Episode 166 - Loewe Decades of Confusion Reviewed by ONEOK and A.P. Moller-Maersk
Have you heard of the fashion brand Loewe? If you have, you’re probably either someone who pronounces the name correctly, or someone who doesn’t - that’s the premise of their latest ad, Decades of Confusion, chosen for us this week by Contagious.
The clip starring Aubrey Plaza and Dan Levy is funny and playful, while bringing across the longevity of the Spanish brand. But it’s also slightly confusing and maybe a bit long to get the point across. Does the star power of the actors keep you watching? Will this bring in any new consumers?
Watch the latest episode to hear Jerry Daykin (former VP, Head of Global Media at Beam Suntory), Paul Parmley (Director - Digital Communications and Integrated Content at ONEOK), and James Brindley-Raynes (Head of Digital Customer Journey at A.P. Moller - Maersk) debating the ad and see what you think!
Episode 166 - Loewe Decades of Confusion Reviewed by ONEOK and A.P. Moller-Maersk
Transcript
This is automatically generated, so it’s not 100% accurate.
Tom Ollerton 00:00
Hello and welcome to Advertisers Watching Ads. My name is Tom Ollerton. I'm the founder of Automated Creative, and this is a weekly show where brands watch other brands’ ads. So before we get to this week's ad, let's meet this week's guests.
Jerry Daykin 00:36
My name is Jerry Daykin. I'm a client-side media person. I've just finished being Global Head of Media at Beam Suntory and doing some consulting at the moment. So call me.
Paul Parmley 00:46
My name is Paul Parmley. I'm the Director of Digital Communications and Integrated Content at ONEOK in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
James Brindley-Raynes 00:53
I am James Brindley-Raynes. I'm Head of Digital Customer Journey at Maersk.
Tom Ollerton 00:57
Right. Let's see this week's ad. On a scale of one to five, how many votes would you give it? One, two, three... Right. Can someone tell me what is going on? What have we just watched there?
Jerry Daykin 03:46
It definitely tagged into a genuine insight, emotion that is sort of slightly unexpected and hard to pronounce. Though it's quite a long telling of that story. I dugged into a little bit and I think a lot of it, or maybe all of the outfits they're wearing through the kind of the previous decades, all kind of from the archives of the fashion brand. So I think it's sort of a nice bit of playful content, showing of the fashion, being quite funny in an industry that can be quite serious and dry.
Paul Parmley 04:15
I mean, seeing the the two actors, first of all, anything that they're in, I'll probably watch, so... Both super funny character actors. So anything that they’re in... I was pretty, pretty pumped to watch and react to. I was not aware of Loewe. I'm not a fashion house aficionado, by any means, but I think that the way to get across both the historic nature of how long they've been around. I mean, I think they've been around since technically the 1850s, but you know, certainly more well known starting in the 1970s, to play off the ad and show how long they've been around. And also just the repetition of the name. I think anybody that's watched this can now confidently spell it and use it in conversations. I think the delivery was not only funny but also impactful and I think got their, their point across.
James Brindley-Raynes 05:02
I thought it was an entertaining watch. I guess it poked fun at the brand, which is quite fun, you know... Generally, quite like brands being, I guess, self-aware, and then playing on people who can't pronounce their name. I didn't really know huge amounts about beforehand, so I kind of doing a little Google trying to... a bit about the brand, not just how to pronounce it almost. I thought it was really interesting to wonder about how they might, I guess, extend it, you know, because it's quite a fun series. Like what else could they do with this to extend this campaign. I was quite intrigued, what it might... I don’t know if they'll try using this next or not. If they're going to try and extend the brand awareness by poking fun at their name, maybe doing similar campaigns around spelling related activities, I don’t know... I just though it’s... I'm interested to see where they go in next, I guess, is the point.
Jerry Daykin 05:40
I think it's a fun bit of clip. From a media perspective, it's a bit of a nightmare in terms of like how long you have to watch before you work out what's going on and how you get people to view it. It is slightly confusing. Hence the title “Decades of Confusion,” perhaps. I do sometimes joke when I see it around, now to my husband, “Oh, is that Loewe brand?” And he looks at me like I'm a fool because he's into fashion and he's known about it for years and doesn't understand why I don't. But there's some sort of insight in there, whether that's an insight that appeals to fashionistas or whether they're persuading a lot of people who are very unlikely to buy their clothes anyway. To think about them is another question.
Paul Parmley 06:14
For me, the “Decades of Confusion” piece was establishing that they have been a player and been around for quite a while. The actors are probably a little more appealing to, to folks that, that may be familiar with them. I think this fits in quite well with their kind of schtick and what they're known for, so it's just kind of an extension of that. Dan Levy wrote this and it's very much kind of in the vein of Schitt's Creek and kind of his personality. So that was, that was certainly appealing to me, and I kind of knew what to expect, but you know, still was, you know, I learned something as well, which I think was their angle. If it was, you know, European actors or, you know, comedians that I'm not familiar with, it probably wouldn't be as, you know, when I saw them, I knew that this would likely be funny. And there was some parts of it that were, you know, not great. You know, I think it is the familiarity that at least for me, put this a little bit over the top and made it, you know, interesting to watch for two and a half minutes. It was, you know, not a, not a tough watch for me.
James Brindley-Raynes 07:08
I do think it's definitely probably, relatively speaking, quite a niche brand. Poke a bit of fun at themselves... while it's kind of setting the record straight. If you are someone like me who doesn't maybe didn't really know who they were before. Well, I now know they’re a Spanish fashion house, and that driven some top of mind awareness, maybe... Like I say, I suppose it’s quite good fun.
Jerry Daykin 07:27
I think fun is rare in the category, like when I think of like high fashion advertising, etc., a lot of it to me feels very similar. It's very beautiful, it's very stylish, but it's very forgettable. It was, you know, if not perfect, one of the most memorable things I've seen a fashion brand doing in a good while. So whether it appeals to the exact wide audience, everything, I don't know, but it's, it's more memorable than most.
James Brindley-Raynes 07:46
It transcends us quite seriously, don’t it? These fashion brands, sometimes, it’s so serious isn't, darling? And maybe it’s quite a good thing to broaden, I’d say to broaden who they are, and what they're about because as just going to this website, there’s some, you know... It's not exactly entry level pricing, is it?
Jerry Daykin 08:01
A couple of years ago like Chipotle or Chipotle or however you want to say it did like quite a big campaign, like again, playing on the fact that no one can say it. But I don’t know whether that's the, the biggest, the most important thing for your brand. If it's a thing that gets people talking, it's the thing that gets people talking, I suppose.
Tom Ollerton 08:18
Would you sign off this campaign in its current form, the way that it is? One, two, three.
James Brindley-Raynes 08:26
I’m gonna go “yes.”
Tom Ollerton 08:27
Jerry, Paul, James, thank you so much.
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