dr pepsi, i mean dr pepper’s celeb-tastic advertising

You know that soda company that uses the borrowed interest of celebrities in all of their ads to help sell their sugary beverages? You know, the one the soda brand that you can automatically tell the ad is for because it features a celebrity that you kinda forgot about touting the great taste and refreshing nature of their product? It’s the brand that just ditched their long-time agency.

It’s Dr Pepper.

Of course, instead of getting rid of their long-time agency for a fresh approach that moved away from the old celebrity-based ad formula like Pepsi did when they ditched BBDO for Chiat/Day, Dr Pepper ditched Y&R for Deutsch/LA.

And instead of jettisoning a played-out soda advertising stereotype, Dr Pepper just stole the one Pepsi had discarded.

I can see the Deutsch team selling this idea in:

Deutsch: Our strategy is a proven success – it worked for Pepsi for years and they have way more market share than you

Dr Pepper: True. They do have more market share. But don’t they really own the celebrity formula?

Deutsch: They did own the celebrity formula. Not anymore. Now you do.

Dr Pepper: But they spent probably a billion dollars over almost four decades connecting their brand with celebrity razzmatazz.

Deutsch: Right. And now they have stopped.

Dr Pepper: They have stopped so now we can take over their equity?

Deutsch: Exactly! We’re like the equity zombie brand, just moving in and taking a bite of what they have and irrevocably making it ours in one fell swoop! It makes sense, buy the idea

Dr Pepper: I’m convinced. Let’s make ads.

Deutsch: Dr Dre is still relevant, right? What the hell, let’s start with him…

p.t. barnum marketing courtesy of dr pepper

The marketing geniuses at Dr Pepper (caution: post may contain sarcasm-like substance) came up with another one of those forgettable P.T. Barnum stunts they are famous for a while back, promising to give free Dr Pepper to everyone if the totally relevant Guns ‘n’ Roses ever finished their 17 years -in-the-making album Chinese Democracy.

Surprise, surprise, the album was not only released this year, but released on November 23rd!

And…wait…aren’t there 23 flavors in every Dr Pepper? By jove! Dr Pepper just cracked a big ol’ egg of marketing genius all over us!

Too bad all the marketing genius wasn’t put toward figuring out how to execute against this execrable idea…, as reported at Perez Hilton, Dr Pepper’s servers could handle the traffic and their site was unavailable for most of the day that consumers were supposed to be able to get their free soda.

I guess when they took up that new ‘drink it slow’ positioning, the whole company took it to heart.

(And yes, the above is the best joke that I could come up with. I am far too angry at this marketing ineptitude to be at all funny at the moment. I have admitted it. Let’s move on.)

One-off, stunt-y marketing ideas like this that do nothing to build the actual brand are the kind of marketing that comes from executives that desperately need PR because they are looking for their next job. Whether that is because, like a Julie Roehm, they are soulless corporate climbers, or, like Dr Pepper’s own Sean Gleason, because they know that they are about to be laid off, this sort of idea is soundbite marketing, devoid of an ounce of strategy. It gives bloggers, Oprah, etc something small to say about the brand, but it builds nothing.

It is hacky and cheap.

The fact that Dr Pepper wasn’t prepared for the response to their stunt is only the surface of a deep ineptitude that runs deep in their marketing department.

Good luck, Deutsch/LA. At least you know that you can’t do any worse.

a strategy statement come to life

I have been meaning to comment on DDB’s new spot for McDonald’s coffee since I saw it a few weeks ago, but…well, but this work thing is pretty busy and things with the Pretty Account Supervisor have gone better and quicker than I expected and when you put the two together I end up with a lot of things that I want to write about but never actually get to. Luckily, Agency Spy posted on the spot and that is the impetus for finally getting to it.

Agency Spy thinks that the spot is terrible, divisive and lowest common denominator:

[ VIDEO ]

I think that the spot is just a far too literal execution of the brief, the strategy statement in :30 of moving images.

I don’t go as far as Superspy in thinking that this truly appeals to the lowest common denominator…I caught a little bit of a wink and a smile in how hammy the actresses were that would like speak what is surely a well-researched target group that thinks that Starbucks really is for hoity-toity Apple-oid hipsters and isn’t a brand for them. It’s not an anti-intellectual spot, but rather one that pokes fun at those who take themselves too seriously.

That said, watching the spot is like reading the brief.

The opportunity – there is a significant group of regular people that find Starbucks coffee and the whole experience around it too elitist and look for something that is more down to earth, more on the go and, simply put, more regular. Just like they are.

The strategy – shine a white hot light on the delineation between the stereotypical condescending faux intellectualoid Starbucks denizen and the no need to pretend to be anyone but yourself McDonald’s coffee drinker who wants good coffee without having to worry about not fitting in or mispronouncing “venti.”

The problem with a spot that shows the brief so obviously is that it is, well, obvious.

dr pepper + schadenfreude = fun

Schadenfreude sounds awfully ominous both because it is a German word and anything in German sounds like it presages some sort of invasion by robots in lederhosen and also because what goes around comes around and if you’re spending your time enjoying another’s misfortune the same is bound to happen to you.

Still, in the meantime, schadenfreude is enjoyable.

With the news that cleverly-named Dr Pepper Snapple Group has axed Executive VP, Marketing Randy Gier and his VP, Marketing henchman Sean Gleason my inbox was practically overflowing with German-style enjoyment at the announcement.

It’s so weird that firing Y&R and hiring your buddies at Deutsch/LA to produce an ad that tells people how to drink their soda (thanks Dr Pepper, I think that I’ve figured that bit out by now) would get you fired. Who knew?

At least they used Dr J:

Because if you’re going with a craptastic strategy you may as well rely on borrowed interest, too.

As an aside, can you imagine the good folks at Deutsch/LA pitching this idea?

Deutsch/LA: We are going to do something that will absolutely differentiate your brand from the others, we are going to take Dr Pepper in a totally new direction. We are going to build a campaign all around flavor!

Daily Biz VO: Um, but wasn’t the campaign you fired Y&R for all about the great taste of 23 flavors in every Dr Pepper?

Dr Pepper: I don’t know…all of the agencies we fired had flavor ideas and so have all of the agencies that pitched us.

Deutsch/LA: But our way has never been done before!

Daily Biz VO: Well, at least not by Deutsch.

Dr Pepper: Really, well…tell me more.

Deutsch/LA: We are going to use Dr J. Check this out: you are selling soda to young guys, you want to give them a kitschy basketball legend from the 70s to show that you are hip, with it and full of flavor. It’s going to be tongue-in-cheek, because we know that no other agencies pitched that tone to you, and it’s going to kind of rip off the Old Spice ads, but they won’t be done as well because we’re unoriginal and are borrowing interest.

Daily Biz VO: Some of the actual words may not be verbatim

Dr Pepper: Sold.

But enough about this commercial, its silly message that tells people how to drink a soda (I get more flavor if I slow down? I see more of my show if you shut up.) and shockingly obvious play on the whole ‘doctor’ thing. This post is about the shitcanning at Dr Pepper Snapple Group.

A lot of people are happy about it based on my inbox.

I am happy about it only because there is now a chance that Dr Pepper will produce some decent work.

Teaching younger people who like soda to drink their soda slower…good lord, who in the world thought that this was a good idea? Oh right. The guys that got fired.

debating the merits of the life water campaign

Last week I expressed my disapproval of the concept-less Life Water spot created by Arnell…and a commenter wrote in to disagree, saying “I am sure [it] has increased the revenue and buzz for the brand name. So if you look up the definition of advertising it has done the job and continues to do so.”

Not to be that guy, but I think that you mean that it has achieved the objective of advertising, not lived up to the definition of it.

But I digress…because our commenter goes on to say “maybe you should watch it again and also check the stock market as Pepsi is destroying coke one day at a time thanks to Arnell’s ad campaign.”

The commenter brings up a good issue…just what is good advertising? It is the kind of creative-driven work that wins awards and worms its way into pop culture? Or is it the more prosaic work that gets results.

Not to ruin it, of course, but it is a mixture of both.

But why isn’t it the work that sells things that gets all the accolades? Those Head-On spots sure move product (albeit from a small base), and according to the commenter (if you ignore things like distribution, on-trend product, competitive pricing and retailer sell-in strategy) so do the Life Water spots. They are selling crap. So why aren’t they great ads?

Part of it is that you know great work when you see it.

And a model in a bathing suit dancing to music played by some animated geckos just isn’t great work. A great ad needs a concept and if I have to explain why, you’re just not going to get it.

The other part is that an ad campaign like Life Water’s isn’t a direct response effort aimed only at immediate short-term sales. It should be doing that yes, and it should be raising awareness of the brand and product and it should be building a pipeline of future sales by branding, etc and so on.

The final part of why ad campaigns have to do more than just sell in the short term to be great is because there are so many other things that go into immediate sales – things like distribution, on-trend product, competitive pricing, retailing sell-in strategy and others.

That is not to smirk at actually selling things but rather to explain why creativity and a concept are necessary additions to a great ad (as much as hitting the ad’s objectives are)…you can’t just greatness just by the brand’s stock price.

concept? arnell needs no stinking concept

I remember watching the first Life Water commercial at the Super Bowl. You may remember it too, it was the one with supermodel Naomi Campbell and the animated geckos doing the Thriller dance (a dance, by the way, that The Pretty Account Supervisor and I are determined to learn by the first snowfall).

It was not the best ad ever made.

But I wrote off its utter lack of concept or idea as part and parcel of the Super Bowl dog and pony show that so often values high production value and memorable tune over deeper thinking. I decided to give The Arnell Group a chance to redeem themselves before officially disliking the campaign.

Granted, they didn’t know and probably don’t care that I was giving them a second chance, but that is still no reason to create this:

Beyond its facile use of a beautiful woman and some animation, there is nothing to this ad. Not an ounce of thought, not a spot of branding, not the hint of strategy.

As far as I can tell, the primary message of the spot is:

Lizard infestations are not something to prompt so prosaic a response as a call to the Orkin man, but rather dancing with abandon. That response will make the lizards your friends, which is awesome because then they can pull out their lizard instruments and create some music so you’re not just dancing by yourself like a crazy person.

Arnell, hear me now! Just having a supermodel holding your product while some animated amphibians play music does not a good ad make.

Please do a little thinking and return to the drawing board. Your ad is embarrassing.

obama’s new ad misses the mark

I usually don’t like to touch on politics, even political advertising, because too often it seems to degenerate into a discussion about politics and not a discussion about advertising. Since this is a blog about advertising and not politics, and because I have had about enough from the angry politically-engaged people in the office already I prefer to stay off of the topic.

And then I saw this ad from Barack Obama:

[Disclaimer: commenting on this ad in no way reflects my political leanings or thoughts. I am considering this purely from an advertising perspective and covering it only as an advertisement. Please consider it as such and comment specifically on its ad value, not its content, support of a specific politician or any other partisan concern. This is an ad blog.]

When your competition has a strength that you can’t match it is probably a good idea to spend as little time as possible on the subject. In fact, it is probably better to focus on entirely different subject, ideally ones that give you an advantage.

That is why BMW never talks about horsepower (even for the beastly M-Series).

It is why American Express never talks about APR.

It is why, for all of its whiz-bang gadgetry, Apple never talks about the iPhone’s battery.

They can’t win on those topics. So why, oh why, would Barack Obama talk about McCain’s military service? Sure, he didn’t do it directly, but to make fun of John McCain for not being able to send an email when the reason he can’t is because the injuries he suffered while a prisoner in Vietnam mean that it is difficult for him to use a keyboard…it makes you look like an asshole (and somewhere the campaign peon who didn’t fact check has just lost his job).

Good job, Obama, running an ad that makes you look petty while at the same time reminding viewers that McCain bravely and admirably served his country…whatever your politics, from an advertising perspective we can all agree that the Obama campaign made a bad move.

A bad move.

He was running on the plank of “a new politics” and “change” and descended into this. All because of bad advertising…and now he could be the political version of Beta.

Let this be a lesson (whatever your political persuasion).

I always wonder why the candidates don’t use more established advertising experts to help them with strategy, message and production. Especially someone like Mr Obama. There isn’t a person I know at my agency who isn’t passionately for him. They would do the work for free. They already kind of are, it’s just that they’re spending their time preaching to the choir.

He might want to ask for some help. He’ll get it.

reactions to crispin’s microsoft work

After a nice Sunday of doing Sunday things, errands and a haircut and things like that, I get back to the Official Apartment of the Biz to see that my roommate and some of her friends have sat themselves immediately in front of the television to watch the Video Music Awards on MTV. Needless to say, this was unexpected.

After a crack or two about Kurt Loder and Kennedy, I sit down to watch it.

And just as I am about to get up and walk away – about two minutes in to my watching, after seeing Katie Perry and Miley Cyrus compete for the Dumbest Starlet Conversation Captured on Television Award – on comes Crispin, Porter + Bogusky’s new spot for Microsoft:

Some of the comments that were heard from the group:

- That is awful

- I bet Crispin shot like 50 of those and they’ll build them up just like the Mac vs PC ads were built up

- But I liked Mac vs PC from the beginning

- Crispin was hot shit when they had like only Mini and Burger King

- Bill Gates looks surprisingly likable

- He is as cheap as my Dad…only he has more money that all of Europe

- It doesn’t make me want a PC

- Maybe they should spend their marketing budget on making their computers better instead of bankrolling Apple knockoff commercials

vw still hasn’t killed the awful das auto campaign

There are people out there who, like crabs in a bucket, just want to pull Crispin, Porter + Bogusky down just because they have been successful. I am not one of them.

But when I see that Volkswagen is still running the shockingly awful Das Auto campaign with “Max” the original Beetle from the 60s I get upset. Upset at Crispin.

Because this campaign is awful and each ad just gets worse:

gsd&m’s rough week and new popeye’s work

Last week was a tough one for GSD&M what with that whole internal espionage thing and the rumors that they were on the outs with client BMW.

I still think that things with BMW aren’t likely to end well for the folks in Texas.

The first issue is the work, which can only be described as uninspired. Sure, not everything that Fallon did for the brand was as good as the BMW Films or as ads like this:

But the work was good. GSD&M’s hasn’t been.

Beyond the work and the creative espionage situation, there has been turmoil on the account with Lee Newman, the VP/Group Account Director who had been brought in from McKinney to land the business, heading out for Weiden + Kennedy Amsterdam earlier this year. Oh, and that good work that I referenced that came out of Fallon? Yeah…Lee was the driving force behind it from the account side.

And now he’s gone.

But it’s not all bad down at GSD&M…they’ve debuted their first work for Popeyes, an account that they recently landed. So that’s good.

GSD&M has brought the brand back to the Southern roots with a “Louisiana Kitchen” slogan and are talking a lot about their quality (ho-hum) and process (relatively interesting, as far as these things go). Advertising for fast food brands is notoriously uncreative, but considering the limitations of the category and the difficulty working with franchisees who aren’t professionals and who want to use advertising to drive short-term sales, I think that GSD&M has done a good job: