This first appeared in the AdNews print magazine. You can read it all below but if you want it as soon as it goes to press, you better subscribe here.
It's all about the work and Creative Choice is where we send in the pros to critique the latest offerings from adland.
Ogilvy Brisbane executive creative director Jonathan Drapes and 303 Lowe's head of copy Sean Larkin take on the challenge for this week's Creative Choice, putting their creative eyes to work from Presto, Cancer Council, McGrath Foundation, Pizza Hut, Westfield and Kotex.
First up - a few words from the creatives themselves:
JD: I usually try to find some narrative or theme that holds all the spots together, but streaming services, cancer, pizza, shopping centres and sanitary pads … I’m not going near that.
SL: On-demand streaming services, cancer charities, fast food, fashion and feminine hygiene. Some good opportunities and good briefs haven’t always ended up as good executions.
1. More Demand – Presto
JD: I think it’s pretty smart to have a crack at turning a four-horse race into a two-horse race by picking a fight with the big guy. As for the spot itself, it has some great moments, Naomi Watts says “sausage”; it’s a good attempt to bring some engagement to a fairly laborious tactical message (was the HBO sting a mandatory from the start?). Prospective subscribers might get into it, but for me, Naomi Watts is no Sam Kekovich or Anna Kendrick.
SL: On-demand streaming services are spending big on signing up the stars. First Stan and Rebel Wilson, now Presto and Naomi Watts. She’s playing a hard-to-please diva, telling us to “demand more”. It’s good. It gets its point across. And it makes a pretty obvious attack on the Netflix offering. If you want HBO, go with Presto.
2. Girls' Night In 2015 – Cancer Council
JD: Two charity spots this week. I have to be honest, I find charity kind of exhausting these days: moustaches, fun-runs, bake-offs, wear red, wear purple, tug-o-wars, cycle epics, ice-water-showers. I miss the days when you could just donate money. Girls’ Night In runs the risk of yet another ‘do’ in an overcrowded, vaguely fickle space. What I think the spot has going for it though, is that it stays close to the issue, but in a different, celebratory way. Real women, having real fun is unexpectedly emotional and makes a fresh change in an exhaustively worthy sector.
SL: Cancer Council promoting Girls’ Night In – a fundraising event held sometime in October. Nights at home with the girls are never going to look that cool or aspirational on film. I think it would have been better to sell the idea of a Girls’ Night In. That you can do something worthy by just having fun. But not show it.
3. Breast Care Nurses – McGrath Foundation
JD: An absolutely worthy cause, and from what I understand, the McGrath Foundation nurses do an amazing job, but I think this spot disappears into what you expect a charity ad to be. Poignant music, poignant imagery, poignant moments. Given the amount of charity fatigue these days, it’s too easy to miss.
SL: Another worthy cause. I’m not sure the brief was right here. It shows that breast cancer with McGrath Foundation means not losing someone, but gaining someone – the McGrath nurse. But then you’re “gaining” someone you’d rather not have in your life – a nurse. So I don’t really think it’s a gain. And I think it falls down on that.
4. The Problem With Being Hot – Pizza Hut
JD: I watched this twice and I will watch it again! Simple, funny and well-crafted in an Instagram-meets- Zoolander kind of way – just a few actors, a script and permission to spend 95% of the spot entertaining people before dropping the gratuitously tenuous tie-in. It’s not exactly a pretty pizza, so I’d like to think people will remember the product and the ‘just a bit hot’ claim infinitely more this way than a 30-second spot with lots of drifting food shots and cheese pulls.
SL: Three “hot” models talk about the pitfalls of being too hot. A funny premise. And the dialogue feels natural, slightly ad-libbed – and I like that style of delivery. But I think it also needs a bit more editing and structure – because it doesn’t really go anywhere.
5. Today, I am – Westfield
JD: I’m not really sure what I’m meant to be reviewing here – Kelly Osbourne as a brand ambassador, mannequin dominos, or yet another statement of intense female individuality? I suspect there’s a much bigger digital platform behind this ad, and Kelly Osbourne is an interesting choice. But for me, the messaging strategy feels very familiar and the execution doesn’t really do much.
SL: Westfield have signed up Kelly Osbourne to defiantly push over a room full of fashion mannequins and tell us that “size is just a number - and I hate numbers”. And good on Westfield for taking this anti-fashion stance – even though they are clearly, in fashion. But if you really want me to believe that you believe “size is just a number”, I think doing something would be way more effective than just saying it.
6. Catch Me If You Can – U By Kotex
JD: It’s very hard for me to review this campaign for two reasons. Firstly, it’s been created by my colleagues at Ogilvy Sydney, and I don’t want anyone to think I’m not being objective. Secondly, I’m not exactly in the target audience. From a creative perspective, I’m all for platforms that disrupt categories and start new conversations, but to ensure neutrality, I very awkwardly asked several ladies over the weekend for their opinion and they gave it the thumbs up.
SL: And then Kotex. “Sportswear for down there” is a very interesting starting point here. That’s something any creative could work to. So the weird Tron/Running Man execution that we’ve ended up with is a bit disappointing.
Have something to say on this? Share your views in the comments section below. Or if you have a news story or tip-off, drop us a line at adnews@yaffa.com.au
Sign up to the AdNews newsletter, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for breaking stories and campaigns throughout the day.