"Possibilities": The New Non-Promise
It’s not uncommon in our business to witness curious, if not downright ridiculous trends in advertising. Lately we’ve seen our share. Take the hard yet hollow, and some would say disturbing, mascots for Burger King, Quaker Oats, and Travelocity. There’s something just not right about seeing the Burger King in bed with an unsuspecting sleeping guy. What’s it all mean? Is Burger King coming out of the closet? Meanwhile, the stiff Quaker Oat’s Quaker and Travelocity Yard Gnome (oh, and by the way, the Yard Gnome first appeared in Ford spots), simply pop up out of nowhere without explanation. Memorable? Maybe. Effective at selling product or building market share? A decisive “No”. In each example, all three companies are reporting meager increases as a result of their agencies’ self-indulgence.
The most recent trend is not so “hard” or tangible. In fact it’s about as opposite to tangible as it gets. It’s the concept of ‘Possibilities.” It’s very popular at the moment, and it’s been adopted by some of the biggest brands around: Target, Ford, Campbell’s, Domino’s. At least Domino’s tells you what they mean by possibilities. You can get your choice of pizza with your choice of extras. You can mix and match any way you like. Simple.
For the other companies? Let’s just say it’s not so simple.
Ford places the famous-for-a-day (ok, a couple months maybe) “American Idol” celebrity, Taylor Hicks on a flashy “Who Wants to be a Millionare” knock-off stage. He sings like he’s going to burst a blood vessel about “getting what he wants, and getting what he needs”. It’s louding and annoying like most bad car advertising, but out of nowhere Taylor adds the word “possibilities” to the end of his song. What the...? Where’d that word come from? Besides the fact that he says “possibilidees”, the word and more importantly the idea is stuck in there without context — dangling there at the end waiting for an explanation that never comes. Sure, it sounds kind of cool in there. It sets up an expectation. The problem is it doesn’t really say exactly what that is.
The most recent trend is not so “hard” or tangible. In fact it’s about as opposite to tangible as it gets. It’s the concept of ‘Possibilities.” It’s very popular at the moment, and it’s been adopted by some of the biggest brands around: Target, Ford, Campbell’s, Domino’s. At least Domino’s tells you what they mean by possibilities. You can get your choice of pizza with your choice of extras. You can mix and match any way you like. Simple.
For the other companies? Let’s just say it’s not so simple.
Ford places the famous-for-a-day (ok, a couple months maybe) “American Idol” celebrity, Taylor Hicks on a flashy “Who Wants to be a Millionare” knock-off stage. He sings like he’s going to burst a blood vessel about “getting what he wants, and getting what he needs”. It’s louding and annoying like most bad car advertising, but out of nowhere Taylor adds the word “possibilities” to the end of his song. What the...? Where’d that word come from? Besides the fact that he says “possibilidees”, the word and more importantly the idea is stuck in there without context — dangling there at the end waiting for an explanation that never comes. Sure, it sounds kind of cool in there. It sets up an expectation. The problem is it doesn’t really say exactly what that is.
It’s not uncommon in our business to witness curious, if not downright ridiculous trends in advertising. Lately we’ve seen our share. Take the hard yet hollow, and some would say disturbing, mascots for Burger King, Quaker Oats, and Travelocity. There’s something just not right about seeing the Burger King in bed with an unsuspecting sleeping guy. What’s it all mean? Is Burger King coming out of the closet? Meanwhile, the stiff Quaker Oat’s Quaker and Travelocity Yard Gnome (oh, and by the way, the Yard Gnome first appeared in Ford spots), simply pop up out of nowhere without explanation. Memorable? Maybe. Effective at selling product or building market share? A decisive “No”. In each example, all three companies are reporting meager increases as a result of their agencies’ self-indulgence.
The most recent trend is not so “hard” or tangible. In fact it’s about as opposite to tangible as it gets. It’s the concept of ‘Possibilities.” It’s very popular at the moment, and it’s been adopted by some of the biggest brands around: Target, Ford, Campbell’s, Domino’s. At least Domino’s tells you what they mean by possibilities. You can get your choice of pizza with your choice of extras. You can mix and match any way you like. Simple.
For the other companies? Let’s just say it’s not so simple.
Ford places the famous-for-a-day (ok, a couple months maybe) “American Idol” celebrity, Taylor Hicks on a flashy “Who Wants to be a Millionare” knock-off stage. He sings like he’s going to burst a blood vessel about “getting what he wants, and getting what he needs”. It’s louding and annoying like most bad car advertising, but out of nowhere Taylor adds the word “possibilities” to the end of his song. What the...? Where’d that word come from? Besides the fact that he says “possibilidees”, the word and more importantly the idea is stuck in there without context — dangling there at the end waiting for an explanation that never comes. Sure, it sounds kind of cool in there. It sets up an expectation. The problem is it doesn’t really say exactly what that is.
The most recent trend is not so “hard” or tangible. In fact it’s about as opposite to tangible as it gets. It’s the concept of ‘Possibilities.” It’s very popular at the moment, and it’s been adopted by some of the biggest brands around: Target, Ford, Campbell’s, Domino’s. At least Domino’s tells you what they mean by possibilities. You can get your choice of pizza with your choice of extras. You can mix and match any way you like. Simple.
For the other companies? Let’s just say it’s not so simple.
Ford places the famous-for-a-day (ok, a couple months maybe) “American Idol” celebrity, Taylor Hicks on a flashy “Who Wants to be a Millionare” knock-off stage. He sings like he’s going to burst a blood vessel about “getting what he wants, and getting what he needs”. It’s louding and annoying like most bad car advertising, but out of nowhere Taylor adds the word “possibilities” to the end of his song. What the...? Where’d that word come from? Besides the fact that he says “possibilidees”, the word and more importantly the idea is stuck in there without context — dangling there at the end waiting for an explanation that never comes. Sure, it sounds kind of cool in there. It sets up an expectation. The problem is it doesn’t really say exactly what that is.
posted by zzzzzzzzzzz at
10:37 PM
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