Geez what's happened to our supposed great Australian sense of humour?! I wasn't going to comment on the new Commonwealth Bank ad which has got our ad industry frothing. But with today's piece in the Daily Telegraph by Joe Hilebrand, I just can't let it go.
The ad is a send up of the advertising industry, and boy has it ruffled a few feathers!
In today's Telegraph article the Grandfather of Australian advertising, John Singleton, makes one of his typically demure comments
"I saw it and I thought, 'You're kidding'. You fly to America to get obscene waste-of-money s... like that".
You can sure count on Singo for an opinion! This is just one of a multitude of strong criticisms of the ad created by US Ad agency, Goodby Silverstein http://www.goodbysilverstein.com/main_site/main.html.
Neil Shoebridge at the Financial Review says "it's a clear contender" for the worst ad of 2008"
Julian Lee at the Sydney Morning Herald doesn't like it either saying "It's one thing when the largest Australian bank hands its advertising account to a US agency. But when that agency then makes a series of comic skits about a fictional US ad agency working for the bank, you have to wonder where advertising is heading"
http://business.smh.com.au/which-bank-certainly-is-determined-to-be-different/20080125-1o7l.htmlIT
And today's Media section in The Australian has the Commonwealth Banks' CEO Ralph Norris stating the obvious "It's (ad campaign) laced with irony, it's laced with humour. "
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,,23209035-7582,00.html?from=public_rss
What I don't get is why no one here seems to get the joke?! Mind you we've only heard, via the media, of the ad industry's opinion. And does their opinion really matter?
Isn't it more important what viewers, customers think of the ad?
I love it! It is easily one of the best ads that I've seen in a very long time. It's hysterical. And everyone that I've spoken with, including Singo's son Jack, loves it too!
C'mon which would you prefer, that inane, boring "which bank?" ad?! What did that mean anyway?!
Yeah I want to watch the "Which bank?" ad again, give me more, more more more! NOT.
At last the ad industry (well the American ad industry) is having a laugh at itself and providing "entertaining" ads that we poor, long suffering television viewers can enjoy.
When was the last time we could say that?! Can we even remember an ad that gave us a laugh? I can't.
That's the difference between Australian and US ads. Their ads are funny, ours aren't!
And let us ask again, what increase in sales did our recent major Australian ads such as that Bloody Australian Tourism ad or that beer ad with a bunch of men running around in sheets achieve?! Zip! Both were failures despite the agencies trying to make out they were successful because people talked about them.
I am so sick of the boring, banal, annoying ads on commercial television. How can any ad person say the industry is "creative" with the schmaltz they "create"?!
So now instead of groaning as I usually do when the ads come on - I particularly hate, hate, hate, that bloody crap ad where the girl is telling her boyfriend to buy her a ring! Someone should be shot for that! I can't even remember what the product is anyhow. Ok calm down.....
So instead of groaning or switching channels when the break comes on I'm having a genuine laugh. How refreshing!
The Commonwealth Bank may be a crap bank especially when it comes to mortgage rates, but they've done a great job with their advertising!
http://youtube.com/watch?v=2v89M3lhlKA&source=cmailer
2 comments:
Louise, I agree the (mostly anonymous) vitriol aimed at the new Commonwealth Bank TVC has come from the Oz ad industry (hell that no fury like an ad creative scorned), and thus, who really cares?
But I don't think it disguises the fact this TVC, while it may generate a laugh, smacks of indulgence. The fact there is such a chasm-like disconnect between the Comm Bank in an operational sense and its purported 'determined to be different' tagline just goes to show the campaign, like a lot of mainstream advertising, is way off the mark.
The fact the bank held a press launch for the campaign and the creative head from Goodby Silverstein reportedly claimed the TVC wasn't advertising but 'branded entertainment', to me, merely increases the 'indulgence factor'.
Yes, the ad has its moments, and as the entire campaign rolls out, it may well really work in winning over new customers (in which case critics such as myself will end up with egg over our faces), but as it stands, I reckon it has been a waste of money and there are gazillions of other marketing initiatives the bank could employ to connect with its audience.
utTerrible terrible ad. No, they are not smart, they are very very shallow and annoying. Any ad which annoys will not sell products. I can't sit through them anymore, especially the boxing kangaroo ones, and what's with the 'mortgages are not a game' part. It leaves the viewer confused of whether to laugh or what to do!
Plot: American comes up with bad ad idea, shows it to Australians, and in a very un-Australian attitude, they reject it in a very demeaning, almost aggressive manner.
Post a Comment