Here's AirTran's ad. Post your three word reviews in the comments.
Here's another perspective....put yourself in the point of view of the travel agent booking trips for your clients vs a corporate travel planner who is under the gun to keep travel costs as low as possible. Would the ad get the same reaction from both? Who did AirTran choose to lose?
Air France ad from Business Travel News. What do you think? 3 words or less please.
Here's the second airline ad. Remember, the rule is to review the ad in 3 words or less.
It's so EASY to post a snarky critique of another advertising professional's efforts. I try not to do it much anymore. BUT, I thought it might be fun to let YOU have a stab.
I have a subscription to Business Travel News, and today's issue got me thinking about the airline ads. So, I've scanned ALL of the airline ads and I'll be posting them one per day for the next 7 days.
Here are the guidelines for reviewing the ads: Use 3 words (or fewer) and post them in the comments.
Remember, the magazine is targeted at Travel Agents and Corporate Travel decision-makers.
Ad Number 1....page 9, full-page. Japan Airlines
Click on the ad for a bigger version.
My daughter was laughing as she ate her breakfast. It was this sticker on the milk jug. It's a fun ad and a great tie-in.
We're always telling our clients that rent money and advertising dollars are interchangeable. Our partners down under offer proof!
3 months ago, a local NSW coastal business owner made a decision to relocate his surf clothing store after staring down the barrel of a 34% increase in rent. The original location was on the esplanade of a high tourist area… lots of restaurants, lots of shops, lots of apartments, lots of feet. The move took him just one street away... just one street… but thousands of feet from his original location because nobody wanders behind the resorts on the Esplanade.
What happened next? Sales plummeted by $115,000… and are still going down.
YIKES! Have you calculated your ad budget lately?
My Canadian friend Bill (a fellow member of the Cognoscenti), who embraces accuracy and precision in everything he does, sent me a scan of this VISA Signature ad.
It's a beautiful ad showcasing a dream-like view of the 18th hole that VISA says is on the Pinehurst Course #2.
The ad lists 27 things that you and I should want to do while we're still alive. Most are abstract things like "paraglide" while some are a bit more specific such as "climb Mount Everest".
Bill's observation is that the ONE thing they chose to illustrate from the list is "Play Pinehurst No. 2".
Problem is, Bill knows golf. He knows that anyone who follows the game would remember Payne Stewart's famous fist pump at the U.S. Open in 1999 took place on the 18th green at Pinehurst No. 2.
The beautiful, dreamy image in the VISA ad is the 18th at Pinehurst No. 4. Entirely different course.
Because Bill values accuracy and precision (and knows golf), he is disburbed by the ad. Many people would never know that it's the wrong course and would just take the ad at face value.
The agency should have known that there are golfers in their audience who know the difference between the courses at Pinehurst. After all, they are going after the affluent readers of magazines such as Wine Spectator.
Hmmm. What do you think?
The reason this is funny, is because it's the number one retail strategy!
Seriously, can't retailers find a better way to relate to their customers besides dropping their pants? What do you think?
My buddies over at FutureNow have consolidated all of their bloggy efforts into the NEW GrokDotCom blog.
It's a great new site powered by a ContentRobot installation of WordPress with some very cool technology humming in the background.
In addition to the original content, it pulls in feeds from some great marketing blogs and sites. It may just be the only blog you need to read! I've added the post feed to my sidebar. Check it out.
Michele always has her ear to the ground and her eye to the customer experience around her. I just hope Ron is ok.
Link: WonderBranding: Marketing to Women: Do You Have a Personality Disorder?.
