You may have seen the TV commercial for PlayStation Portable where two animated squirrels are playing a game called “nut.”
If so, you might have thought whoever believed that was a good way to sell more PSPs was nuts.
“Yeah, most people look at that and wonder, ‘What is that?’ ” said Pat Tilley, group creative director at advertising agency DDB Chicago, which did not create the PSP ad. “But people that are fans of that brand sort of expect that from PlayStation. The weirder the better.”
Advertising is no longer centered on a single pitchman carefully and calmly extolling a product’s virtues. Companies want to grab your attention, even if the way they’re doing it has little to do with what they’re selling.
A Burger King commercial shows “The King” racing down a football field past defenders to score a touchdown. It’s footage from a real NFL game, the only difference being “The King” has replaced San Francisco QB Steve Young.
Representatives from Burger King and PSP maker Sony were unavailable to comment on the commercials.
“Logically, it just makes no sense,” said Josh Denberg, group creative director at Chicago-based Leo Burnett, of the Burger King ad. “What does the King have to do with football? But people talk about it, they remember it, and that’s really what you want.”
It’s not what every consumer wants. Some TV viewers are put off by having to think too hard.
Timothy Esbrook, 32, feels that way about the Nextel commercial called “Dance Party,” which shows two men gyrating wildly in an office before a surprised co-worker walks in on them, asking for information.
“I’d really appreciate them just talking about the phone instead of saying what you can do in the meantime when you’re not using your phone,” said Esbrook, who lives in Andersonville.
Being too direct with a message could make the message invisible, Denberg said.
Miller Genuine Draft beer has generated buzz by airing commercials in which customers are refused beer because they’re under 30.
The ads, which will only run for a couple more weeks, are part of a new MGD campaign to appeal to more sophisticated beer drinkers, a Miller spokesman said. What if a few people don’t get the message? That’s fine–as long as they’re talking about the beer.
“MGD hasn’t really had much of a reason to have people talk about it in the last couple years,” said Miller spokesman Pete Marino. “I think there has been a number of people who have been talking about MGD again and thinking about the brand in ways they hadn’t been.”
Getting people to talk about your product using strange commercials is a good first step, but ads that are weird for the sake of being weird ultimately don’t work, said DDB’s Tilley.
“You can go into a room in a gorilla suit, and everybody will look,” Tilley said, recalling an analogy used by one of the founders of DDB Chicago. “But you better say something they care about or you’re just an idiot in a gorilla suit.
“So a lot of this advertising is ‘gorilla suit’ advertising where I got your attention, but then once I had it, I didn’t have anything to tell you, and I actually made things worse for myself.”
An example, Tilley said, was a series of Quizno’s commercials a couple years ago with rodentlike creatures. “I think in that case, they left the wrong impression,” Tilley said.
Some recent commercials might qualify as art, but that doesn’t mean they’re easy to understand.
Acclaimed music video director Spike Jonze, who also directed “Being John Malkovich,” made a 90-second commercial last year for Adidas. In the ad, a man floats out of his bed and into a pair of Adidas sneakers before experiencing several adventures.
“It’s an absolutely beautiful spot, and I am absolutely scratching my head at the end of it as to what the logic is,” said Bryan Black, creative director for New York-based ad agency Deutsch. “It ends and it says, ‘The World’s Most Intelligent Shoe.’
“I just simply didn’t get it. And I think because it’s done by a great agency and because it’s Adidas and they’ve done a lot of great prior work, I think people will just give it the benefit of the doubt.”
Even with so many odd commercials, companies aren’t backing away.
Budweiser recently unveiled the Budweiser daredevil to promote Bud Light, a campaign Leo Burnett’s Denberg says is quirky, but effective.
“That’s some strange, stupid stuff, but if some people are going to love it and some people are going to hate it, then everyone’s going to have an opinion on it,” he said. “Which is, I think, what you want.”
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THE SUPER BOWL ADS
Sure, we’ll watch the Super Bowl for the football. Maybe.
We’ll also be watching for the ads, and we’ll talk about them long after the game.
They should be the best of the best. After all, marketers are spending $2.5 million for 30 seconds of airtime during the Feb. 5 broadcast, so they’d better be good. Here’s a peek at what to expect:
Anheuser-Busch: One ad will feature two slacker guys trying to escape from a grizzly bear. Naturally, Bud Light helps save the day, according to The Wall Street Journal. In another, Anheuser’s veteran Super Bowl pitchman, Cedric the Entertainer, walks down the aisle to score some Bud Light.
Pizza Hut: The chain will employ spokeswoman Jessica Simpson to launch its Cheesy Bites Pizza. She and The Muppets will sing “These Bits Are Made for Poppin’,” according to adage.com.
Burger King: The burger chain adds to its football-themed ads, with the King taking on NFL players, adage.com reports.
— RedEye
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EXPLAIN YOURSELF
Redeye finds out what those ads really mean
Miller Genuine Draft (MGD)
Ad agency: The Martin Agency,
Richmond, Va.
The commercial: Prospective beer buyers are turned down from buying MGD because they are not yet 30 years old, even though the legal U.S. drinking age is 21.
The explanation: “We’re using that age of 30 as a metaphor for the mind-set when you start to realize you want the better things in life. And it’s a mind-set where consumers truly appreciate good mainstream beers and want to take the time to enjoy its taste. It’s not supposed to be taken literally.”–PETE Marino, Miller spokesman
Toyota Rav4
Ad agency: Saatchi & Saatchi, L.A.
The commercial: Dozens of boxes come to life and start bouncing all over a parking lot as their owners try to put them in their vehicles. The only boxes not trying to get away? Those fitting snugly into the spacious Toyota Rav4.
The explanation: “We took truth from everyday life and played them against how the Rav solves the problem, becomes a solution. If you go to a place like Ikea, those boxes come in all different shapes and sizes. They’re really awkward, and they almost have a life of their own when you try to put them inside the car. From that we came up with, ‘What if boxes literally had a mind of their own?’ and we showed people struggling with managing their boxes. Our one hero who drives a Rav has everything under control. He’s got it handled.”–Harvey Marco, executive creative director, Saatchi & Saatchi, L.A.
Geico
Ad agency: The Martin Agency,
Richmond, Va.
The commercial: Two cultured and well-dressed cavemen are insulted when a Geico spokesman says the insurance company’s Web site is so easy even a caveman can use it.
The explanation: “Our creative team came in and said, ‘What if we say geico.com is so simple a caveman can do it?’ And that sort of–to me–said it’s really simple. They took it to the next step and said what if the caveman aren’t how we picture them, wearing furs and animal skins and clubs? What if they are alive today and are very contemporary and smart and they take offense at that?
That’d be an interesting way to play it. Geico historically uses humor in their commercials and have been very effective. It was a funny idea to us.”–Steve Bassett, creative director, The Martin Agency
Nextel
Ad agency: TBWA/Chiat/Day, New York
The commercial: Two guys are dancing wildly in a staid office setting when a co-worker comes in requesting help.
They stop dancing, take about two seconds to answer his questions and then resume dancing.
The explanation: “When the guys quit dancing, they very succinctly explain three things: a really good inventory management system, the ability to connect instantly with the guy at the airport via push-to-talk, and number three being able to locate where that inventory is, also instantly. The message behind that is they’re able to be in there taking their break and relaxing because all of that’s taken care of.”–Mary Nell Westbrook, director of marketing communications for Sprint, owner of Nextel
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jgreenfield@tribune.com
