First, because Corona is losing share of market and consumption is going down for the first time in ages, I know they've been pushing their AOR Cramer-Krasselt to get going with interactive and online communications. So my first thought was that it was an awareness campaign, telling people that you can find Corona online and being "cute" with the juxtaposition of the brand and all its beautiful beachy images making its way to your screens.
For quite a while I thought about how it's really lame, and it basically takes the idea that Dentyne recently came up with about using the insight of how attached we are to communicating through technology and convinces us to "make face time," a cute way to tell you to chew some gum because a real kiss is much better than that smoochy face on AIM.
But then I realized that I probably went there because of the "curse of knowledge," and I came up with some other interpretation of the ad. I can't really remember it, probably because I was fishing for strategy and distracted.
Then suddenly I realized it was just a really really really BAD play on words. Corona has always been really great at simple image ads, but I've seen some great simple text ads from them, too. I really liked the somewhat similar Dentyne campaign, but this was a huge disappointment, and here's why:
When I first saw the Dentyne hug ad with the text "Friend Request Accepted," I thought it was a really awful classic case of men in suits thinking if they talk the talk, we'll think they're hip. Well, my problem was I was on BART in SF and couldn't read the rest of the text behind the other commuters, and thus completely missed the quick lines about "log off, turn on" and all those little pieces, as well as the "make face time" slogan. As soon as I saw it all, I thought they were really cute, and based in a very real consumer insight.
The Corona ad, on the other hand, is just a play on words, and it's a bit of a stretch if they hoped it would convey their message. Yes, I get that they're trying to say there's "a better way to be online" or whatever, but it felt weak, an almost knee-jerk reaction to the basic idea.
I'm sure there are lots of people who enjoyed this, and perhaps at other times it would have worked, but I think when another category used a similar strategy in a more meaningful way in such a close proximity of time, you look to be lacking a bit.
Cheers to McCann Erickson NY for the Dentyne campaign.
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8 comments:
You're missing the point completely. The brand promise is that Corona encourages you slow down, take life easy. The creative team decided to actually demonstrate this idea by simply writing an easy pun and calling it a day. I don't know how you could have missed this obvious tactic.
-The Thin Man
The Dentyne campaign is awful. I had to tell you this.
Thin Man, they were so clever I didn't even get it. Man. That's good advertising...or maybe it's just you ;)
As for you, EB--do you think you were the target for the campaign? It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that young adult females are the ones Dentyne is talking to, and the only thing they love more than chatting with guys online is chatting with guys in real life, and the only thing cooler than having an awesome facebook profile is not feeling like you have to have an awesome facebook profile. Honestly, its pretty perfect. We get to feel more adult, and we see "ourselves" in great, adorable situations that none of us could deny. Hate it all you want, but I'm willing to bet it was a huge success.
Strangely, my friend wrote about this campaign just today. Check it out: http://www.yaybia.com/2008/10/dentyne-face-time-good-and-bad.html
ps. EB, when was the last time you saw a gum commercial with an actual strategy, not to mention with an emotional insight? For reals.
i enjoy orbit's ads? does that count? i actually know that it's orbit. i didn't know who orbit was two, three years ago and now they're one of the first gums i think of and i've never actually tried it.
i saw the dentyne ads on the subway for two weeks and i didn't remember that they were dentyne. as in they were bland, and could apply to any of a number of things. as that goes, that campaign idea actually does apply to any of a number of things, and they have, including the corona thingy you mentioned, a south carolina tourism ad from four years ago, and, like, other stuff or something. it's an easy idea, and it's a faceless idea.
also, i don't like the idea that i can't judge a campaign because i'm not the target. i've got a personal theory that everyone who sees a campaign is the target because the ad expects you to come away with an impression of who they are, and if that impression is as 'the girly gum,' then it's for me as well. and i'm the girliest guy i know who still likes girls.
YOU SON OF A BITCH.
I want you to go look at the ads, and read all of the body copy. The visual aspects and the headlines are wonderfully supported by the body, and in a very direct way. You alluded to other campaigns that urged you to get offline; you're right, tons of products can benefit from that strategy. But Dentyne urged consumers to get offline and CONNECT with the friends and loved ones. That connection is directly linked to the need for products like Dentyne. I'm not saying other gum or mint companies couldn't do the same thing--but its a much stronger connection straight to the product than Corona or, I'm assuming, the tourism campaign.
As to your point about the not being able to judge it because you're not the target, I assumed you were discussing opinion, not judgement. You tend to not like things :) and since you didn't offer any support points, I figured it was just a "ugh. it's annoying" kind of thing. I definitely think you can judge an ad when it isn't trying to speak to you. How else would clients know what ads to buy when they aren't their own target? As an advertiser, you should know advertising, regardless of the consumer.
Miss Dalton, although I look damn sexy in a pencil skirt and red heels, you should know I'm not one of a 'men in suits'. :)
ha! i've got to say, i think that visual would be better if i knew who you were...
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