Play
Kit Kat
Stop Serving Like a Machine, Have a Kit Kat Break
JWT London
TV/Cinema
isadn 73854
Make a comment
Read comments
Embed this view
Share this view
Nowhere Man
but used to be big in business
but used to be big in business
Mon 29 June 2009
This is advertising by numbers, it’s a clanky attempt to inject new life into an old and well established advertising property. Have a break, have a Kit Kat, has been around for a long time, and I am vaguely aware of attempts to fiddle around with it over the years. I have to say that they have not been much success – if you can’t write a decent ad for a simple proposition like 'Have a break, have a Kit Kat', you shouldn’t be in the game. With a decent proposition, all that is required are decent scripts, fiddling about with it rarely helps, and is merely a sign of lack of talent and /or inspiration.
‘Working like a machine?’ is a clumsy and unnecessary set up for the ‘Have a break’ thought, and unfortunately the scripts also feel clumsy and unnecessary. ‘Writing TV ads like a machine?’ would be a suitable set up for these ads, which are tired and formulaic, but as they have made at least three or four of them, I can only assume that they are successful – which is a shame. Personally I would hope that they go back to the simple ‘Have a break, have a Kit Kat’ thought. I’m sure that there are lot’s of great simple ideas still to come out of that. All you have to do is use your noggin which unfortunately some people in our business find amazingly difficult
Play
Paco Rabanne Perfume
Black XS for Him and Her, from Paco Rabanne - Rocks next big thing
TV/Cinema
isadn 73719
Make a comment
Read comments
Embed this view
Share this view
Dear Prudence
she's out to play
she's out to play
Mon 29 June 2009
Well well well. Who’d have thought it, but Paco Rabanne are doing a joint promotion with Kerrang – how weird is that? For those of you who do not know, Kerrang is a heavy metal music mag much loved by little brothers, and all sorts of other spotty herberts with anarcho-punk, death-metal and thrash metal tendancies.
My own little brother was a keen Kerrang reader until his late teens and I suppose he might just have gone for this Paco Rabbane deal, as a bit of an upgrade from his usual Lynx bodyspray.
The only problem would seem to me to be one of price, as far as I rember spotty herberts of the Kerrang type have very little ready cash, and what little they have goes on concerts, Tshirts and/or lager and bad spliff, which leaves little room for the indulgence of a drop of Paco Rabanne. That being said, thay have a touching faith in the power of colognes and aftershaves, and are secretely much interested in such stuff
Of course, they may be going for the parents. These heavy metal herberts are a notoriously difficult group to get presents for, and the overt linkage with Kerrang might put it on many parent’s xmas and birthday lists.
Personally I’ve never been that into Paco Rabanne’s stuff, and if this perfume appeals to the average Kerrang reader I’m afraid it doesn’t sound like it’s going to be my sort of thing.
Play
Electronic Arts Software
Be Active on Wii with EAsportsactive
TV/Cinema
isadn 73861
Make a comment
Read comments
Embed this view
Share this view
Mr Mustard
he's so mean
he's so mean
Mon 29 June 2009
We are indeed living in strange times. We apparently think it is perfectly normal to get exercise by jumping around in front of our TV screens clutching a little electronic gizmo. Whatever happened to going for a walk with the dog, or bicycling to work or to school? Exercise has disappeared from our normal lives, it was once a natural part of our existence, we didn’t have to make appointments with personal trainers or set aside half an hour to jiggle around taking instructions from the TV.
Exercise just happened, and often as not it also had the beneficial effect of taking us out into the big wide world. Now EA are offering us the chance to get exercise while still cowering in our own living rooms.
Quite frankly I can’t think of anything sadder than a society composed of socially dysfunctional loners all struggling to make themselves live forever. The quality of life that we are looking at here is certainly not one that would make me want to live forever, in fact if I found myself 'interacting' with my TV in a similar fashion I’d be thinking about topping myself, pretty sharpish.
Play
Shredded Wheat Range
Weight Watching with Bitesize Shredded Wheat and Honey Nut Shredded Wheat
McCann Erickson
TV/Cinema
isadn 73857
Make a comment
Read comments
Embed this view
Share this view
Dr. Robert
he's always on the case
he's always on the case
Mon 29 June 2009
Talk about lack of confidence, this ad for Shredded Wheat Bitesize shoots itself in the foot in the most spectacular fashion. After 20 seconds singing the praises of regular Shredded Wheat - nothing added nothing taken away, just pure whole wheat, packed with goodness and rippling with fibre, good for you, good for your heart, good for your lifestyle, etc etc, they finish the commercial with a ten second plug for honey and nut Shredded Wheat.
It’s almost as if they’re saying “Alright, it may be good for you, but we know that you don’t really like the regular Shredded Wheat, so here’s some that we’ve mucked about with that you’re going to love” they seem to lack the courage of their convictions. Shredded Wheat is one of the minor offenders in terms of the extremely overblown nutritional claims made by breakfast cereals and they could have stood by their claims.
Of course it may be that they are just being deeply cynical, and are attaching the plug for the honey and nut version to the nutritional claims of the regular stuff.
I would call this a little bit underhand, but I’m sure it would work, as people wander off to the supermarket with a hazy notion that honey and nut Shredded Wheat is just as good for you as normal Shredded Wheat. In fact the more I think about it, it’s dead cheeky and verging on the dishonest, but then I suppose that’s marketing for you.
Play
Universal Studios
Bruno - Movie from Universal
TV/Cinema
isadn 73858
Make a comment
Read comments
Embed this view
Share this view
The Fool on the Hill
sees the world going round
sees the world going round
Mon 29 June 2009
I ended up feeling a bit sorry for poor old Kazakstan after it was thrust into the global limelight by the delightfully inappropriate Borat, and now it’s dear little Austria’s turn to be held up to ridicule.
The extraordinary Sacha Baron Cohen has created in Bruno a character who is more sophisticated than Borat, but all the more nauseous for that. With his un-erring eye for comic potential he has zeroed in on the grisly world of small time Eurotrash TV personalities. Bruno is in fact all of these creatures and none of them at the same time, but for ease of reference Baron Cohen has made him gay and Austrian – stroke of genius, but tough on the Austrians and probably not too good for gays.
Our views of these ‘small, charming, and innocent’ European nations have changed recently, and both Belgium and Austria (though not Holland) have come in for a bit of flack. They seem to have developed a problem with child molestation of one kind or another, and exude an unwholesome air of petty bourgeois perversion that is both fascinating and distasteful.
This tends to obscure the fact that both these sweet little countries have much more serious skeletons in their modest closets. The Belgian Congo was considered even by standards of the time to be appallingly cruel operation, and the Austria’s more than whole hearted involvement in the Nazi cause should remain a source of shame. Bruno could easily have been Belgian, but Baron Cohen has decided to go for the Austrians, and I respect his judgement on this. The trailer is quite low key, which makes me think the movie may be an absolute hoot. What I mean is that I don’t think they were able to or felt it necessary to use the best bits in the trailer, either way it’s a very good sign.
visit4views is a visit4 service. Please note that views expressed on visit4views are those held by our contributors and visit4 ltd does not adhere to these views or take any responsibility for them. Your use of visit4info or visit4ads is subject to our tems & conditions of business which can be found at http://www.visit4info.com/user_terms.html
Bad adverts be warned 
