Brand: Dentyne Ice Gum (CadburyAdams)
Execution: TV, Online
Link: Click here
Target: Post-College Dateless Guys
Reviewer: David
Rating: ****
Description:
This spot breaks today (2/28/06) on U.S. network television. An average-ish young guy offers a piece of gum to two different attractive women (one blond and one brunette, naturally) sitting beside him. They each respond suggestively. The voiceover is female and says, “Dentyne Ice straight up or New Dentyne Ice Wild Winter Soft Chew. Why not try both? Watch what happens next. Get Free Gum at Dentyne.com.” Ice-colored letters appear on top of the trio saying “Watch What Happens Next. Get Free Gum. Dentyne.com”

On the Dentyne.com website, the viewer can watch three alternate endings for the spot (we will not ruin the surprise by recapping).

What Works:
There is an apocryphal story from the direct marketing world about a small direct marketing and promotions firm which had served its client well for a number of years. At some point this client grew to the point where it decided to invest in a branding campaign. The job had almost been awarded to a mainstream advertising agency when the direct marketing firm protested. ‘Let us produce a spot and test it against the ad agency’s spot’, they said, ‘Then decide where to spend your money.’ So both companies produced spots and surely enough, the direct marketing firm won handily despite a much smaller production budget. How? They put a gold seal with a special offer and a phone number in the corner of the ad – and increased recollection manyfold.

We are paraphrasing, of course (and feel free to drop the full details into a comment if you know them), but the point is simple – advertising which motivates an action can be more effective even if it is in other ways mundane.

What makes this spot effective is exactly this – the singleminded pursuit of driving the consumer to a website where a sampling opportunity can be created. The trick of showing three different endings to a suggestive commercial is a good one for this audience (roughly the same male target as Bud Light).

This advertising blog is a big fan of strong branding. This spot makes a strong attempt to reinforce the Dentyne Ice brand in this execution. The brand name and product visuals are shown and repeated from the first moment of the spot to the end.

What Doesn’t:
In truth, this spot would fail were it not for the ingenious device of the three alternate endings and the sampling tie-in. Why? Without this unique twist, the situation is both too generic and too visually strong to leave the viewer with much memory of the brand. The 20-something male viewer is fixated on the two attractive woman, wondering what might happen to this young guy sandwiched between them. That does not leave much space in the average male brain for a brand name. There is also nothing else particularly ownable or unique about this spot. One could picture an Axe spot similarly starting with a guy sitting down between two attractive women. Being able to equally visualize a given execution in the hands of several different brands is a good indication that the execution is not ownable. In this case, it is only the new and unique trick of multiple endings and the ‘closer’ of sampling (and capturing a database of users) that makes the spot work so well.

Branding Bottom Line:
Dentyne breaks new ground. We wait to see what happens next.

Brand: Dentyne Fire Mints
Execution: TV
Link: Click here (click on ‘Viewing Room’ and then ‘Drugstore Romance’ to view spot)
Target: Teens on the prowl
Reviewer: David
Rating: ****

Description:
A slightly nerdy looking guy and a very attractive woman approach side-by-side registers at a drugstore and reach for a pack of Dentyne Fire Mints at the same time. A voiceover says, “There’s a new way to heat things up. New Dentyne Fire Mints.” After making eye contact, the guy and girl begin to watch each other’s purchases as they are rung up. First, though, we see them each pop a Dentyne Fire Mint – nervously. The girl gets a scented candle, the guy buys heated massage oil. The girl puts down bubble bath and the guy puts down whip cream. Then the girl puts down an instant camera. As the guy is contemplating this, the girl is suddenly overcome and dives in to kiss him. The voiceover says, “New Dentyne Fire Mints. Fifty naughty bits of cinnamon desire.” The spot ends with a product shot and the tagline, “Get Hot. Go Bold.”

What Works:
Thanks to Adam Finley at Adjab for covering this spot and bringing it to our attention (see his review here.) We last covered Dentyne in June when we reviewed a Dentyne Ice spot (click here to read this review.) We were less than impressed, feeling that Dentyne had wasted money producing a silly spot that was neither aspirational nor particularly entertaining. Nor did we feel that it would build the brand.

The new spot for Dentyne Fire Mints takes on another social situation with exaggeration. This time, however, the touch is much lighter and the result is a refreshing spot which lampoons our social insecurities while still making an appealing proposition for the brand. Dentyne does a good job of gradually building the tension in the spot. With each candle and bottle of hot oil, the tension between the two characters build. When the woman finally gives it, the resolution is funny without being insulting (as in the previous Dentyne Ice spot) or absurd (as with the Axe or Tag spots).

The brand message is clear – fresh breath with a hot twist. And the spot delivers on branding (we see the product packaging very early on and get the message reinforced with the voiceover) as well as entertainment value.

What Doesn’t:
Dentyne finessed four stars from us because this spot is so well executed, but we still have a significant concern in terms of the brand proposition. It is clear and it is understandable, but is it unique or ownable? Is Dentyne the first cinnamon mint or gum to be ‘hot’? We do not know but the proposition seems generic. Beyond snappy art direction, casting and copywriting we will need to see some clever brand positioning before we start making predictions about the brand’s future success.

Branding Bottom Line:
Dentyne gives us a smile – which is enough for now.

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.