A Price Comparison Website Special

Hello, and welcome an Advertising Waste special. Prepare to be dazzled, astounded and probably rather irritated by “The All Time Top Five Most Annoying Price Comparison Site Adverts So Far”. I’m Jonathan Crouch, and I’ll be guiding you through the evening’s proceedings. So keep calm, be prepared to quietly count to ten in your head, and I’ll see you on the other side. As for now…

Number 5:



Go Compare- Admittedly I liked the first advert, it was daft and slightly annoying, but contained some rather amusing bits of imagery, and a pun that, despite not really being particularly funny, had me in stitches the first time I saw it.
Sadly comedy is a tough thing to maintain. Keeping and identical tone and similar jokes soon gets old and boring (for example, Little Britain), and whilst they moved the venue the guy was singing in, it remained much the same. Which meant it just became an irritant, rather than funny.

Number 4:



Confused.com- This was one of the first price comparison websites to advertise on television. It was a low budget affair- cardboard cut outs of pints were used in one of them- and spent a lot of time on Digital TV channels, where it costs significantly less to show an advert.
This particular advert sees a chinless man attempting to empathise with the viewer by doing puppy dog eyes in their direction. Sadly this look that may have prompted an equally plain-yet-infinitely-charitable woman to sleep with him at university comes across as more than a little pathetic on his middle-aged, contour-free face.

Number 3:



Money Supermarket- In this ad the famous rich person Peter Jones tells us that we all need to be saving money (whilst self consciously scooting around on what I can only assume is the holodeck of his gigantic mansion). By the end of the advert he tells us through a decidedly forced looking grin “I’m in, shouldn’t you be?” a comment that is presumably meant to be funny because usually he says that he’s out. There’s not a lot I can say about it. Other than it’s annoying. Still, at least it hasn’t ruined my teenage memories. Not like…

Number 2:



Money Supermarket- When I first saw this advert, featuring the superb comedian Omid Djalili, I laughed, and actually enjoyed it.
Sadly the regular repeating of it and with the subsequent adverts’ distinctly similar brand of humour has meant it’s gone stale quite quickly. And has somewhat ruined my estimation of Omid Djalili.

Number 1:

In a shock result, Number 1 isn’t the meerkats from Compare The Market. I love those furry little fellas, and the fact that comparethemeerkat.com is an actual website containing links to Compare The Market, claiming to redirect those who have got confused is a creative way of increasing traffic to their website (it got me on Compare The Market's site and I don't even have a car, although it may not be a good thing to be attracting the wrong demographics- such as those with nothing to insure). But I digress, the most annoying price comparison website advert ever (so far) is this:



Confused.com- Yes, the original annoying price comparison website advert creators have continued to produce work of aggravating standards, this time resorting to what Charlie Brooker once described as "Loser Generated Content". Whilst I understand the importance of testimonials from the public about sites, do they really have to take them from such irritants? First of all, we’re treated to a guy playing guitar, because Confused.com is chummy like that, then we’re met with some black hair dyed git self consciously saying “Oh its recording” before barely stifling a laugh, because he's so happy to be doing this! Before long the advert plunges headlong into various people saying how friendly the site seems to be. This chummy music continues with all the happy people spouting compliments on the ease of use, before the camera cuts back to dyed hair youth drawing a crude smiley face on his hand because confused.com is your bloody friend see?!
Personally I am fed up of businesses (particularly ones which automate as many of their services as Confused.com presumably do) desperately attempting to be friends with the users of their products. Plus I don’t want to be sold stuff by members of the public who have already been fooled into believing this company sees them as more than a large human pound sign. Particularly ones who think drawing a smiley face on their hand is the height of style.

So this is the Top Five as it currently stands. If you think I've missed something, or just want to have a go at me for leaving out those get in touch. And I'll tell you that you're wrong. Simples.

John Lewis

This evening I saw this on television. I think it’s lovely. Admittedly the warm fuzzy feelings I get from this advert don’t go hand in hand with the white goods and overpriced toys that John Lewis typically deals in.



I just thought that this too pleasant not to pass on. I’m not even going to be cynical and grumpy about it. Something nice and gentle for Sunday evening/Monday morning.

Samsung and Viral Videos

The Internet. It’s great, isn’t it? It allows us to communicate with friends and relatives on the other side of the world for virtually nothing, it allows businesses to conduct their affairs with unprecedented speed, we can experience other cultures from the comfort of our own home, and- possibly most importantly- we can view videos of cats on youtube.



But youtube isn’t just great for videos of cats, businesses can also use it to advertise their products. And if a video is funny, or clever, or just flat out good enough for people to want to pass it on to their friends (or write about it in their blog for that matter), who then decide to pass it on to their friends, after a certain point it becomes a “viral”, although unlike an actual virus, it is generally considered a good thing. Samsung are probably the best-known large company that produces adverts with an intention of them going viral. A while back they produced this viral featuring sheep, to illustrate their LED TVs:



This has gained 11 million hits on the official video alone, and has been posted and reposted in many places. This year, with the first 3D television soon hitting the market, Samsung has released another advert that seems likely to go viral (I first saw it on the b3ta website, where a lot of things like that tend to appear). Whilst there is no guarantee that the company’s ad will be as popular as the above sheep one, this one did cause me to laugh out loud for most of the duration. Enjoy.

Carling: You Know Who Your Mates Are

After the last post, which featured Berocca and their ever-so-slightly-stolen idea of using multiple treadmills to great comedic effect, I feel obliged to write about one of my favourite sets of adverts ever. The Carling “You know who your mates are” adverts, the most recent being this:

This one features a group of friends stranded on a desert island, until a boat appears, but one of the group is missing. Not wanting to leave the hapless fellow stranded, the group of friends elects to wait for the next one. If you’re below the age of 30 and have a penchant for the occasional alcoholic beverage with friends, this will sound familiar as a regular fixture on a Friday or Saturday night. Usually at the end.

As my use of the phrase “sets of adverts” in the first paragraph implies, this isn’t the first time that Carling has made an advert that lampoons a typical night out. Not only have they been on a desert island, but also in the wild west:

and to one of the poles:

even in space:

Each one illustrates an aspect of a night out with good friends; gathering everyone together, the moments where a night hangs in the balance, and the inevitable rejection from a club because someone doesn’t have formal shoes. They have yet to air one involving a dodgy takeaway and the subsequent day spent by the toilet. Maybe they’ll show that next time. In a volcano.

This is a smart group of commercials, intelligently parodying both big-budget feature films and comparatively mundane nights out. It also succeeds in making me want to go out drinking with friends (which may include Carling, I suppose), which possibly says more about my time spent as a student than the efficacy of the adverts. 

Berocca

Advertising types can sometimes be wonderfully creative- see last week’s post on Magners for an example of this (although I guess that the Calbee advert was also inventive, in a shocking Japanese film-noir kind of way). On other occasions they just blatantly steal an idea from one of the creative souls that populate the Internet. Take Berocca’s treadmill advert:



Now if you spent much time on the internet a couple of years ago- during the early days of Youtube- you will no doubt have seen OK Go’s video for “Here It Goes Again” (sorry I can’t embed it, but apparently EMI doesn’t appreciate a bit of free publicity) featuring treadmills, being used in a creative and humorous way. A good, creative, reasonably inexpensive music video.
This Berocca ad on the other hand, steals the initial idea of (mis)using several treadmills placed alongside each other, and then places it in a grey concrete square, with some people who seem to lack any kind of charisma. Although props to the guy in the suit for trying, he gives the impression that he wears a novelty tie to work as a replacement for his personality.

Or maybe that’s just what the advert is trying to say: If you lack originality, cover it up with someone else’s idiosyncratic designs.

Calbee- A Japanese Brand of Crisp, apparently

Usually when I look at adverts, I can see the ideas that underpin them. Even with the Mercedes adverts a couple of weeks ago, where they didn’t relate to the car, it was obviously building a brand more than anything else. However, there is an entire genre of adverts (adverts can have genres right?) that I can’t begin to understand. In what is going to no doubt become a regular part of this blog, here is a post about an advert from Japan:



If for some reason, you cannot see what is going on in the advert, I’ll attempt to explain what is going on:

0:01-0:05 Ah ok, I see a child walking home from school, judging from the comic book-esque thought bubble, he’s unhappy about something. And there’s a dog too. Although there’s something not right about it.

0:06-0:07 Apparently the dog has stopped the child. By putting his paw on his shoulder. From a standing position.

0:08-0:09 What the hell is going on? Why does that dog have a disembodied ear? He appears to have a message written on some paper, my ability to read Japanese is a little shaky, but I can’t see any way that couldn’t be a threat. Judging by the kid’s grave expression, I think its safe to assume that that ear has been taken from one of his parents. We could well have a hostage situation here.

0:10-0:12 Ok, I didn’t think it was possible, but this advert has got even more odd. The dog now has the head of a doll. Still holding the message, in addition to some sort of racket? The kid has taken this remarkably in his stride, still stoically mourning the loss of his parents.

0:13-0:16 Jesus Christ the dog is mobile: Doing some sort of curious dance, then walking on its hands, mysteriously donning a pair of shorts to do a handstand in (I think by this point its safe to accept that it is in fact a man in a fairly unconvincing dog suit).

0:17-0:20 Er, a doggy fan dance, and not a particularly good one, as it’s doing a very poor job of covering up its pubic region. Thank god it’s been neutered.

0:21 I see the kid has obviously forgotten the sorry matter of this dog taking his parents hostage (probably), choosing instead to chase a bit of tail.

0:22-0:23 Oh no, the dog’s back in an intense shot that lingers a little uncomfortably. He looks mad. I think those poor children are next. Is nothing sacred?

0:24-0:30 My mistake, apparently he has a peace offering. Something in a packet (damn my poor grasp of Japanese), apparently crisps. Yeah, that’ll bring back his parents. And canine star jumps. Nothing about this advert makes any sense.

As far as I can tell, the message behind this advert is “Hi kids, eat Calbee potato chips or a guy dressed as dog will take your parents hostage and perform clumsy burlesque in your garden”. Perhaps this is a cultural in-joke that I don’t understand.

Magners

Just a quick one this week… in honour of the decision not to increase tax on cider by 10%, here is an advert for Magners. Which apparently isn’t even cider.




As mentioned in a previous post, alcohol advertising is difficult because it is more strictly controlled by the Advertising Standards Authority, who say that you’re not allowed to show the effects of alcohol- presumably the increased confidence and the improved ability to dance (or is that just me?) rather than throwing up and ending up with profanities written on your face and penis.
One way that alcoholic drink companies get around this is by making adverts about their brand, or by going into some detail about the production process. Although I doubt that Magners is entirely telling the truth here.



Why do they even bother rebuilding that wall?

Despite all of the ways in which the ASA restricts the activities of marketers (expect a post on awesome banned adverts at some point in the future), I think that in the case of alcohol advertising, it necessitates a more creative approach, which can only be a good thing, right?