Saturday, January 3, 2009

New Heineken ad

Someone said to me over Christmas, all the best ads are for beers and spirits because they can't show the product really being used, it's more about the benefits of having the product. I know what they meant, and I can agree on principle that the limiting factor of consumption is a driving force to have especially creative and off-the-wall concepts but truth be told, I think any agency or brand that approach an advertising campaign with the notion of mundane or a gp-with-what-works attitude, deserve to fail.

Advertising isn't just about selling. It's just not. Advertising is part of the marketing suite and as such it lends itself to being more then just a sales tool - it builds trust, awareness, identity and character for the brand/product.

At least that's what great advertising does. Thankfully I have just the clip to demonstrate my point...

3 comments:

Paul Dervan said...

Happy new year Christian.

I'd argue that building awareness, trust and character are only good if they lead to a sale. It may not be a sale today. But for the vast majority of profit-making organisations, advertising must exist only to sell.

Agree. Wonderful ad.

Christian Hughes said...

Happy New Year to you too.

I hear what you're saying but I do feel that the sale mentality can be detrimental to the production of highly creative ads. And while I agree completely that building awareness, trust and character can lead to sales generation, I think the goals of communication and customer engagement supersede sales goals within our changing economy. My own feeling towards a brand may be more positive or negative for a brand depending on the weight my opinion holds with friends etc. With the changing digital landscape and the explosion of user generated content, I think it has become even more important for brands not to focus solely on sales objectives.

Paul Dervan said...

hi Christian, yes, I understand - a request to resist hammering people over the head with the sales messages, as opposed to charming them into liking the brand and considering them?