One of the things I love most about binge watching TV programmes on platforms such as Netflix or Amazon Prime Video is that there aren’t advert breaks. Adverts in the middle of a top class drama kill it for me, just as we get gripped with the action it comes to a thundering halt and we are suddenly confronted with an advert for loo roll or butter. With Sky+ we can fast forward through them, or if watching live we can use the opportunity to nip off and put the kettle on or have a wee.
Clearly ad agencies are becoming increasingly aware of this and need to think slightly outside of the box to grab our attention. Such as this one from Heineken, have you seen it? Released a week ago it has had over five million views already, please watch it and then come back:
This is one of the most thought provoking adverts I have seen in a long time. Quite frankly, it is genius. Get two people together with wildly opposing views and set them tasks to subtly get to know each other without giving them the opportunity to tell the other person too much about themselves. And yes, of course they have set it up so that the couples have wildly differing opinions on certain matters. And at the end of the day it’s an advert for beer, but it doesn’t scream Heinken, nobody even mentions the word. You don’t even see the bottle until the final scenes but it portrays what beer should be about: sharing a moment with a mate.
And everybody is talking about “that Heinken” ad so it’s having the desired effect, getting people talking about Heineken, in a truly positive way.
Unlike the latest Curry’s ad that is on TV at the moment, and which, annoyingly, I can’t find online to embed in this post. But I am sure you have seen it. It’s the one where dad and daughter go into Currys PC World to buy a laptop for her as she is going travelling. Sales assistant shows dad an iPad and then a Macbook Pro as daughter wanders off to do her own research (probably having done loads of research before even setting foot in the store). When she comes back to tell dad she has found what she would like he doesn’t look her, much less listen, or even let her finish her sentence. He interrupts with “Macbook Pro?” and the ad ends.
He isn’t interested in what she has to say, I guess the inference is that she has come to the same conclusion but it doesn’t tell us that. It tells us that he isn’t listening to her, much less actually talking. He has seemingly rail roaded her into getting what he wants her to have.
It is everything I hate about adverts
This doesn’t sell Currys PC World to me in the slightest.
Unlike the Heineken ad which really does sell me the desire for a beer and a chat.