October 30, 2012  

Incredinburgh? Do me a favour…

Tourism campaigns can be exceptionally hit or miss. But this one? Well. I’ll let you be the judge. And preferably jury. And then executioner….

Iain G. Morrison loves Scotia. But I’d sooner get on the nearest plane abroad than have a staycation as a result of this Marketing Edinburgh Scottish tourism turd….

October 22, 2012  

Good ad / bad ad: Another lemon from British Airways

Oh British Airways. What has happened to thee?

Gone are the years of your beloved ads. Gone are the days you could lay claim to being the world’s favourite airline. And now, it seems gone are the days where we could hope BBH could start churning out some decent work for you.

After the Facebook chairs turd, we now have this from BA’s . How do they differentiate between their offering and the aggressive low-cost competitors? Which benefits do they really zone in on…

  • A greater route network to central airports not miles from where you want to be?
  • A focus on their generous Air Miles (well, Avios) scheme that means the more often you fly, the greater the benefits?
  • A genuine focus on the superior service offered by their highly trained (and highly paid), cabin crew?
  • A poxy piece of lemon in a plastic cup?

It’s not funny. It’s not engaging. It’s a pretend piece of talking lemon in a free drink (big whoop), that in my view, should lead to a serious shake up. Something somewhere just isn’t right.

A freelance journalist was asking his Twitter followers to send in questions for his upcoming interview Sir John Hegarty on Twitter a few months back .

My question?

Hand on heart, did he really want any of BBH’s British Airways work on his reel. For some reason, despite acknowledging the question (and passively agreeing with me), he chose not to ask it. I shall leave you all to draw your own conclusions.

Seems everyone on the BA account is too busy zigging…

Iain G. Morrison prefers lime in his gin.

October 4, 2012  

New Facebook ad. And chairs…?

So. The much heralded Facebook ad they release as they hit the 1 billion mark.

When you compare it to the Google work, it’s sorely lacking in emotion. And considering Facebook are master facilitators in the social space, it seems an odd move to disable comments on their Youtube channel…

C-minus Facebook. Please try harder next time…

Iain G. Morrison won’t be rushing out to buy shares in Facebook. Quite yet…

September 28, 2012  

Google. A kitchen table. A satchel. Simply stunning…

I find a lot of work coming out of the BBH stable these days very hit or miss. Their rather grandiose opinion of themselves isn’t always warranted when you see a lot of the very average work they churn out these days.

But their Google work?

Them at their best. Touching stories. Beautifully told. Engaging. Shareable. More of this please BBH…

Iain G. Morrison rather fancies himself a new man bag…

September 25, 2012  

Heineken Bond ad? Oh dear…

Heineken.

They have such a rich marketing history, and have churned out some ruddy brilliant TV ads over the years. Their museum (or experience as they like to call it), in Amsterdam is worth a visit. Done some pretty tasty digi-bits in recent years too.

However, there’s so many things wrong with this latest offering. It’s just not funny. Homage elements are drab; uninspired. Bond takes his drinks shaken, not stirred. We all know this. To imagine he’d rock up at the bar and order a beer by brand name? Well, it just doesn’t wash. However much money they’ve wasted on sponsorship.

But the thing that offends me most? It feels an awful lot like a recent Stella ad?

Poor Heineken. Poor…

Iain G. Morrison is a not a fan of beer. He likes gin…

September 14, 2012  

Save our library…

The classic answer to a marketing problem / solution for much of the last century, was advertising. Men don’t wee straight? Then put an ad up in the urinal telling them to pee straight. Presumably, distracting them. And having them piss all over the god damned place.

Some bright spark came along one day and said, nay. An ad isn’t the answer. We need to think differently. Come at the problem from a different angle. Find a new solution. Let’s put stickers of flies all over the centre of the urinal, and give those sloppy gents something to aim at. Result? Man improves aim. Feels like King. Cleaner happy. Everyone wins. Solution to problem much cheaper than multi-mega-bucks global campaign.

I’m not saying advertising doesn’t have it’s place and can’t generate results. But sometimes, it’s just not the answer. This let gem came across my inbox from the Balls loving (Ed, not hairy), @Stevengradidge who shares my view. That. This. Is. Utter. Genius…

Not bad thinking from Leo Burnett. Book burning / Tea Party stupid looking / library saving kudos to them indeed…

Iain G. Morrison loves libraries. 

June 19, 2012  

British Airway’s should’ve stayed at home

It’s hard being number one. It’s even harder staying number one, as British Airways continue to prove.

Back in the day when they were the world’s favourite airline, the Saatchi & Saatchi boys and girls delivered campaign after campaign of pretty decent stuff. People loved the brand. People wanted to fly BA.

Then Virgin happened along. All the Asian airlines heavily invested in their product. BA stood still. They faltered. They fell behind. Worse still, BBH never seem to have taken them anywhere near the highs of years gone by. Dolphin clouds and racing luggage (which we all know so often gets lost in the depths of LHR), failed to capture the hearts the way a hint of the flower song from Lakme could do. So, a quick trip down memory lane. May look dated, but still…

Anyway, to the new BA campaign. As a domestic sponsor of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, it’s time to activate the sponsorship. Many are claiming it’s a bold message. An airline trying to convince Brits to stay at home. It’s not.

Research from previous games has shown people who left the country during games time come home, and feel they’ve missed out. Moments that pull the nation together, both good and bad. Many shared moments of national pride. Hopefully a few medals. Real highs that forgive all the transport infrastructure issues and minor inconveniences. But BA telling us to stay home and support Team GB? I just don’t buy it.

This message feels as though it should be coming from the tourist board, not the former flag carrier. It’s sad that BBH haven’t been able to generate any great work for BA, and even sadder that the ‘fly a plane down my street’ is a much heralded, and massively overhyped part of the campaign.

I don’t like knocking BA. They’re a brand I’m genuinely fond of. But they, and indeed we, deserve far, far better than this…

Iain G. Morrison is a senior marketer that will probably be flying Virgin Atlantic next time he leaves Blighty…

May 2, 2012  

Truth or dare? The new fragrance. By Madonna.

Where to start?

It’s all getting just a wee bit tired. The re-use of the ‘Truth or dare’ title is almost acceptable. But there it ends. There is a snippet of that movie (which I can’t find), where one of her backing dancers mounts the side of a boat, starts grinding to ‘like a virgin’, and tells Madonna how funny it would be if she was still doing this when she was like, 50.

Case closed m’lud.

Iain G. Morrison does not want to smell like an ageing pop lothario. Virginal, or otherwise…

April 17, 2012  

Ikea do TV’s?

If a couple of years ago, someone told me I’d be considering buying my next tellybox from Ikea, my response would likely have been laden with expletives. After I’d stopped laughing…

This however, is brilliant.

One of the finest demonstrations of what great marketing should be all about. A perfect demonstration of the classic problem / solution scenario. Cables are a monumental pain in the arse in any front room. The solution? A connected smart TV hub, which is cleverly integrated into a  smart piece of furniture. Hiding all those ruddy cables.

Time will tell if the TV is any good.  We know Apple and Google are eyeing this market. But Ikea may have just struck gold with their bit of cable saving integrated tellybox furtniture. Provided the right alan key comes in the box. And the instructions are clear. Could be a winner…

Iain G. Morrison might be buying his next TV from Ikea after all…

April 11, 2012  

Fuck the diet.

Now, for those of you aware of what igm does in the day job, the obesity crisis and a lardy unfit Britain concerns me. For many reasons. But let’s have a little looksy at what some of our German Ogilvy friends have been up to for a slice of the Unilver empire in Deutschland.

Du darfst (rough translation, ‘you can’). A range of low-calorie foods you can apparently troff to your heart’s content. With no thought to the diet. Or perhaps even a spot of light buggery of said diet?

The ad itself is nothing brilliant. But a guilt free range of food? The appeal there is universal.

I’d think it ballsier if ‘Fuck the diet’ ran in German, but given that such a high percentage of the population have a fairly decent level of fluency of English (that would put many Brits to shame), I don’t think the subtleties of this line will be lost, fleeting as it is.  Social attention on this is likely to be short-lived, so I hope they have more to hang their hat on engagement wise besides downloading a ‘fuck the diet’ badge. All reeks a bit of early  2008.

Still, for elements of the strategy, a sizeable tick. For the creative, must try harder….

Iain G. Morrison is enjoying a well earned day off.  Du darfst indeed…

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