:: adgruntie :: Brand Beliefs, Banned ad and Jingles

+ The "brand belief" campaign trend. That's what the Media Guardian calls it. Brands that have embraced this technique, according to them, include Nike, Apple, Johnny Walker and now Dove. The idea is that instead of focusing on the science of the product or benefits of the product, they touch upon an attitude towards life, a brand belief.
For Dove, I think it's a great thing. It's a brand that has been around long enough that most people know the "1/4 moisturizers" bit. And their taking a stance on the position of perception of beauty is really very groundbreaking in the beauty category. No air-brushed models, no overly lit hair shots.
I know I have ranted on and on about this campaign, but I really do think it is probably one of the best ideas in a long time. And it just seems so logical.

+ Don't make fun of Churchill. Internet service provider in the UK, madasafish, had one of their TV adverts banned by the watchdog Broadcast Advertising Clearance Centre for making fun of Sir Winston Churchill.

Chief Executive, David Laurie described the ban, reported in today’s Mail on Sunday and Sunday Telegraph, as absurd and an affront to the British sense of humour.

The banned 30-second ad features Harry Enfield playing his loud-mouthed TV character Frank Doberman and shouting “Oi, Winston, No“ at a bemused Churchill. Doberman rounds off by calling Churchill “You porky Prime Minister“.

Other adverts feature Captain Cook and Einstein, although they received no complaints. Check out the banned ad and others at madasafish's website (QT & Media Player).

+ Australian ad folk claim the jingle is far from dead.

Matthew Melhuish, chief executive of BMF Advertising. While he acknowledges that the heyday of the jingle has passed and that today's sophisticated world of marketing demands more than just a simple riff, there are very tangible benefits to those marketers with an eye on the long term.

"When you buy that song it might be terrific for that period of time but you are never going to own it. Some of the more recent ads that used U2 or the Beatles were ones that we probably enjoyed a lot but I can't recall what they were advertising. A jingle will be forever linked to your brand. When someone is whistling a jingle, that brand will come to mind. Whereas when you are singing U2's Vertigo [used in an Apple iPod ad], there's more chance that you would be thinking about the singer rather than the car," hesays.

Copywriter Alan Morris: "The day you start reading a print ad under the shower instead of singing a song is the day I'll stop writing jingles."