Marketing Inspiration #39.2: Advertisers Watching Ads
Your weekly dose of data-driven marketing insights
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.
It’s (almost) Christmas and that means brands are putting out their Christmas ads, with varying degrees of success. We’ve made it a habit of viewing the John Lewis Christmas ad with our AWA guests of the year, so we’ll look back at 2 of them in this newsletter. And, because we’re on a sentimental theme, we’re adding the latest AWA episode looking at Kodak’s Memory Shots project into the mix.
“It was a perfect balance of the kind of fantastical and real with echoes of E.T. storyline with an additional kind of hesitant teen romance. Which you know, what's not to love about? It's basically everything that you want from a John Lewis ad.” - Lucy McKillop, Global Brand Director, Carat, at dentsu international
The 2021 John Lewis ad was eerie but sweet, yet it turned out divisive, too! The Unexpected Guest depicts an unlikely friendship, but also features a non-white British family and really balanced product placement, all set to an amazing song cover. Does the dystopian edge which makes it fresher and more modern work? Or did it go too far and lose some of the brand’s core audience? Have a look and see what you think.
“If you'd have said to me, "You're going to be actually in tears over a Venus flytrap getting kicked out of a house for tearing the place up." I would not have believed you, but there it is. ” - Samantha Dolan, Owner and Founder of Jazz Hands
A Venus flytrap instead of a Christmas tree? It sounds bonkers but this big and bold ad also tugged at our heartstrings a bit. It had a great soundtrack again and it divided opinions among our AWA guests, making many of them wonder if this clip was as effective as the more “traditional” approaches from previous years. Watch it now and drop us a note with your comments.
“The math isn't mathing in terms of what it is trying to do? What's the purpose of it? It's fantastic that apparently this technology is being used in 70% of care centres across Belgium. That's fantastic. Is this about reaching care centres in other markets? I don't understand where the, the “so what?” is from a kind of commercial point of view.” - Virginia Barnes, Interim Brand, Sponsorship and Retail Marketing at Standard Life
Out of the Christmas spirit and looking at a heartwarming initiative by Kodak with their Memory Shots ad. This is another one that has actually puzzled our guests: what’s its commercial goal? Is it 100% a corporate responsibility feel-good project? Or is there something hidden behind the technology which is allowing Alzheimer’s charities to help people with dementia recreate their memories? It might just be a genius B2B ad in disguise. But it’s still very emotionally charged!
Many thanks to all of our guests:
Peter Reeves, Lucy McKillop, Jerry Daykin, Natasha Beecher, Rory McEntee, Pollyanna Ward, Get Norts, Amy Wright, Victoria Miller, Craig Fenton, Angie Gola-Ebue, Charles Cadbury, Helen Bradshaw, Julie Pender, Samantha Dolan, Catherine Chappell, David Brewerton, Roy Gardner, Lauren Spearman, Rida Alvi, Pete Johnson, Charlotte Ford, Julia Linehan, Lucas Bergmans, Virginia Barnes and Holly Chapman.
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.