Pure Retrospective 2013

As we hurtle towards the end of an action-packed 2013, we thought it would be a good idea to draw breath and take a moment to think back over what has been a pretty interesting year. That perpetual  myth of ‘The Year of Mobile’ wasn’t realised (again!) but there does continue to be an ongoing shift in engaging consumers through multimedia campaigns and an added social media element. As our blog on the social media frenzy around Christmas campaigns showed, things are becoming ever more about engagement and less about just spot and space.

We decided to relive some of the highs (and lows) of the year which has seen some great ads and some really inventive placements. 

 

Definitely Love It

This is a classy and perfectly-pitched combination of placement, topic, creative....everything. The Guardian used a smart but sensitive ad to promote their review of Margaret Thatcher and her life. The clear divisions that Thatcherism stood for were supremely expressed in an understated and simple fashion. 

Love It...and Hate It

To keep on the Marmite theme, the controversial TV ad based on a faux-animal neglect team. This split opinions in the Pure office and led to some heated debate - which is exactly what the creative was designed to achieve. The tag line was 'Love It Hate It. Just Don't Forget It.' and the campaign ensured that this was precisely what happened.

Just HATE It

Santander's employment of Rory, Jenson and Jess (who we've nicknamed 'The Wooden Tops') creepily appearing in people's homes was one of the most appalling ads in recent memory. Three supremely wealthy sports stars selling their incredibly poor acting skills.


And one more thing - Jess' t-shirt is pink not red. Which MAKES NO SENSE! Aaaaaaand breathe....

Great Ikea

One of our favourites is the gnome campaign by Ikea - it used TV and print as the mass media platforms to generate interest and then successfully coupled this with social media for the conversation/story.

It also created a positive amount of PR by being controversial and showing “gnome slaughter” - there were over 50 complaints to the ASA (!)

 

Share a Coke:

Positives and negatives abound when looking at the Coke summer campaign. It was a fantastic and original idea, with lots of PR, #ShareaCoke social media presence and tactical print forays including Wills and Kate & Sir Alex Ferguson and David Moyes (pictured). 

 

There were supposedly 150 different named bottles, which increased our expectations when looking for ads - but it appears the reality of production costs got in the way as the lack of variety in the creative copy (e.g. only 3 names on the bus sides) left us feeling slightly like an old Coke - a bit flat. 

 

There was also 2 or 3 other campaigns running at the same time for Diet Coke and Coke Zero, resulting in mixed messages

Brian The Robot

Brian dominated our Summer - across radio, outdoor, TV, print, social media and anywhere else that he could try and "save us pounds". One of the truly multimedia campaigns of 2013, this was catchy (irritating) and ubiquitous - definitely at the forefront of the nation's consciousness! Although the controversial dogging ad (137 ASA complaints) left us all somewhat confused.com?!?!?




Big, Blue, Prickly Ad

More than just the memorable creative – a really interesting use of bus sides coupled with the strip ads which acted as high impact fractionals in press (although swiftly replaced with a more subtle creative we noted).

Should arid plants be used

for penetrative impact more often?!




BT's Struggle

Of course, how can we forget the seemingly never-ending Summer of Sports battle between BT Sport and Sky Sports.

Lesson learnt: no matter how much money you have for a campaign, no matter how high profile the celebs involved, if the relative interest isn't there the results will fall short of the ambition. Especially when trying to take on Sky!

Despite the 100's / 1'000's of ads BT Sport ran .... There was only ever going to be one winner.

 

Game changing? We think not.


Landmark lights

Quite simply a phenomenal use of the iconic London skyline to promote the launch of the Playstation4 to a mass audience and garner huge media attention - reworking the OXO Tower to feature the famous PS games console.

Christmas Ads 2013

Take a look back at the blog over recent weeks to see what we had to say about John Lewis, Sainsbury's and the likes ... Big budget, big Impact and divided opinions.

In the meantime - links below to some of the top 10 Christmas Ads featuring Aldi, Boots, John Lewis, Harvey Nichols, M&S and Waitrose.

http://www.theguardian.com/media/video/2013/nov/29/christmas-ads-2013-john-lewis-marks-spencer-Video


Have a fantastic Christmas and New Year from Pure Media

So there you have it! Our high- and low-lights of 2013!

We'll be back in 2014 with our eagle eyes peeled for all advertising things weird and wonderful, clever and lazy, silly and poignant.

In the meantime, Check out our little dance and  have a fantastic Christmas and New Year!


#PurePoint

Our Royal Baby Media Snapshot

The Royal Baby has finally arrived!

And as to be expected, the media are all over it like a rash .........

We've picked out a handful of our favourite, tactical press ads and custom made print media offerings. Starting with the front page of The Sun today:

They have published possibly the most momentous front page adaptation of all the dailies; no plugs, no ads and no editorial. The issue has gained huge traction within social media and other top media platforms: 

Our weird, little friend #BrianTheRobot is also making the most of the birth with a unique creative execution in the papers this morning. Often associated with creating awkward situations, here Brian harmlessly holds a "Baby on Board" placard and a patriotic flag and asks in regal speak - How he might save us pounds?

No controversy caused this time as another footnote in the Life of Brian is executed. Just a simple tactical ad idea, planned to feature in print in a very timely fashion.

The flexibility of the #ShareACoke campaign enables Coke to adapt the names on the bottles shown to take advantage of situations. 

We have seen Coke execute similar tactical ads a number of times since the #ShareACoke campaign started and each time it works incredibly well! Let's see how quickly they publish another tactical ad (or produce a limited edition bottle) featuring the name of the 3rd in line to the throne.

We love Jelly. We really love clever, sweet and thoughtful Jelly!

Over the past few weeks Bassetts Jelly Babies have been executing a series of small fractionals within newspapers, eagerly awaiting the arrival of the Royal newborn.

This was finally topped off with a larger page dominant fractional ad this morning - Celebrating the new arrival.

A great example of how a bespoke smaller budget campaign can be created to deliver tactical associated messaging and make the most of positive news events!

Plenty more examples running online ... where the flexibility of the digital space allows for quicker turnarounds and greater opportunties for multiple executions and updated creative.

From the team here at Pure Media, congratulations to the Royal Family!

#PurePoint

Buy a Proper Cola!

Fentiman's cheeky attempt of a #ShareACoke parody has earned a place among the contenders for this week's #PureAdOfTheWeek:

This simple and creatively impactful ad was snapped in today's issue of The Metro and although the ad sits within a modest quarter-page positioning in the middle of the paper, we fully appreciate Fentiman's audacity of attempting to hi-jack a global campaign executed by one of the world's largest brands, Coca-Cola:

Fingers crossed for Fentiman that the ad can spark nationwide curiosity to try out its Cola alternative!

#PureAdOfTheWeek

150 Bottles sitting on a wall ....

So far we have spotted James, Dan and Laura ....only 147 more to go. How many names did they print?

Have you spotted yours yet?

#Shareacoke

#PurePoint

Harbouring #ShareACoke

On the 10th and 11th May Coca-Cola made a splash to mark the launch of its summer campaign #ShareACoke by displaying a live, water-based spectacle in Dublin's Grand Canal Dock.

Following the display, onlookers were encouraged to harbour warm thoughts as the wall of water projected personal messages tweeted in from viewers.

The campaign, which will be running until the end of the summer, has already created a global ripple with its tailored packaging marketing thrust; the iconic Coca-Cola symbol has been removed from bottles and replaced with popular names.

This week will also see the introduction of a string of TV ads showing five teenagers discussing who they would most like to share a bottle with.

Who will you be sharing yours with?

#ShareACoke