The Brands That Need To Move On

Oaky… I think that we can all say in unison that the political campaign ads this year sucked.

Not just poorly written, but horrible across the board.

And the fact that the politicians and those producing the ads believe the more we see the ads, the more we will love the candidate says to me that they were likely smoking those California cigarettes!

My last Blog post cites the top trends that will rattle the market in 2011.

After all the number crunching, observations and conclusions… I have to release my frustrations of what hits my flat screen while I watch television at night.

Here are five examples of the Brands That Need To Move On!

Progressive Insurance

Okay enough of the white dressed, white faced, big red lipstick woman.

I think we need to nominate Flo for What Not To Wear!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRecos7TcA0

After the premiere of AFLAC and the Duck, the insurance industry has gotten itself hooked on coming up with some icon that people will recall along with the brand name.

Even good brand equity like Allstate is getting slashed with iconic Mayhem.

The dogma of the category has become addicted to cutesy character stories.

The corporate marketing teams must have been weaned on Cap’n Crruch.


Fidelity Investment Advisors

I would love to sit in on the focus groups and watch the facilitator get the participants to like these ads.

DO AS I SAY!

In a time when consumers are taking charge…when trust in BIG BUSINESS is about at the same level as congress…when stock market investments translate to retirement loss…

I cannot imagine participants in a focus group saying that they search high and low for the financial consultant that will lead them on a pathway like a pup on the dog walk.

Dear Fidelity CMO… go Google your ads on YouTube and watch the Green Line parody series.

CLICK HERE. NOW. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0KqEMaR0BU


DirecTV

Thanks to AT&T, my tube at home receives the signal through a DirecTV dish in my backyard.

As a DirecTV subscriber, my preferred nets include HGTV, FOX News, ESPN and The Food Network. I never watch FX, SYFY or HBO Extreme.

The CMO of DirecTV must be going through male menopause. Either that or the guy has psycho underlies that are beginning to take hold.

The violence in the new DirecTV ads is niche targeting, but not sure whether that niche reached will result in much revenue. Last I heard, the jailhouses don’t offer satellite TV.

Maybe we need to really blame ourselves.

I mean, we should have seen it coming when the CMO decided to play off of the Green Bay country gal confessing to the priest about what she delivered to the neighbors who subscribed to DirecTV.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFrloFdSxm4

Okay, I will admit that these ads are at least better than the ones that feature the duel between the DirecTV and the Dish Network flat screen sets, but it is time to move on.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EAboZFq05s


FEDEX

Here is my bet.

The original FEDEX 1970’s brand marketing management team has since retired and there is a new CMO that recently brought in a new ad agency.

Want to see strength in a good brand line. Text a friend and ask them what is the FEDEX brand line.

Another bet. They will text back "Absolutely, Positively Overnight.”

(The last time anything close to it was used was 1995)

Now ask them if they can describe the latest FEDEX television ad.

Third bet. They likely cannot.

That’s because the latest ads say NOTHING about neither what FEDEX does nor what the brand means.

Instead it’s a story about a guy masquerading as an exchange student in China.

Check out the 2010 FEDEX ads… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xtr3j-DuM0

Fourth bet. The copywriters writing these ads are cousins with the Progressive copy team.


New 2011 Car Ads

Let me say right up front. This commentary is not about Kia ads. Kia is the heretical brand that is not Viagra dependent.

Instead, it’s about the new car ads for brands that run the gamut from Jeep to Audi to Ford to Hyundai.

It doesn’t matter what’s their price point or whether American, European or Asian made.

They are all about power, speed and endurance.

To get a feel for these ads, just type in “2011 Car Ads” on the YouTube Search bar and click on down the commercials that pop up.

If you don’t have time to watch YouTube… trust me, if you watch any of the bowl games in the next 3-4 weeks, you will see a ton of them.

When the client waves those $200 Million+ budgets, those ad agencies that have survived the Great Recession are the last ones to say, “enough is enough.”

Maybe when the 2011 sales don’t quite hit the sales goals, the CEOs will not just fire the agencies, but also clean house internally as well.


There Are Those That Get It

I end this Blog by saying that the T-Mobile ad is still one of my favorites.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLU2_w91QEU

It evoked a sense of culture, it was simple and it appealed on an emotional level.

There are brands that do “get it.”

When I saw the new Advil commercial that premiered about two weeks ago, I immediately connected with it.

Congrats to their CMO. Congrats to their creative team.

No question that it differentiated their brand and did so without one bit of copy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPa7ltzJXXQ

I just hope that other CMOs and MBAs get it… and the Ad Agencies have the balls to tell them when they don't!