adblogging

Picking on the wrong people

noreply@blogger.com (Alistair Spalding) — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 12:13:00 +0000

Hi there,

A perfectly decent response from Blue Dragon this week. It is so calm and ordered that it reveals me to be boring rather than incisive. I'm picking on the wrong people.

Also- why don't I just shut up!

"Dear Mr Spalding

I have been passed your e-mail (below) by a colleague of mine, who
manages the Blue Dragon web-site.  Firstly, apologies for the delay in
replying to you but I have been out of the office for the past week and
this is the first opportunity I have had to respond to you.

Secondly, let me address the points raised in your e-mail.  The TV
adverts for Blue Dragon, utilising the strapline 'The East Made Easy'
were filmed at the beginning of this year in Thailand (both in factories
and on location eg. Chilli Fields).  The adverts are an accurate
representation of tasks that are carried out manually in the factories
we work with in Thailand - with the creation of all advertising, we have
had to provide substantiation of these facts to the Advertising
Authorities before approval on scripts could be gained.  Although we
focus on the manual process in our adverts, there are clearly parts of
the process that are automated eg. cooking of sauces, filling of bottles
etc.  This enables us to make and deliver (back to the UK) and across
the World sufficient volumes to satisfy demand.

We choose the factories we work with very carefully and work directly
with them (we have an office in Bangkok) so communication with factories
and back into our Head Office in the UK takes place on a daily basis.
The factory featured in our TV adverts has recently been subject to a
social audit (in line with Marks & Spencers ethical standards) and the
audit indicated a meeting of requirements in this area (facilities,
working conditions, health & safefy etc etc).  There are also strict
employment laws in place in Thailand which protect employee's rights and
conditions (as in the United Kingdom) and our factories comply with
these rules and regulations.

So in conclusion our products are partly hand prepared in Thailand by
Thai workers but they are not totally hand made.
We produce products for the Blue Dragon brand across the Far East
(Thailand, China, Singapore, Malaysia, Japan) but the products depicted
in our current TV adverts are all made in Thailand.
The conditions for workers in these Thai factories all comply with UK
audit prcesses and standards and their respective countries Employment
and Health & Safety laws.

I hope this information answers the questions you have raised.  If you
have any outstanding questions / queries, I will be happy to respond.
Kind regards

Tracy Hughes
Marketing Controller
AB World Foods"

Honey Monster- Crimp my style

noreply@blogger.com (Alistair Spalding) — Thu, 22 May 2008 14:44:00 +0000

I didn't blog this one at the time- although I seriously meant to. Browsing You Tube recently to watch clips of the Mighty Boosch I found the Honey Monsters dispicable rip off as a "Similar Clip".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaB7Q-9uwp4&feature=related

The swines.

Most disapoingly of all i know there is an ad exec somewhere rubbing his hands with glee that it has "generated debate" and I bet the incensed fans have, like me, hit it on youtube about a million times (well 100,00 actually, Ha! less than the Boosch clips!)

Blue Dragon East Made Easy

noreply@blogger.com (Alistair Spalding) — Thu, 22 May 2008 14:41:00 +0000

Here is my email to Blue Dragon for, what I suspect will turn out to be, a ridiculously twee view of their products. Did you realise that each pot of green curry, or oyster sauce was HANDMADE in eastern Asia? Because I certainly didn't.

"I recently emailled Blue Dragon through this website to ask about it's recent series of adverts the East Made Easy. In these adverts your food is shown to be hand prepared by Eastern Asian factory workers.
I'd like to ask again if Blue Dragon products are hand prepared in Asia? Where in Asia? and what are the conditions for workers in those factories.
Please respond.
Alistair Spalding"

They've ignored my last email. Hence the post here.

If you'd like to email them- here is an email address for the Marketing Team:

Harriet.Jenkins@abworldfoods.com

Details from the Advertising Director here have helped- but I still want an answer.

The music to that new Honda ad that I unfortunately enjoy.

noreply@blogger.com (Alistair Spalding) — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 17:54:00 +0000

I saw the ad again last night and it confirmed my worst fears- I do really like it.

The music is from The Life Aquatic Soundtrack, and is one of my favouritesongs from that movie. They play it when they're raiding the pirates.

It's called Ping Island Lightening Strike Rescue Ops by Mark Mothersbaugh

Check it out on Last FM: http://www.last.fm/music/Mark+Mothersbaugh/_/Ping+Island%252FLightning+Strike+Rescue+Op

Oh No! Honda make a good advert!

noreply@blogger.com (Alistair Spalding) — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 13:45:00 +0000

I really wish this hadn't happened, but I fully enjoyed Hondas latest offering.

You'll see from previous posts here and here that I hate Honda and their stupid adverts. That was my thing, my main hook- I was a Honda detractor.

But last night I though the ad was awesome. I can only hope they've changed it in response to comments read here on my blog. This seems unlikely given that all my newly set up stats, feedburners and readers are still telling me that NOBODY reads this blog- still you never know.

Honda has a new Problem Playground website to support its ad, and i's also really good, with lots of addictive little games to entertain you for a few minutes.

There is a really good song that goes with it too I'm trying to find out what it is and will let you know soon.

Wieden and Kennedy created the ad (as well as the ones I hated) why can't things just be consistent??

There are all kinds of puzzles solved by the crew at Honda, it's another long ad, except of course now I think that's great, where before I thought it was boring.

Rats.

I'm not the only one going about Lenor

noreply@blogger.com (Alistair Spalding) — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 16:50:00 +0000

If you follow the below link to the Mirror forum pages you'll see some horrific blogger bashing as people use Mirror-style verbal abuse to support my complaints at the ad.

http://forums.mirror.co.uk/viewtopic.php?p=405356

Here's my letter to Lenor...

noreply@blogger.com (Alistair Spalding) — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 16:01:00 +0000

"I understand what you're trying to say with your new adverts claiming Lenor Concentrate is good for the environment, but what are you actually doing?

If you removed Lenor Dilute from the shelves you'd have something to talk about, but you aren't doing!

You've just realised that an exisitng product happens to have some environmental benefits.

Anyway- this is what I think of the ad: htt://adblogging.blogspot.com"

So let's see if they respond, I'll keep you posted.

Concentrate! Lazy ethics

noreply@blogger.com (Alistair Spalding) — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 10:49:00 +0000

There is an advert currently pushing the boundaries of ethical laziness.

It runs for lenors concentrated washing liquid and claims the following environmental success:

"Lenor Concentrate helps to take up to 14,000 lorry loads off the roads*
Lenor Concentrate uses up to 70% less packaging*
Lenor Concentrate uses 70% less water per wash*"

Here's what the small print says:

"*Lenor concentrate uses 70% less water and 70% less packaging per wash when compared to regular Lenor If all dilute users swiched toconcentrate, up to 14,000 lorry loads can be taken out of the roads in a year"

http://www.lenor.com/goconcentrate/html1_2.html

Sounds good right? But actually they aren't doing anything at all. They're simply rebranding an exisiting product as ethcial becuase the've stumbled accross the fact that it happens to be smaller and this has a few benefits.

By the same logic you could say that smaller cluster bombs, deal death in a much more environmentally friendly way because they are smaller, use less packaging, and require 14,000 less fighter planes to drop them all over some poor unsuspecting country.

There are some environmental benefits to concentrate- fine. But to make such a big song and dance about doing nothing at all is environmental marketing that is just plain lazy.

BMW vs Lexus

noreply@blogger.com (Alistair Spalding) — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 21:59:00 +0000

Two music and colour ads for cars running at the moment.

The BMW uses classical music and an ethral but dynamic light show inside and out of the car.

Lexus use colour changing droplets of rain, responding to the revs of the engine.

I feelt eh BMW is infitely superior- and I'm not a fan of the brand generally. Production values seem higher, the music is perfectly suited and they're not afraid to phase the car in and out merging it seemlesly with the light show.

The Lexus isn't bad, but I wouldn't have mentioned it apart from in this comparrison where it comes out unfavourably- so maybe it is bad.

Lot's of cars recently, and I'm not even a car buyer.

Night Driving- Volkswagon

noreply@blogger.com (Alistair Spalding) — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 19:16:00 +0000

How on brand am I with Volkswagen? Feel the synergy people!

The soundtrack grabbed me originally- I left the washing (yes I'm a house husband) to check out the ad. The music is like a combination of every piece of music I own. I didn't like the words too much- but they're from Dylan Thomas' Under Milk Wood, so I've nothing against it either.

It's so good that when you click this link:
http://www.night-driving.com/
It just repeats the ad for you, as if saying-,"We know why you're here- you want to watch it again- don't you?"

There's also lots of clicky stuff to do including, my personal favourite, a selection of good places to drive at night. (my least personal favourite click is the "philosophy" section which doesn't feel very credible at all- it's like the Marketing Agencies pitch written down for you.

It taps into isolation, depression, darkness, individuality, alternative living, but, like classic Volkswagen, does it in a way that feels right- authentic and credible.

One of these days I'm going to buy a car...

Prison Break 118 sponsorship deal

noreply@blogger.com (Alistair Spalding) — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 10:14:00 +0000

I've alreayd pulled 118 up for a pretty good series ripping off the Honda ads that I hate with gusto.

I'm not personally a fan of the before and after slots they've been doing to support Prison Break, but my girlfirend is.

I'm pretty certain the only reason she watches Prison Break (apart from the hot guy of course) is to chuckle at the antics of 118's iditotic henchmen.

Recently we watched an episode together, while she was in Norway, and I was in London.

Some careful manouvering of the webcam, and microphone, and some crystal clear skype reception meant that she got to catch the episode (which isn't being shown in Norway) with me.

I couldn't hear her laughing during the 118 slots, so I found myself filling in for her and laughing on her behalf. How modern is that picture!!

How do you rate my apathy

noreply@blogger.com (Alistair Spalding) — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 10:07:00 +0000

I've been off message for a little while now.. the blogs become more about me moaning and comaplaining than I originally intended, but I'm back on track with the following on Volvos recent TV campaign:

The recent love it or hate it advert for Volvo has upset a colleague in the office who REALLY hates it, not the car, the advert.

Marketing Week described it as an interesting treatment, but unfortunately a very boring car (I'm paraphrasing) and that such a campaign is not enough to overhaul an image malfunction.

My own response is apathy, no feelings one way or the other about the car, or the advert.

Do you love that response or hate it Volvo?

Anadin and RJD2

noreply@blogger.com (Alistair Spalding) — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 22:18:00 +0000

When I was into RJD2 which is long before people realised he was producing the Gorillaz and behind Gnarles Barkley, I spotted one of his tunes being used in this Anadin Headache advert:

http://www.visit4info.com/static/advert_pages/35083.cfm?back_page=16.cfm

Then RJD2 went huge (and my cool gig in Australia T-Shirt suddenly achieved E-Bay bids) and they did the advert again but without his music. Sometimes an ad makes a musician (hello Mint Royale) but here a musician happened to have flogged a tune off just before he made it and then desperately clawed it back from the pill company.

I wonder how much it cost the record label?

Honda gets ripped off

noreply@blogger.com (Alistair Spalding) — Sun, 25 Feb 2007 00:36:00 +0000

While I'm not a fan of the 118 brand or even the idea of having to pay for previously free directory services, this does go some way to making feel that I'm not alone in my hatred of indulgent brand ads:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOEX10Hgzfc

Oh! There's a whole series of these:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeANRQBz0Yw

..and finally proving that the robot looking around will ultimately fall on its ass:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4upvi5ytFI

Black Horse Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Alistair Spalding) — Sun, 25 Feb 2007 00:30:00 +0000

Well, apart form now realising that the Black Horse is the logo for Loyds TSB, I'm overall disapointed with the direction of the Loyds adverts. The new one is forgettable and has the same train motiff but now the banking protagonist is interest in picking up a pet gold fish or something. The gold fish is a metaphor for saving money apparently.
Even more disturbing is that they've gone overboard with the national media to support these adverts. Every page of the paper is filled with these little generated cartoon people that fill their adverts. Whilst "synergy" is a good idea to maximise what you've spent money on in adverts too much creates entropy which is a feeling of being lost amongst it.
No more on Black Horse, they over did it....

Honda Part 2 the robots looks around a bit

noreply@blogger.com (Alistair Spalding) — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 22:37:00 +0000

To my horror I discovered recently that the same agency made the Honda adverts and the Golf GTI advert. That means by least favourite and most favourite adverts came from the same place.

After months of some pretty serious soul searching I decided that I still don't like the Honda advert, and stand by my emotionally charged letter to the makers. Of course I've also complimented those same makers for their work on the GTI (see post archives). Which means my comments cancelled each other out and left me contributing overall "not much" to either blogging or complaining.

So the new Honda advert, where a robot has a look around a museum is my chance to tip the scales one way or another...

...except I just think it's OK. The inner geek/kid in me is drawn to robots, and I can't help think that it's a bit cool. However it's still too long. And I'd still prefer it if they were talking about their environmental dual engines rather than their brand.

Is their brand more important than their cars? Only the Honda sales figures and market research can tell us that, and I haven't seen either.

Sony Bravia Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Alistair Spalding) — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 22:31:00 +0000

Bravia adverts don't need me any more, they have their own website which will tell you all about music location etc. and even show you a little documentary of how they made it:
http://www.bravia-advert.com/

but for consistencies sake- I'll give it a brief report: It's very good.

The advert is real- no special effects were used to film the ad. It uses gallons of paint to redecorate a council estate. There's an irony in using the traditional method of demolition to turn this ramshackle looking estate into a work of art.

Of course the really smart part is that the ads are filmed in high definition, so you have to have a Bravia HD TV to really appreciate it- almost worth buying one.

Except of course, that some optomotrists think the difference between HD TV and normal TV is actually indecernable to the naked eye- eat that Sony!

My favourite bit is at the end where in the aftermath of the explosions a downpour of paint showers the ground.

The ad that thinks it's a train

noreply@blogger.com (Alistair Spalding) — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 20:54:00 +0000

Music is so important to this advert, various people are currently searching for the peice of music that accompanies the Black Horses' latest offering. A whole life saga built around a train taking a single man on his journey to old age.

The brave move is to not be afraid of looking A LOT like you're advertising rail travel (although it does make you want to take a train). That way you can slide the old brand in there subtle like, you know, so no one notices. In fact the black horse logo is barely in shot for a moment.

Still you enjoy the journey, sit back and dream of first class travel. As I'm not really a heavy bank services user I'm not sure if it would sway me to use a bank product from Black Horse over anyone else, but it did make me write this, and that's a start.

The graphics used are extremely remenicsent of one of the greatest children's books ever created: The Lost Thing by Shaun Tan.

WAIT! The Black Horse- that's not the name of the bank!! I don't know what they're called. I changed my mind. It's rubbish.

Links

noreply@blogger.com (Alistair Spalding) — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 23:56:00 +0000

There's a guy with jets of water coming out from under his armpits and only Link underarm deoderant can save him.

This ad is much smarter than the average Link fair, relying less on sexy babes and more on a smart premise.

The situations are great and disgusting at the same time, where he's dancing, and playing basket ball.

All in all a smart ad.

Argos

noreply@blogger.com (Alistair Spalding) — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 23:54:00 +0000

There’s a cosy shot of a dad and son and dad jumps off the roof, legs it up a couple of stars, bounces off the moon and grabs a star as a present for his kid.

It tears me apart this one. The ad is amazing,. It’s well shot, it’s magical, it really gets the mix of fantasy and Christmas spirit just right and if it was for anything other than Argos it would be perfect. But Argos is a big counter at the front of a big warehouse- it’s about the most uninspired Christmas Shop in the world.

If it was for some wholesome farmers market toys or an advert genuinely created by father Christmas himself to generate publicity for this years Christmas it would fit just right.
I think some creative agency made it for Harrods and at the last minute harrods cancelled it and they sold it off cheap to Argos in stead I mean- A scaletrix set?! It’s OK, but is that the best way to finish the ad? I bet that wasn’t in the original script but an Argos committee put it in
So take Argos out of it and it’s awesome-but leave Argos in and it just doesn’t sit right.

Honda

noreply@blogger.com (Alistair Spalding) — Tue, 24 Jan 2006 10:47:00 +0000

Dear Mr Spalding,

Thank-you for your recent e mail - The last two Honda commercials aired in the UK, 'The Impossible Dream' and 'Choir' have proved to be ourmost successful yet, and we have received massive positive feedback alongwith hundreds of requests for DVD copies of both. We can only apologise thenew commercials have not been to your liking, and we appreciate you takingthe time to contact us with your opinions; they will be passed onto ourmarketing team.Kind RegardsCarlHonda

Dear Honda Advert Makers, Marketers, and Brand ManagersYouradverts are too long.

You are playing a risky game by running adverts thatare uncomfortably longer than the industry standard. I have not enjoyedeither of your long adverts. The "Dream the Impossible Dream" advert where abearded engineer drives a procession of vehicles was bland. It made nostatement about your cars or products.The current long advert where a choirimitate car noises is pretentious and unwelcome. Both adverts are not quitefunny. The choir attempt to "beat box" when a CD is inserted, and the"Impossible Dream" advert starts on a comedic scaled down motorcycle. Theadverts are not consistent although they contain these "humorous" momentsthey then go on to be romantically idealistic, and dull. If you mustassociate your brand with an idea: Pick one. Personally I preferred it whenyou were advertising environmentally improved engines. That is somethingworthy of extending an advert about. What they your adverts do not do isdisplay product. It has turned me off to your brand. It has annoyed me thatyou feel powerful enough to take up extra space in ad breaks with yourattempts to claim some vague association with "concepts" and "ideals". Yousell cars.Please stop wasting my time.Yours Angrily,Alistair Spalding

British Petrolium

noreply@blogger.com (Alistair Spalding) — Sun, 27 Nov 2005 20:53:00 +0000

What's your carbon footprint? Do you think we can reduce emissions? BP take tiny steps in the right direction with this series (3 different versions on the same theme.) I'm incredibly cynical, I hope they've started this string of adverts voluntarily and that they haven't been forced into it by government, or the international community, or something. But hey- why knock it? If a multinational company thinks that its important to make people think they care about the environment, it's a step in the right direction. How big is your carbon footprint? (actually as we're made of carbon, it's possible that your carbon footprint is the same size as your regular footprint.
http://www.bp.com/sectiongenericarticle.do?categoryId=9005334&contentId=7009881

The EGG Card

noreply@blogger.com (Alistair Spalding) — Wed, 23 Nov 2005 23:37:00 +0000

The first thing about the EGG Credit Card adverts is that they've clearly been put together by people who understand geeks. The theme music, reminiscent of TRON, is old school electronica, but it also sounds like the games Lemonade Tycoon, or The Sims. Excellent. they should release it as a dance track.
The simple idea is that they have tested their cards on Guniea Pigs, but in a real mock up city where the pigs drive cars, go to the gym etc. What's great is that the advert bascially compares us to Guniea Pigs. The EGG scientists can do the research on pigs because we share the same drives, trends, and attitudes of small furry mammals. The other implication is that all of our trends have been totaly absorbed by EGG and they can now easily feed us the best products. Two ads so far. The first "intro" chapter set up their experiment. Quickly moving forward the second advert is narrated by one of the Guniea Pigs driving a car. It's amazing how in a few short minutes in one ad, they can conceive a world to such an extent that in the second ad. I'm right there with them. I get it. To see of you get it too you can enter the EGG research lab at:
http://www.eggresearchlab.com/, or watch the advert at http://www.visit4info.com/details.cfm?adid=26574

British Gas

noreply@blogger.com (Alistair Spalding) — Tue, 22 Nov 2005 19:43:00 +0000

Third in a series. Two blue flames as characters. First was a creature comfort style discussion of why people are going back to british gas, Second was "The Prices Are Frozen", third is the "Fixed Price Engineer". What I don't get is- didn't Npower have the same insignia- they had a glowing golden ball for electricity and a glowing blue ball for gas. But those balls have dropped. And now it's just British gas adverts. Must have been some behind the scene wranglings over copyright issues etc.

Ebay

noreply@blogger.com (Alistair Spalding) — Tue, 22 Nov 2005 18:37:00 +0000

Particularly relavent to me because I work in a bookstore. This is the first christmas to feature adverts for an internet company. Strange that it should be eBay, rather than Amazon that makes the big impact. I say big impact, but the advert is basic. The interest is in the shift from high street to internet advertising. I'm sure my bosses are trembling. One advert so far, no characters, but plenty of cheap produce.