Native Alibi

The concept that consumers of digital media have acquired 'banner blindness' to traditional online formats has meant that native advertising has become more and more noticeable...or not as the case may be (!).

OK, more acceptable...or at least, more clickable.

Digital aside, we saw something interesting in this morning's Metro, where a neat native print execution from TV channel alibi promoting a new series of crime drama "Crossing Lines" contrasted dramatically with a conventional 25x4  press ad featuring 'Anger' from Inside Out (Disney Pixar's latest offering).

Which is more effective though?

Perhaps it could be said that the Disney ad will attract the attention of those flicking through the middle pages of the paper, especially given its bold colours, commuter-relevant copy and right hand outside-edge placement.

On the other hand, the alibi creative will most likely draw the attention of those who are more interested in the editorial content found across the rest of the spread. This may well be those with a greater interest in gossip and TV.

Although native advertising is nothing new (especially in print, where "advertorials" or "edvertorials" have been around for many a year), these two different ad formats found in close proximity highlight that it's not just a trend in advertising but rather another weapon in the marketer's armoury...

#PurePoint

Pantastic Day

So, on possibly the tastiest of all days, some brands look to interact with all the tossers out there through the medium of pancakes and perhaps more significantly, the vast array of toppings.

The sad passing of Michele Ferrero (founder of Ferrero Rocher and inventor of Nutella) over the weekend may see the spread of nostalgic nutty pancakes as a favoured topping selection, but somewhat surprisingly it's plain old sugar and lemon that has grabbed our attention.

All-in-all, things have been a little quiet on the pun-cake front, though there has been one noteworthy campaign which has caused some heated debate.

Cars and pancakes are not traditional bedfellows, but Dacia has tried to cook up something a bit different by taking either full page or page-dominant spaces in the front half of the quality, mid-market and free commuter press titles this morning.

There have been differing reactions at Pure Towers as to the way they've thrown themselves into the mix. As with our respective choices of pancake toppings there is a mix of taste - some think they've subtly battered the competition, whereas others think it's more like they've fallen a bit flat and ended up with egg on their face.

Firstly, the nay-sayers: For a car that "starts at £5,995" selecting the higher-end titles seems slightly incongruous with the price-point. Given that Dacia are presumably aiming for those looking at a second or third car, perhaps an image of the mystery car(s) to entice a buyer in would be a good idea rather than relying solely on the numbers.

Pancakes are undoubtedly powerful influencers, but we're not sure that they can ensure a relatively unrecognised brand sell lots of cars. Even with maths in their corner (NB: a pancake shouldn't really have corners), a couple of the PM crew feel there is a real disconnect here.

On the 'flip' side, there are others who believe the ads are highly impactful - both in the understated creative and the dominant page positions. The simplicity of the messaging reflects the simplicity of the offer (and presumably the car).

The fact that they have used Pancake Day as a creative medium is smart, catchy and offers an effective alternative to the standard formula that seems to pervade our print media (inspirational/ quirky car image + price/ special offer + terms and conditions = car ad).

We'll let you make up your own minds, but as a final aside this is amazing

Enjoy!

Timely Advertising

Tick-tock, tick-tock! Turn back your clock!

Yes indeed, daylight saving’s time is up for another year. At 2am on Sunday 26^th October, the UK’s time zone will drop back an hour, giving us seemingly longer darker evenings and earlier brighter mornings.

To capitalise on the annual time change, it looks like a fair few clever brands have been working around the clock to prepare for this moment, having been targeted with a flurry of timely ads on the way to work this morning.  

The first was a tactical and highly impactful set of fractional ads running across a DPS in the Metro for B+Q lighting.

Just Eat also used Metro to capitalise on the moment, taking a break from their normal ‘Don’t Cook’ advertising to target a slightly different family demographic.

But our favourite so far is from the stop smoking supporters at Quit.org, who took this timely opportunity to target a new campaign running in the ‘EXTRA TIME’ section of Sport magazine this week. The Clock ad features cigarette hands and the backwards copy line –

“SUNDAY YOU GET ONE HOUR BACK. QUIT AND YOU’LL GET YEARS BACK.” with the end line “SEE HOW  MUCH TIME BACK YOU COULD GET AT QUIT.ORG.UK.”

They are also running an interactive version of the ad online with the hands winding backwards and the opportunity to find out how much #TIMEBACK people can get if they quit.

Our only disappointment was that they didn’t link in to the NHS’s #Stoptober effort – as we feel some cross-promotional advertising could have been really effective here!

Ah well – there’s always time next year...

#PurePoint 

Dirty Money

Metro Bank PLC, ‘the love your bank at last’ financial establishment that launched in 2010, kept their promise of ‘Surprise’ when Metro Dry Cleaners popped up in Farringdon (just down road from our humble abode).

When Metro Bank promised ‘unparalleled levels of Service and Convenience’ we honestly weren’t expecting them to do our laundry. But after a Poodle took over the front desk, who knows what they’re up to!

After a tumble of tweets to @Metro_Bank @MetroUK and @My_MetroBank the confusion was ironed out. Metro Drycleaners is in fact not related to Metro Bank. But who’s to blame us for thinking it was? The logo is undeniably similar!

Over summer Metro Drycleaners separated their colours from their black and whites, tailoring their branding away from Metro Bank.

However, just as we thought the money laundering had finished… we were highly amused to see a cash machine has now been fitted into the window. Oh the irony!

#MoneyLaundering      

#MetroBank    

#PurePoint    

Brand Match-up

Sainsbury’s new CEO, Mike Coupe, described the current state of the supermarket industry as ‘a perfect storm’ yesterday. Turmoil exists with the traditional powers being threatened by brands such as Aldi, Lidl and Asda, who are seeing rapid growth. This has been exacerbated primarily by the high-profile troubles of Tesco, whose senior finance team is still in disarray and whose shares are the worst performer on the FTSE 100 this year.

The media has, of course, reflected this strife, led by Private Eye’s delightful satire of the ‘Every Little Helps’ ads; the core messaging of Tesco’s marketing strategy that helped them to become market leaders way back in 1995. This will undoubtedly have provided much mirth in the finance departments of their competitors. With the annual battleground of Chr*stmas (shhhh!!) fast approaching, open-season has been declared on Tesco (and indeed the other bigger names in the sector).

A prime example of this is the media feeding frenzy in this morning’s Metro. This is one of the finest collections of reactive ads that we’ve seen – certainly since the Royal birth last year.

It starts with Lidl, who (once you get past a somewhat baffling ad for a hydraulic jack on page 5), has a pop at Sainsbury’s, who are still reeling from the fallout of Postergate where a staff member inadvertently put a staff room poster on public display…

Lidl later continue with their push for an increased share of wealthier customers by promoting their Wine Cellar with the examples at a healthy price point (£8.99 - £16.99). 

Sainsbury’s, who appear with a full page ad on page 10, has chosen to completely disregard Tesco as a traditional competitor and instead turn their focus – and they hope, their customers’ focus - onto price comparison with Asda.  

Asda, in turn, has peppered the paper by taking space on four separate spreads, with four different ad formats. The most impressive of these is the sublimely timed full page ad on page 23, which confirms their price-point as a key USP and hints that Sainsbury’s are a little late to the game.

Morrisons has an unremarkable ad in an unremarkable place, while Tesco, inevitably trying to keep a low profile, yet needing to show its face at the party, has shuffled in quietly with a non-contentious, almost anonymous looking ad hidden away deep in the middle of the book.

So, who are our winners in all this jostling? 

Well, Sainsbury's has put itself firmly on a path to demonstrating value, while Lidl and Asda have both taken very effective swipes at them with some great quick reaction creative. 

All three have failed to recognise Tesco as even being a competitor, which is perhaps far more damning. 

#PurePoint

The Spread of Zombies

One thing every commuter has in common is the expectation of seeing a few thousand suited zombies in the morning. Let’s face it, between Ate O’clock and 9 O’clock in the morning, the walking dead take over London. Of corpse we all know it’s not the apocalypse, it’s just a bad case of commuter amnesia. As we all board the London underground, groaning, scrambling and staring into space on our usual route to work.

Bored to death we all fall soullessly into routine: checking our phones, flicking through twitter feeds; amusing ourselves watching fellow commuters dive for the train… and sharing that moment when you make eye contact with the complete stranger you've found yourself contorted against (not quite as romantic as match.com makes out).

Yet yesterday morning we found our personal space invaded by Sky’s Walking Dead advert in the Metro. The placement couldn't have been more dead on. With Halloween lurching ever closer, Sky’s timing is exemplary. By taking the first double spread, they've really broken through the usual menagerie of ads that capture and possess the Metro’s early pages. We think Sky’s double page spread truly paid off and are sure many Londoners are going to be feasting on a few Sky Box Sets this Autumn.

#PureAdOfTheWeek

Creatively compromised ?!?

Whilst we are all for media creativity and generating IMPACT and STAND OUT in conventional, traditional newsprint environments - we can't help but feel that the Metro has somewhat overdone it today and 'sold out' on the less conventional creative formats they offer.

On pages 26/27, Halifax has made the most of running CHECKERBOARD placements across the spread to deliver multiple messages and amplify their EXTRA proposition.

Turn the page and we see that Ryanair has adopted the break-out creative ZIG-ZAG format. Rather than being impactful, this actually appears overly busy and - confusingly - almost an extension of the Halifax EXTRA ads due to colour similarities and as a result of running these formats consecutively...

As if that wasn't enough, turn the page again and another ZIG-ZAG format is running across the spread on pages 30/31.

Usually, we would deem this to be a highly effective use of space, demonstrating media and creative teams working in synergy to deliver the Relish ad within newsprint. Instead, with today's spreads the concurrent 'unconventional' media formats have far less impact - and frankly look conventional!

This has resulted in a sequence of busy spreads, with a mish-mash of editorial squeezed in throughout. 

It seems as though Metro has lived up to its front page headline and forced the advertisers into a constricted space; no Extra value and hardly something to Relish!  

#PurePoint

Own goal...

So, surprise surprise, all we've been left with is the bitter taste of disappointment and frustration.

Not the failure of the England football team after Costa Rica's scalp of Italy, but the seeming insistence of advertisers to mistime their media placements.

This time it's Head & Shoulders, who have followed up their somewhat tenuous advertising link with Joe Hart by taking a pretty headless fractional ad in the sport section of this morning's Metro. 

It's definitely too little (you can barely see the hashtag it's so small), too late (for Joe to 'make it count')

We also doubt too many readers will use Blippar to 'play with Joe Hart'... Sad times all round.

#PurePoint

Cabbies lose their way

If you were in and around London yesterday, you probably noticed a heavy increase in road traffic as almost 12,000 cabbies took part in a ‘go-slow’ protest. The cause of their action was Uber, an app-based taxi-service, which traditional London black cabs claim is operating on their exclusive turf.

While one could wonder about the effectiveness of a transport group protesting against a taxi-service in this way, Uber capitalized on the situation beautifully with full-page ads in yesterday’s Metro and Evening Standard.

As commuters flocked to the trains and tubes due to the action, it seemed inevitable that thousands of new (and frustrated) eyes would feast upon Uber’s sleek creative...

...and so it proved. 

With the ad in question sporting a £20 discount code, it proved highly effective. Uber had its most successful day of downloads since they launched two years ago: up by an incredible 850% in comparison to the previous Wednesday.

This represents a supremely timed media buy by the challenger brand; the cabbies may well need a sat-nav to find their way back from this one!

#PurePoint