Adverts that make you scream ...

[andy-hughes]

which is a feature designed to get the product talked about - so they do it by making a scenario so stratospherically irritating that you can't wait to unburden your loathing to your colleagues at work the next morning.

This was cleverly hit on by the 'Michael Winner' insurance ads, complete with a phrase which has passed into modern parlance, and sent their revenue into the stratosphere as a result.

Hats off to Halifax, who found 'Howard' and put him in an ever more preposterous set of circumstances while never letting us forget how hatefully nerdy he is, but we can’t give full vent to our spleen for thought of being seen as racist!


And now to Halifax again, who have lulled us all into a soporiphic sense of loathing with the 'radio show' adverts full of smiling yuppies you'd love to microwave for ten minutes but ...

that was simply softening us up for the killer blow - the current ISA campaign. have a seat a few deep breaths while I send your temper into overdrive ....

[saxy_jag]

Thanks Andy. I'm feeling a bit poorly today but your description's cheered me up no end. The Halifax ad is my least favourite too, along with those two sickly little girls who want to marry off their dad using Grecian 2000.

I bet he's not widowed - I bet his missus ran off and left the three of them because they always went around talking like famiies in TV ads. And that new woman? I give a fortnight of those three and she'll be off as well.

[Hazel104]

Oh mcfluff I hate that to. The ‘well done darling’ look he gives her and she looks all pleased she has impressed him grrrrrr

In turn I hate hate all ad’s that portray men as ‘poor little men that have no clue’.

[Zeuhl]

As an advertising professional and (latterly) advertising analyst .....

I have to say that a large proportion of advertising 'creative' is nothing more than professional w@nking. The campaigns that can afford it rely very heavily on very high levels of media exposure.

A small proportion of 'clever' ideas translate into incremental sales - there are some exceptions; the meerkats spring to mind.
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[Hazel104]

Oh no - the awfulness that is the new Puka Pie ad.

[mccfluff]

oh he stupid marco pierre white ones esp the turkey one

[Zeuhl]

I can only guess that the NatWest creative strategy is;

if we look really dull and boring, people will think we're not greedy wide-boy crooks.
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[mccfluff]

oh feck the sodding meerkats, thanks zeuhl :-(

[Zeuhl]

I know - meerkats - evidently animal rescue centres are planning for an influx of unwanted pets to rival all the turtles dumped after the Ninja Mutant craze!

However, it did produce a huge increase in their business - probably because it fixed the problem that 'compare the market' was insufficiently distinctive.

More Than are now doing something similar with their cheeky M Freeman sound alike.
Seems like an admission that dumping a well known brand name and replacing it with a maths symbol was a good way to have people forget who you are :-)
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