I’d like to say at this point that I strongly believe advertising is pretty much dead the way it works right now.
I believe that content in a campaign, giving meaning to a moment, to something you do and inspires you travelling along with the brand is by far more effective, correct and beautiful (honest) way of advertising.
Perhaps we went too far though?
Well the cause for this article is an ad (?) for Dewars, called true stories.
True story bro…
But lets see it first and we can comment about it afterwards.
First off, what I saw on television was the one minute edition or so.
So I was in the Greek countryside with some company, about 2 hours after the national team’s match and we were discussing while I was playing with the dog.
And the ad goes off.
The company was consisted of Evangelia and milo. Milo is the dog.
Milo didn't talk (that was rather expected) but he was shaking for about five minutes.
So we were trying to figure out what the ad was about.
The first assumption was that it was a movie trailer. In about 5-7 seconds we realized it was an ad.
And it goes on and on while we try to figure out what the brand is.
We go like, Nike, Adidas or even the north face!
And there it was. The guy was wearing a North face shirt. Ok we got it. Its north face!
But it wasn’t. It was Dewars.
Ok. I may understand Johnnie Walker’s ads which had a theme or so, but this one goes beyond all limits.
I mean at least in a Johnnie Walker ad, the dude who stars won’t do something that will literally kill him any moment from now!
The guy can literally get killed any moment now. How can that empower the brand?
Ok I get it. You want content and differentiation but that really isn't the way to do it bro.
That’s just wrong.
You can't just put alcohol in extreme sports.
You just don’t.
The audience will get it. It’s a shame though because we don't see such amazing productions easily here. It’s a shame to use content as an excuse in order not to consider the long term branding.
I don't know why this ad made me feel like an alien. Maybe it’s because the product can’t claim the image.
Just go back to the alcoholic dudes who drink Jack Daniels and fly planes in Alaska.
At least that’s honest!
In conclusion, content, truth in advertising and branding.
Not so simple to combine.
But we should probably don't rush it. Let’s be realists. We've only just started.
