Marketing Inspiration #41.2: Advertisers Watching Ads
Your weekly dose of data-driven marketing insights - Advertisers Watching Ads
Marketing Inspiration on Advertisers Watching Ads - our show where brands watch other brands’ ads and discuss what they liked - and often, what they didn’t! - in partnership with Contagious.
The new year often means we’re taking up something new: a habit, a hobby, a sport… you name it. In this week’s newsletter, we’re gathering marketing wisdom from ads linked to building & learning - it’s what the new year’s resolutions are about, after all!
“For a brand like Duolingo that’s been used to doing this kind of stunts, they’ve perfected the good formula to do it with.” - Lucie Say, Head of Social Media and Ereputation, BNP Paribas
Duolingo may be a language learning app, but their approach to marketing is nothing if not irreverent. It’s become a signature move to do something silly or humorous, and they delivered just that with the “Duolingo on Ice” clip released for April Fool’s Day. But it wasn’t just a spoof video - there were app integrations and freebies to go with it, too. See why our guests liked how the brand owned its reputation and capitalised on it:
“This is one of those adverts where the insight or the brief is showing: adults really can quite enjoy doing this and it’s relaxing.” - Jerry Daykin, Head of International Media, Restaurant Brands International
LEGO is a go-to mindful activity for adults now, not just a learning game for children. While the product can fulfill both briefs, the ad we reviewed on AWA focused on creating AFOLs - Adult Friends of LEGO. And yet, as Jerry put it, “if you hadn’t thought about LEGO at all before this, I’m not sure it’s going to completely change your worldview.”
It pitched LEGO as a stress-relief activity for grown-ups, but didn’t quite hit the mark. Watch and see what you think:
“I think the goal was to create a human connection that can be relatable and can tie back to the brand. It can only work because of that brand recognition.” - Via Perkins, Freelance Creative & Marketer
IKEA is the ultimate building & learning brand and one that needs no introduction. For the Indian market, they introduced a quick video series to defy the idea of skipping ads online. The outcome was lots of impressions, but our guests argued that impressions don’t mean an ad is successful, particularly when it’s so short and there’s no clear call to action. We celebrated the creativity and simplicity, on the one hand, but weren’t all that convinced. Have your say:
Many thanks to all of our guests:
Melissa Nyarko (Media and Career Consultant), Lucie Say (Head of Social Media and Ereputation at BNP Paribas), Jason Huertas (Senior Product Manager, Data Pipeline at Customer.io), Jerry Daykin (Head of International Media at Restaurant Brands International), Priyanka Dasgupta (Field Marketing Manager at Kyndryl), Tejal Patel (Founding Partner at Stanford Bridge Partners), and Via Perkins (Freelance Creative & Marketer).
Do you want to share your thoughts about these ads or suggest a new one for us to debate? Email us on hello@automatedcreative.net.
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