advergirl

AAA. Authentic storytelling makes a comeback.

Remember those long distance commercials from the 90s that left us with a lump in our throats?  The long-lost daughters calling home to dad. The couples reunited across seemingly uncrossable distances. The embarrassed TV watchers swiping tears from their cheeks?

Yeah, those ones.

What made them compelling was the story. The archetypes welling with happy emotion. The everyday hero stories that we all want to be a part of.

Jump ahead to 2008.

In an advertising environment of dropped calls, sweaty athletes and gloriously glossy hair follicles. AAA responds with their own everyday heroes; with compelling, authentic stories that we can all see ourselves in.

The campaign - from AAA Ohio and SBC Advertising - launched this month. It's told from the perspective of real tow truck drivers. But delivers something much larger: the story of their brand – literally, the true essence of service and membership – found in neighborhood driveways, in busy parking lots and in the cabs of tow trucks, with real people just talking about their jobs.

The result is great TV. Watch the spots here. But, don't blame me if you get a little teary on the Ant ones...

Why I love this approach:

AAA is up against two of the toughest challenges aging brands face: commoditization and sinking relevance.

People think: Oh, I already have this with my insurance or new car.

People think: My car won’t break down. I don’t need it.

Keeping ahead of the market, AAA aimed its operations and marketing strategies at refreshing the market perception of AAA.

Operations: Upgrade the ‘product’ we’re selling. People don’t have time to be towed. They want to be fixed and ‘stay on the go.’

Marketing: Anyone in any car can need AAA. The most common calls aren’t for breakdowns, they’re for keys locked in cars, dead batteries, flat tires, etc.

You can see the results in this campaign.

It shows that members are as likely to call for everyday goofs as real emergencies and demonstrates that most problems are fixed on the spot - no need to tow.

But, more than that, it brings to life a level of service and community that I hope will define the brand going forward.

"I don't have to grow up" - gen

For every thoughtful discussion I've had about the cultural consumer, the green citizen, the attention economy, I've had a party / conversation / meeting completely derailed by a group of mainstream 30-somethings playing or talking-about-playing video games. Even as I type this, my copy of RenGen is sitting under my PS3 controller on the coffee table.

We - the fabled, if aging GenXers - are a damn playful bunch. Our marathons are as likely to be a Saturday of Project Runway reruns as 20-sweaty miles across the city. We've passed on scrapbooks for passing around digital cameras packed with thousands of hammed-up snaps. We can cook but would rather collect memories of childhood munchies - from an EasyBake oven to the Snoopy Sno Cone machine complete with grape syrup.

So, if I can put down my classic wooden yo-yo for just a minute, I'd like to congratulate three advertisers for really getting the spirit of grown-up play:

#1 Dominos pizza for the inventiveness of friends
#2 Toyota Tacoma for the joy of the game
#3 Tostitos for the creativity in every roll of duct tape (and best random :5 seconds of moose)

Here are the smile-out-loud spots:

Mazda culturally tone deaf?

I think this spot premiered last month. But I believe the controversy it will create is yet to come. Watching the spot the first time I was uncomfortable. Since I've seen it more, it's genuinely changed my perception of the brand.

An all-black chorus singing in gospel-style ... a song that includes the phrases 'come shine here with me' and  'I'm finally free.' The the zoom out hits as they sing the brand's hallmark 'zoom, zoom' in a closed circle around a car.

Excessive religious references aside, it seems like a particularly offensive cultural lift.

In principle, I agree with the approach. Car buyers have changed. Over 50% of them are women. Growing numbers are Hispanic and African-American. Yeah, we need to get away from the white guy in a convertible zipping around the windiest roads of the Italian countryside with a thrilled woman by his side. But, there's a big, big 'in between' from talking to a niche to lifting an experience.

Garmin: Great holiday sell

Home Depot's rolled out a bland round of Santa and Mrs. Claus spots. Wal-Mart managed to find trouble even with something as simple as a Christmas promotion. I don't even want to talk about Best Buy's latest gift-giving pitch...

So, I guess it's up to the gifts to sell themselves this year.

Enter Garmin, manufacturer of various GPS and navigation toys. And, these two really entertaining and still-entirely-in-the-holiday-spirit spots ...

Enjoy!

Chevrolet: Weeeee!

Ever notice that a new auto is the largest financial decision regular folks routinely make for entirely impractical reasons? Or, maybe your commute is a little different than mine...

Agency: McCann Erickson

Renault and Coke: Fresh takes on usual messages...

Renault Clio print from Lowe.

(No, this is not a picture of me from last weekend)

And, a great Coke spot that must be buried in all the summer reruns ...
From W + K and Nexus Productions:

VM: Multiplying like Rabbits

Back-to-back auto spots at Advergirl. This one is much better - a fun take on an old cliche and a very memorable execution. Some of the "choreography" seems a little messy or off in some way, but overall a great spot by Crispin, Porter & Bogusky:

Oh, no worries, we'll make a better product SOMEDAY

Ok, humans can't fly. So, not a great example. We can get in machines that fly, but nothing like the freedom Da Vinci imagined. Unless, of course, you consider gliding flying, which would be a little silly, but, ok ...

So, thanks to BP, we will apparently be subjected to an endless number of these inane brand ads that gloss up the general environmental shittiness of their current products by saying "we're working on it." Super.

Agency: Nazca Saatchi & Saatchi

The family sports car

I've noticed that publishers and advertisers have managed to make pregnancy look hot (less the swollen ankles and vomiting, of course); so, the next challenge can only be making the diaper-bag-toting, exhausted, mother-of-a-two-year old hot, too. Game on.

Client: SEAT Altea
Agency: BBDO?

Found at: Twenty Four

Honda Element: One chatty auto

Oh my, joyful. How did I miss these delightful spots from Honda? The lazy oppossum, the scampering crab, the woeful burro, the silly platypus - they're all great. I could watch these again and again.

The promise of never getting lost

Smart strategy - clearly an emotional appeal, but the tagline reads as an almost intellectual choice. Should result in a confident buyer. Nice quick read while still having some depth to it.

Agency: Publicis Frankfurt

Any medium can be more interactive

Client: Fiat Ducato
Agency: Leo Burnett, São Paulo.
Via: Ad Arena

Awash in duckies

This is a wonderful spot.

Unfortunately, the only two versions I can find of it online are (1) not in English and (2) either incomplete or out-of-order.

(Link one. Link two.)

Still, the concept is so good that I think you can get the idea ...

Here's the story:

In 1992 a merchant ship was caught in a horrible storm and sank betweebn Hong Kong and San Diego, losing all its cargo.

Over 20,000 yellow rubber ducks.

14 years, 6000 miles later, residents of Strattford, Scotland woke to find the ducks invading their shore.

Life's full of surprising endings.

Seat Toledo. Extraordinary from beginning to end.

I'm sure the English version of this spot is out there somewhere ... please comment with a link if you have one.

Thanks!

Build your own Harley Davidson

Agency: Carmichael Lynch

VW ad that actually works (all the way from Turkey)

Why buy a billboard when you can turn an entire building into a fantastic ad? (You'll definitely want to enlarge this one)

Via Billboardom
More at bigumigu.com

Smart: world's smallest production car

This is either a Shetland-Pony-ready garage door or a cute play for the world's smallest production car.
Agency: JWT, Dubai

Friday Favorties

Siemens: XXL fridge

Agency: Christian Soldatke, Saskia Lübke
Via: Ads of the World

Size still matters (where the Wild Things are anyway...)

Agency: Unknown
Via: How Advertising Spoiled Me


Kleenex Anti-Viral Tissues
(Kind of a weak payoff - but, certainly the most delightful turtle ever)

Alt play link
Agency: JWT, New York
Via: Ads of the World


Mice Bait
Since everyone else is passing around the clearly very impressive, though troubling lingerie ads, I'll share the similar mouse bait climber:

Agency: The Jupiter Drawing Room
Via: Billboardom


And, absolute best of the day goes to: World Wildlife Fund

Copy: Make a Stand - The only thing between their survival and extinction is you.
Story: In this outdoor installation hunters are on one side of the street taking aim at animals on the other side - and you're in the middle.
Agency: Ogilvy (?)
Via: Advertising for Peanuts

 

Toyota Yaris - Trojan

Thank goodness the Era of the Advertising Cave Men seems to be over. We're on to Greek civilization. I didn't want to like it (not being a fan of the gratuitous history backdrops), but I have to admit that the latest Yaris spot is another in a series of very fun, catchy creative.

Others from Saatchi's Yaris series -
Yaris Was Born in Europe
Yaris Plays Great Tunes
Yaris Can Carry A Lot
Yaris Messenger

(Is this reading like a Curious George library?)

Volkswagen: Unpimp your auto

There's been a lot of talk about the latest VW campaign in our little ad group lost in the midwest here... As one art director put it, it looks like creatives doing work for other creatives - it's fun, but so unintelligible and out-of-touch that it will alienate a lot of people on the edges of their young, hip target.

If you haven't watched them - see the series here at Echobooming

Stop Dreaming. Start Investing.

Agency: JWT
Note: Image is placed on a giant mirror. Passerbys (of appropriate height) see themselves in the drivers seat.

Fiat and Google Earth launch Olympic scavenger hunt

Sure, an ugly Web site, but what an idea –

Fiat has partnered with Google Earth to develop an Olympic scavenger hunt. Under the snows of Turin and the Olympic valleys Fiat has hidden an exclusive Ferrari 360 Experience pass and four Fiat Sedici cars. The game challenges users of Google Earth to find places where the prizes are hidden.

Agency: TestawebEdv