Brand: Colgate Max Fresh with mini-Breath Strips
Execution: TV
Link: Click Here
Target: Party Monsters
Reviewer: David
Rating: *

Description:
A nightclub erupts in screams as a dinosaur-looking red monster (a la Godzilla) crashes the party. Then the monster starts spraying the crowd with red liquid from his mouth. The voiceover announces new Colgate Max Fresh with mini Breath Strips. Then the crowd relaxes and smiles and the monster becomes the life of the party, blowing sparkles in the shape of hearts as he parties with the clubbers. Ends with the tagline “So Fresh – It’s almost scary.”

What Works:
Okay, we’ll give this spot points in three areas -

1. It is memorable - in the ‘train-wreck-in-slow-motion’ kind of way.
2. The brand is repeatedly reinforced - although Colgate may live to regret this.
3. It is ownable - It is very difficult to imagine anyone else in the category rushing in to copy this executional style.

What Doesn’t:
When Colgate introduced Colgate TOTAL with triclosan (which was the first toothpaste to fight Gingivitis), they were able to leverage this modest product improvement into a superiority claim and take “prevention” away from CREST as a brand positioning. Colgate became the category leader and in short order, the 800-pound gorilla of oral care. By increasing their professional progams against dentists and following up with numerous variations on the TOTAL theme they’ve managed to keep this equity and maintain cateory leadership.

So what happens to dominant brands that are category leaders? Instead of sticking to their knitting, they tend to look for new worlds to conquer. And this is what often leads them into disastrous mistakes. Do you remember when everyone was wearing Timberland Boots? It was because Timberland was the expert in waterproof. Those boots were ugly, they were for construction workers, they were bulky and awkward, but it was amazing who wore them. When they became a fashion statement, Timberland followed the fashion, forgot what they were about and started making boots and clothing that were not waterproof. Then Timberland lost their expertise in the mind of the consumer and with it their market dominance. Now Timberland is just another Tommy Hilfiger in the deep recesses of our fashion vocabulary.

This is where Colgate is headed with this spot. After decades of building trust and credibility for their brands, they start to associate Colgate with a party animal. Here are the mistakes by the numbers:

1. Off-Strategy for the Brand – Sorry, Colgate, but “Max Fresh” does not have a different spot in the consumers brain from “TOTAL” – your brand is COLGATE. Colgate stands for prevention. This spot runs totally against the credible, effective image you have painstakingly built for your brand.
2. Nightmarish Execution – As a brand manager, your role is to keep your agency from spending millions of dollars advertising to people below 14th street in Manhattan. With this execution, Colgate has allowed a kitschy, retro-godzilla execution aimed at a very specific group of people who are NOT aspirational for much of its user base. Colgate may say that “Max Fresh” has a different target than “Total” but I say again – the brand is Colgate. When you put your brand out there you are talking to ALL of your users.
3. There is no end benefit – other than the end of the commercial, that is. What is the internal logic of this spot? Does the monster’s liquid breath contain breath strips? The cutaway to the product shot shows breath strips suspended in red gel. But does that mean that the clubbers are breathing in something that just came from the monster’s mouth? Or are they just relieved that instead of killing them he has just vomited on them? The voiceover does gives a credible end benefit for the product (fresher breath) and permission to believe (mini-breath strips) but nothing in the rest of the spot reinforces this. This commercial, just like a Japanese horror flick, has a voiceover that bears no relationship to the visuals.
   

Branding Bottom Line -
Colgate tries to use a monster for a campy spot and gets real horror instead.

Brand: Post Honey Bunches of Oats
Execution: TV
Link: Click Here
Target: Real Cereal People
Reviewer: David
Rating: ****

Description:
Factory workers at the Post plant describe Honey Bunches of Oats. They describe what it is and the fact that they like it. One worker calls it “a mouthful of joy”. Lots of product shots and real people wearing their plant plastic hairnets. The tagline is “It’s the cereal you’d make if you made cereal.”

What Works:
Here’s an example of great Kraft advertising (Kraft owns Post). This spot is part of a campaign that started in 1999 (click here), but this execution works much better than earlier spots which were either a little scary (making you remember that the product is produced in a factory by big, impersonal machines) or a little sales-y (as with the 2004 spot which had employees driving around in Honey Bunches of Oats cars, delivering samples).

Here’s what to admire about this spot -

1. Kraft doesn’t give up on a good campaign with less-than-perfect execution - in spite of several spots which failed to live up to the promise of the strong campaign strategy, the Post people did not give up on the strategy. This is unusual in a marketing world where the idea of the moment usually lasts just about that long. They were rewarded with an exceptionally strong, crisp execution that is more focused on the core strategy than early tries.
2. Factory workers mean ‘authenticity’ - This is not a new insight by Kraft. Saturn made their brand on connecting their factory workers to consumers – do you remember the spot where a schoolteacher writes a letter about her car and the factory workers assembling the car put the letter in the glove compartment and sign it? Of course, the attribute that Post is really try to own here is authenticity. Using factory workers is a refreshing change from all of the purely ingredient or health-focused commercials crowding this segment of cereal advertising.
3. The ‘Product as Hero’ execution works - Watching this spot quickly you might miss the fact that it is Honey Bunches of Oats and not the factory workers that serves as hero of this spot. It is impossible to watch this spot and wonder which brand is being advertised (a ThirdWay Advertising Blog pet peeve.) In addition, the product shots are crisp and effective. There is a strong improvement from the 1999 spot where the Orwellian factory shots overwhelmed the sense of individualism projected by the factory workers.

Post is trying to reach a group of people who want cereal that is not as processed or sugared as kids cereals, but who aren’t quite ready for Alpina or Bear Naked granola, either. The factory worker execution is an excellent way of saying ‘real food for real people.’

What Doesn’t:
This spot is balanced on the razors edge, which makes the campaignability tricky. It is no coincidence that earlier executions of this strategy have not been nearly as successful. The effectiveness of the factory workers is tied to their genuineness and their individuality. Individuality is not the first thing we think of when we think of a factory, and it gets overwhelmed when we see images of huge cooking vats or thousands of boxes running through a conveyer belt. If the factory workers are too promotional, they loose that genuine feel – as they did when they were driving branded vehicles around the countryside. Post has a great campaign here, but managing it will be difficult.

Branding Bottom Line -
We want to believe in a product that the workers stand up for. Kraft scores with a spot that feels honest.

There are a few great blogs focused on advertising on the web which you might check out if you do not already read them:

Adverblog
Adrants
Ad Jab
Seth Godin’s Blog
WhatsNextBlog

Adverblog is smart worldwide advertising commentary from a UK-based account planner. Adrants is the People Magazine of the advertising world, offering witty commentary from a veteran ad guy. Ad Jab is group analysis from the agency viewpoint and Seth Godin offers a thoughtful, quirky take on the world that is marketing. B.L. Ochman’s What’s Next Blog is not limited to marketing per se, but gives you a good tap on the pulse of the blogging world from someone who comes from a marketing and PR background.

Brand: Philips Norelco Cool Skin Shaver w. Nivea
Execution: TV
Link: Not Yet
Target: Irritated Men
Reviewer: David
Rating: ****

Description:
A new product announcment for the “Quintippio Multi-Shave” opens the spot and we find out that it has fifteen blades. Then a puzzled man looks at it, wondering how he is going to shave his face with it. A voiceover says “Everyone’s talking more blades – we’re talking less irritation.” The selling point is an electric shaver that has a pump for dispensing Nivea skin cream as a shaving lubricant and moisturizer. The spot ends with the clam “As close as a blade with less irritation”

What Works:
It is a real treat to see a commercial that is genuinely funny – but which uses humor to serve the advertising strategy and reinforce the brand positioning.

Norelco takes a very good – and well-deserved shot – at both Gillette and Schick for their multi-blade obsession.

Here’s what works

1. Norelco makes the category leader look out of touch - although the end-benefit of “multi-blade” is supposed to be “close shave”, it is not clear that either Gillette or Schick remember this. Gillette’s macho, tech-oriented advertising is so obsessed with the product that it seems to forget the consumer in the process. Schick played a neat trick by out-Gillette-ing Gillette with four blades, but it is not clear that it helped consumers at all.
2. Cool Shave focuses on a relevant, ownable end-benefit - “We’re talking about less irritation” which presumably is a secondary benefit for many users but not owned by any male shaving system. This spot does a great job of using humor, voiceover, visuals and co-branding (with Nivea) to reinforce this end-benefit.
3. Humor reinforces the brand positioning – After watching hoardes of beer and alcohol advertising where the humor seems to change the strategy of the spot rather than working with it, it is refreshing to watch a spot where the humor serves the brand. Showing that Gillette and Schick don’t ‘get it’ with their blade-spawning razors and focusing on a different benefit is worlds more effective than trying to argue that rotary shavers have more blades than multi-blade razors, for example.

It is important to remember that this spot works because it is careful to insert a parity claim against the #1 consumer benefit of “close shave” with the language ‘as close as a blade with less irritation.’ This, combined with the Nivea skin cream gives the permission to believe that the Norelco product will give acceptable perfomance with fewer unwanted side effects.

What Doesn’t:
The delivery system for the lubricant looks a little inelegant in this spot and does make you wonder how it is better than just slathering on some moisturizer and shaving through it. The cooperative promotion with Nivea smacks of salesmanship even as it reinforces the underlying message of ‘less irritation.’

Branding Bottom Line -
Norelco cuts to the quick of the mess that Gillette and Schick have made.

Brand: Kraft Macaroni & Cheese w. Calcium
Execution: TV
Link: Not Yet
Target: Moms
Reviewer: David
Rating: *

Description:
Twins eat macaroni and cheese to a blues riff (the mac & cheese blues, apparently) while we learn that Kraft Mac&Cheese has double the calcium.

What Works:
Kraft is one of the best marketing companies in the world. And their advertising is often great. Here, it appears that someone was reading a training manual which said:

1. People remember jingles – which can be true
2. Show don’t tell – which can also be true
3. Make the product the hero – generally a good idea

This spot attempts to do all three.

What Doesn’t:
The first tip-off that this spot will probably be remembered during an alcoholic binge as the low-point of an art director’s career is the use of twins to signify “twice as much” (as in CALCIUM as if it were not already screamingly obvious). This is an old, old, dead metaphor which anyone who has seen a Doublemint Gum commercial will confess now makes them queasy.

Music is not necessarily bad and I believe that a well-crafted jingle – or even a few choice bars – can be more effective than licensing a Rolling Stones song. However, I’m not sure what the Blues do to enhance this spot and the generic song seems at odds with the silly lyrics. Why do the kids have the blues, anyway if they’re happily getting their double calcium from Kraft Mac & Cheese?

The final, awful, coup de grace is the use of the tagline “it’s the cheesiest.” Which just about says it all for this spot.

Branding Bottom Line -
Kraft steals thirty seconds of your life and will never give it back.

Brand: Dentyne Ice Gum
Execution: TV
Link: Click Here
Target: Boys on the Prowl
Reviewer: David
Rating: **

Description:
After a couple of hopeful reviews last week, this week’s ThirdWay Ad Blog will feature wasted money and blown opportunities.

In this spot, two friends enter a bar and catch the eye of a beautiful woman. The cocky friend asks the other to give him a piece of Dentyne Ice whereupon his friend takes a piece himself, breathes on the cocky friend and turns him into a human icicle. As he is chatting up the girl, his friend says “Dude – That’s Cold” through frozen lips. The narrator announces “New flavor-charged Dentyne Ice gives you a shot of icy cold breath … share it with a friend”.

What Works:
Here is what works in this spot:

1. It’s funny – in a ‘ha-ha’ kind of way
2. Good Brand Recognition – the packaging gets very good face time in this spot, so we’re not left wondering what the brand is until the end.
3. It has an attitude – It is perilously close to the Smirnoff “Yuri” ads, but at least doesn’t look like normal advertising for gum.

What Doesn’t:
Advertisers should always ask the basic question “Is this really news?” when they decide to invest millions of dollars in television advertising behind the launch of a line extension. In truth, it is not completely clear that this is a line extension – it may just be a new SKU as it is simply a new flavor variation for the venerable gum brand. Dentyne has a lot of years behind fresh breath, so in spite of the attitude, this spot is not breaking any new ground – at least not in a positive sense.

In fact, there is a troubling harbinger of worse advertising to come in this ad. Ask yourself – what is the brand positioning strategy for Dentyne Ice? It must revolve around the tagline “share it with a friend.” Obviously, the emphasis is on ‘make a friend’ rather than ‘keep a friend.’ But the spot may go too far in this direction for the sake of an edgy execution. It’s nice that Dentyne Ice gives you the power to meet the girl and freeze out your overbearing friend. But at some level, don’t we also identify with the friend betrayed for the girl? The best line in the spot is ‘Dude – That’s Cold,’ and the first part of the double entendre is that it is a cold thing to do to a friend. Which undermines the concept of sharing.

The agency will probably tell you that the spot is precisely intended to tread this line – to assert individualism while increasing sociability. But the most memorable image is of the frozen friend, not the new girl. Remembering that gum positioned against fresh breath is all about sociability, this creates a basic problem for this spot.

This ad may signal more bad advertising to come because it is a troubling injection of off-strategy, beer-style advertising into the category. When ads start to get driven by the cuteness of the executional idea and not the strategy, there is trouble ahead.

Branding Bottom Line -
Money not well spent.

Brand: Commerce Bank
Execution: TV
Link: Not Available
Target: Frustrated Consumers
Reviewer: David
Rating: ****

Description:
The spot starts with “Stupid vs. Smart – Lesson #1″ then proceeds to let people know that Commerce Bank has ‘No stupid hours’ and ‘No stupid rules’. It follows with a simple list of features including 7-day banking, extended hours, free coin counting, free checking, free online banking, etc. It ends with the phrase “America’s Most Convenient Bank.”

What Works:
It is becoming axiomatic among marketers that nowadays, advertising rarely persuades. People persuade and advertising reminds the persuaded to try or re-experience the brand. This spot is a good example. Commerce Bank has not made its name through advertising. Instead, the advertising is reminding us about what we might have heard from friends or colleagues about this little bank breaking all of the rules.

Here is what works so well in this spot:

1. Commerce tells the truth we feel – Most banks exist to serve their employees, not their customers. Why? Because they are open during hours which allow their employees to have normal work schedules, but make no sense for 80% of the rest of us. Can you imagine a McDonalds surviving if they were only open from 9am to 5pm, M-F and until noon on Saturday? Or even a GAP, for that matter? This syndrome is so bad that we actually have a name for it – “Banker’s Hours.” By calling these rules “Stupid,” Commerce shocks, but also say what we already believe. Commerce is simultaneously breaking the rules and letting consumers know that they are not crazy to want convenient banking.
2. Commerce has a focused brand positioning – and they are in a good position to own ‘convenience.’ Fortunately, they’re executing this in a memorable, anti-establishment way which will make it hard for a bank like Citibank to talk about more ATMs or better credit cards.
3. Clear, Straightforward Execution – Just as we saw with Whirlpool (Click Here), this spot is almost like shooting the brand positioning statement. We have the user (frustrated consumers) the frame of reference (just like Whirlpool, Commerce treats themselves as a way to Get Things Done, not as a Banking provider – which is a good insight in itself), the meaningful difference (smart rules) and the permission to believe (7-day banking, free coin counting, free checking, extended hours, etc.) And just as with the Whirlpool spot, it’s all you need.

What Doesn’t:
Commerce should make their advertising edgier and more memorable. This spot, while very effective, is not nearly as iconic as the iPod commercials. Yet Commerce as a brand has every chance of becoming the David that topples the ‘Stupid rules’ of the goliath banks just as iPod revolutionized music. Commerce needs to remember that what separates their bank from the others is attituded (Stupid vs. Smart) and not features and benefits. Extended hours, 7-day banking, coin counting – these are all things that can be matched by other banks. “Getting it” is something that will be hard for any other bank to own once Commerce locks it up. The spots need to emotionally convey this attitude. It is not that this is missing now – it could just be stronger. The goal is for the consumer to watch the spot and remember that her best friend told her that she should try this cool new bank – Commerce.

Branding Bottom Line -
A spot that does what it should. A bank that’s doing what we need.

Brand: Microsoft
Execution: TV

Brand: Whirlpool Duet