#TBT Creatively compromised?!?

This time last year we scrutinised the Metro for their over-the-top creative ad execution.

A year to date tells a different story…

In 2014 we saw Halifax, Ryan Air and Relish battle for impact and stand out creative.

http://puremediaupdate.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/creatively-compromised.html

With Halifax ‘relish’ing in a checkerboard placement next to ‘extra’ Zig-Zag for Ryan Air (in the same colour scheme) followed by a runway of Zig-zag creative for new brand Relish, the paper couldn’t have been more overcrowded with creative.

…present day, 2015, The Metro paints a more exciting picture with unconventional creative media.

September 9^th 2015 we open The Metro to split page ad, with the perceptive full page ad turning from a half, three quarter to another full page execution...

The latest Kray’s film, ‘Legend’, starring one of Hollywood’s current A-List actors, Tom Hardy, has taken a prime position in the paper, with multiple executions in the front half and repeated with more smart split creative in the back.

The sheets have been cut into thirds offering 10 different creative messages, almost personifying the pages to express Tom Hardy’s split role in the film.

The pages might be a fiddle to flick through, however we can’t argue the “unmissable” “power” of these “astonishing” ad formats.

#PurePoint #TBT

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

And Me, And You, Android

Click here to see the 'And You' film from Android

The party’s not over ‘til the fat robot sings! Except, well, Android’s ubiquitous icon has been spotted doing just that – but according to the manufacturer, the party is only just beginning.

This week Android launched a new multimedia campaign focussed on revamping and repositioning their image. We noticed their new catchphrase, “be together. not the same.” calling to us from a bold double-page spread on the inside front cover of City AM this morning. Further investigation discovered it in the middle of Metro, splayed across the top of www.android.com, and stuck in a dozen other places around the web. 

Android is of course an open-source system, developed in private by Google until its periodic releases to the public. Other manufacturers can then pick up the platform and modify it to run on their own devices. Largely for this reason, Android dominates the smartphone OS market, with roughly ¾ of all smartphones sold using a variant of its code.

This latest campaign is designed to coincide with the release of Android’s new update, Android 5.0 or ‘Lollipop’.

It’s also timed to promote the announcement of two new Nexus products, the Nexus 6 smartphone and the Nexus 9 tablet. These bigger, more expensive versions of Google’s flagship mobile hardware (which of course run Android) aim to capture a larger slice of the top-end mobile market and its affluent consumers.

However, none of Android’s advertising makes any mention of either the update or the new devices. Instead, it focusses on the crowd-sourced and inclusive nature of the platform and all the people who use it, showing a quirky, cool image, complete with re-dressed robot icons.

Make your own android here!

Several different web ads are running and the new ‘Androidify’ app lets downloaders customize their own Android character and an initially dead link promoted during Walking Dead on Monday now points to Android’s homepage, tagged with ‘#betogethernotthesame’ and populated with new information on all Android works. The advertising successfully directs attention away from the hardware debate to the platform powering these pieces, and all the possibilities it contains.

So KISS your preconceptions goodbye, and keep an antennae out for more Android news. Hopefully it doesn’t get too robotic…

#PurePoint

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

Smug UGG: These Boots are Made for Talking

We continue to monitor the negative effects of over-inked coverwraps and the effectiveness of well executed coverwraps ... and today is a perfect example of the latter.

The bin at the station - our reliable measuring stick - only had one cover in it this morning vs the usual overflow on an over inked day:

Well done to the UGG creative team for producing artwork fit for a newspaper cover and for ensuring the ad stayed intact and went some way to delivering the media value the client paid for.

#PurePoint

Cover Wraps ... An expensive load of rubbish?

Despite the creative impact that advertising coverwraps have when attached to the paper, more often than not the bins on mainline commuter stations are littered with them, detatched from the main paper due to 'over inking'.

Today was no exception, with the NatWest ad consigned to the bin (as per the image above on the right), and another for TLC a few weeks ago (as per image above on the left).

 

Taking in to account the fact this is a high ticket item when it comes to media costs - surely the creative team and media agency should be aware of the effect of adding too much solid colour and over inking the covers. It seems to be a very expensive and avoidable mistake.

 

The example above for TESCO is a good example of a cover that survived ultimate consignment to the bin, where as the ones below for Adidas and Nike didn't make it across the finishing line. 

 

  

 

#PurePoint

 

Round 6!

So, it’s time for it to end. Finally.

The posturing, the bad-natured bravado, the poorly disguised dislike and the testosterone-fuelled, territorial circling has swamped our daily lives for the past couple of months.

The ink used in the print ads would have filled the Great Lakes. They’ve had more TV time than Lord Sugar. They’ve even spent more than the entire Premier League combined (yes, including Manchester City)

The two behemoths of British sports broadcasting, Sky Sports and BT Sport, have been obsessed with the quest to become the one that has eaten a bigger slice of the Premiership Pie.

As we have documented, despite the initially considered nature of the rivalry, the contest has descended in to a bare-knuckle brawl. Targeted placements have given way to ubiquity and refreshing messaging has devolved into tale-telling and seemingly contradictory claims.

The season starts tomorrow.

In a final, desperate lunge that reeks of burnt rate cards and smashed sales targets, BT Sport have literally blanketed today's media, with Sky Sports remaining comparatively calm. We've included the examples at the end of the blog - you've no doubt seen them several hundred times in the last two months!

We shall have to see whether the Evening Standard is equally as battered by this crusade (campaign doesn’t seem to do it justice).

The biggest test will be the figures that are recorded over the next few weeks.

Let the chips fall as they may.

All we know is, we’re finally glad that there will be a little more content on the tellybox.

It’s time for it to end. Hopefully….

Let the games begin.

#PurePoint