Mental Floss: “Smart” Advertising Review

Makovsky

The “reply all” function was active – and welcomed – this week as my colleagues exchanged their favorite recent creative and advertising campaigns in a record-setting email chain.The mental break from daily assignments sparked debate over “creative” or “smart” advertising, but more importantly, was applied to concepts for our clients and new business efforts.

Health Practice leader Alex Peterson , an advocate for virtual brainstorms, backs her methodology with stats published by Harvard Business Review : “Virtual brainstorming enhances creative performance by almost 50% of a standard deviation in comparison with traditional brainstorming, for three reasons: It isn’t susceptible to domination by powerful individuals, it enables feelings of anonymity, and it increases the diversity of ideas.”

She kicked off the brainstorm with a few cool campaigns she was impressed with across the globe.

Step aside AdWeek , Makovsky Health has a few gems you may have missed in your review:

• Snickers never fails to impress. The company took popular bloggers (DIY experts, artists, guitar teachers) and had them bungle their vlogs because they were too hungry to focus. Smart way to stay on trend while continuing the expansion of the popular campaign. Watch their latest take of you’re not you when you’re hungry.”
• In honor of Tax Day – check out Snickers’ faux documentary about how eating a Snickers bar helped a woman complete the dreaded filing of her taxes: http://buff.ly/1ILaHhT

• Uber has a new way to curb drunk driving. Using breathalyzer technology, Uber will test your blood alcohol and automatically call you a car if you’re over the legal limit after midnight. Called ‘Uber Safe,’ this is a smart way to both offer a public service and drive use and subscriber acquisition.

• Peter Dinklage crosses over from GoT to Chrysler. In the latest crossover campaign, Wieden & Kennedy Portland signed Peter Dinklage (who plays Tyrian Lannister from Game of Thrones) to voice the latest Chrysler spot. The ad, which is part of the company’s broader “Drive Proud” campaign, celebrates hard-working artists and entrepreneurs as the “kings and queens of America.” The parallel is that these guys work tirelessly in their fields just like Chrysler does to develop the next great American automobile. A spinoff of the Cadillac ad during the Oscars, which celebrated young pioneers as part of its “Dare Greatly” campaign, it is a strong out-the-gate campaign opener pivoting off of last weekend’s GoT season premiere.

• If you haven’t seen Lane Bryant’s # ImNoAngel campaign, Laney Landsman encourages you to check it out. They are boldly taking on Victoria’s Secret and finding ways to involve influencers to amplify and encourage positive body image. There is significant social media buzz around the campaign and it’s extending to an audience that isn’t necessarily the usual Lane Bryant customer.

• During an IPREX conference in London, Eliza Oristano discovered the “Tui Catch a Million” campaign running in New Zealand that aims to increase brand awareness and media coverage for Tui beer by giving a share of a million dollars to fans who caught a ball one handed and wore an orange Tui t-shirt at cricket games. The campaign generated international attention, increased attendance at cricket games (with stands covered in Tui orange shirts), led “bookies” to bet on the competition, and increased overall sales for Tui. Watch the case study from Saatchi & Saatchi New Zealand here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LN0fBnI-Xoo

• My ongoing favorite is still going strong (as it should be): #LeanInTogether . I love the emboldening messages that came out of the viral conversation around gender equality and female empowerment. Stemming off Sheryl Sandberg’s novel and campaign, Lean In (#LeanIn), the #LeanInTogether social campaign is a call-to-action for men to support women in the fight towards equality in all areas of life. Influential people from all walks of life (i.e., NBA and WNBA basketball players, politicians, actors) join the campaign to influence the trajectory of women in the workforce and beyond. Get involved by posting an image to social media showing why you or a man in your life promote equality with the hashtag #LeanInTogether.

The list and discussion goes on! Stay tuned for more reviews – the good, bad, and ugly – with varying industry-focused ads and campaigns.

See a noteworthy campaign you’d like included? Send it along and we’ll add to the next round: syergensen@makovsky.com .

– Suzanne Yergensen , Makovsky Health