohol-awareness, what I like about the commercial is that it doesn’t tell you what to do. It doesn’t say, drinking is bad, don’t do it, which is a common pitfall for most alcohol-related commercials. That approach is tired, and has proven to not connect to the audience. Meanwhile, this approach is fresh and connects to each individual watching it, wondering which kind of drunk they fall under.

What are your thoughts?