Stupid G Commercial

Originally Posted by Tokyo Slim

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These people aren't stupid, and they didn't make a mistake.

I'm not an advertising expert, but there's a lot of failed ad campaigns by people who 'aren't stupid'.

Anecdotal, but I watched the OSU/UT game with friends and all of us saw these commercials for the first time. Then we watched the BCS title game and again saw them and still none of us knew what they were advertising.

Originally Posted by why

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I'm not an advertising expert, but there's a lot of failed ad campaigns by people who 'aren't stupid'. Anecdotal, but I watched the OSU/UT game with friends and all of us saw these commercials for the first time. Then we watched the BCS title game and again saw them and still none of us knew what they were advertising.
"knowing what is being advertised" is not the point. They are not selling you a product. Go ask your friends NOW how many of them know what those ads were. I'm just curious.

Originally Posted by Tokyo Slim

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"knowing what is being advertised" is not the point. They are not selling you a product.

Go ask your friends NOW how many of them know what those ads were. I'm just curious.

Did you not read my previous posts about ads that failed to actually advertise? It's not about a product...they're advertising a brand just like Nike, Coca Cola, Pepsi, Microsoft, Apple, etc. The difference is we all know a Nike commercial, we all know a Coca Cola commercial, we all know an Apple commercial, etc. My friends and I had no clue what the G was for. I thought it was an NFL charity or something and ignored it.

Advertising fail.

Originally Posted by why

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Did you not read my previous posts about ads that failed to actually advertise? It's not about a product...they're advertising a brand just like Nike, Coca Cola, Pepsi, Microsoft, Apple, etc. The difference is we all know a Nike commercial, we all know a Coca Cola commercial, we all know an Apple commercial, etc. My friends and I had no clue what the G was for. I thought it was an NFL charity or something and ignored it. Advertising fail.
They aren't selling you a brand either. You have been influenced greatly by this ad, and you still don't get the point, I guess - even after its been explained to you. I don't think we need to re-hash what this ad was for, or why its had the impact that it did. Its pretty clear to me that it was a success. The more you argue that it wasn't, the more successful its become.

I think you're upset because you hated this ad and you wanted it to be ineffective, but you ended up responding to it exactly the way the ad agency wanted you to. Consequently, you now know what they were advertising.

Just drink water, man. I never believed in that electrolyte B.S., anyway

Originally Posted by Tokyo Slim

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They aren't selling you a brand either.
It's recognition. Everyone knows what Coca Cola is but they still advertise because competitors will gain an edge if they stop. But since I don't recognize the G brand and had no clue what the purpose of the commercial was, it failed to advertise to me. If your definition of 'advertising' is simply 'memorable' then I really hope you never work in the field.

Originally Posted by FiveFiveFive

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I think you're upset because you hated this ad and you wanted it to be ineffective, but you ended up responding to it exactly the way the ad agency wanted you to. Consequently, you now know what they were advertising. Just drink water, man. I never believed in that electrolyte B.S., anyway
No, I'm upset because I have to deal with corporate nincompoops who want to sell me on their awesome advertising that ends up being **** and worthless. I don't like spending $2500 with a 50% ROI because somebody at an ad agency convinced somebody else who convinced me that it would be a good marketing plan. These G commercials are akin to Tom Ford putting an empty unbranded bottle over a ***** instead.

Originally Posted by why

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It's recognition. Everyone knows what Coca Cola is but they still advertise because competitors will gain an edge if they stop.

But since I don't recognize the G brand and had no clue what the purpose of the commercial was, it failed to advertise to me.

If your definition of 'advertising' is simply 'memorable' then I really hope you never work in the field.

GATORADE

I *am* an advertising expert. (or at least some people think I am).

Taco Bell had that stupid chiuauauaua (spppp?) dog a few years back. "Yo quiero taco bell". It created a huge buzz.... and did NOTHING to sell tacos. A year or so later they switched agencies.. and started actually featuring the food and making it look good in their ads instead of showing a dog saying "you are getting dizzzzy".

So the G ad stinks because:

- Most people have NO clue what the product is
- It doesn't show the product, logo, or anything that will make it more likely that people will buy the product

A "consumer packaged good" like gatorade doesn't call for a "secret" add campaign. A movie, (e.g."Cloverfield") can create word-of-mouth advertising by using a "stealth" campaign, but CPGs don't. Watch Proctor & Gamble. They've been successful for years. One of their mottos is "always show the product in use". And they do in every ad.

If the marketing department at gatorade (if that's what the ad is for) falls for the "but people talked about it on blogs! people did google searches! spiel, then they have been suckered in by the Creative Department at the ad agency they use. That happens quite often, to the tune of BIG dollars.

Originally Posted by why

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It's recognition. Everyone knows what Coca Cola is but they still advertise because competitors will gain an edge if they stop.

But since I don't recognize the G brand and had no clue what the purpose of the commercial was, it failed to advertise to me.

If your definition of 'advertising' is simply 'memorable' then I really hope you never work in the field.

You don't get it. Probably because you don't want to believe that a 30 second ad can push your psychological buttons like that. I'd just stop trying to fight it, and ignore it. Thats the only way you are going to win. The more attention you give the G ads, the more successful they become. If you hate them, and other ads like them, stop talking about them. If they stop working, they will go away.

Part of the reason there is no product advertised is because there is no product yet. Gatorade hasn't unveiled "G" yet. Duh.

Originally Posted by Tokyo Slim

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They aren't selling you a brand either. You have been influenced greatly by this ad, and you still don't get the point, I guess - even after its been explained to you. I don't think we need to re-hash what this ad was for, or why its had the impact that it did. Its pretty clear to me that it was a success. The more you argue that it wasn't, the more successful its become.

This is advertising agency BS. If you liked our ad that means it worked! If you hate our ad that means it worked! If you were inspired into a homicidal rage by our ad it REALLY worked! If you buy the spin they put on it than there is never a failed ad campaign because any response is success.

That's certainly not blatantly self-serving for a group whose continued paychecks depend solely on the client believing an ad is successful... oh wait.

Originally Posted by needler

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This is advertising agency BS.
At its core, it has nothing to do with advertising, except in application. It is psychological and behavioral patterning applied to advertising. I know next to nothing about the world of advertising. I do know a little more about psychological conditioning and human response. What do you think the point of this ad was? There is no product being sold, and obviously there is no branding directly attached. The fact that nobody knew what it was about is your first hint as to what it was about. Gatorade is not selling Gatorade with this ad, nor are they selling their current branding or image. So ask yourself what the point is?

Thank God for fredfed and needler. Normally I don't get upset on this forum, but between the Steelers making the Chargers look like idiots and seeing the marketing plan of other franchisees I was about to **** a brick (target demographic is 35-45 year old wealthy women and they wanted to put an ad with a sweaty 25 year-old hot chick in a discount magazine because some clown made a nice-looking proof!). The bottom line of advertising is always ROI. I betcha Gatorade is gonna be pissing money away with this one.

Originally Posted by Tokyo Slim

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So ask yourself what the point is?
They tried to advertise the brand and it failed because the ad sucks. There's nothing clever or subliminal or behavioral about it. The ad just sucks.

Originally Posted by why

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They tried to advertise the brand and it failed because the ad sucks. There's nothing clever or subliminal or behavioral about it. The ad just sucks.
Then why are you still talking about it? Let it go. FWIW, I disagree. I can point out things in this very thread that you probably haven't even seen or noticed that you said because you are too invested in "traditional" methods of advertising. You will fight tooth and nail to say that something doesn't work - while proving that the entire point of the ad was a huge success. I'm not going to "argue" with people about it, obviously you have your opinion. But maybe your belief that "modern" advertising doesn't work has something to do with the fact that you aren't good at it and are afraid for your livelihood? I dunno. Maybe I'm reaching here. But it's not like this type of thing is THAT new. If it didn't have an effect, nobody would do it. An effect is not always quantifiable, sometimes its just a shift in perspective of your company, product, or brand. There are a thousand ways to skin a cat. PepsiCo took a risk with this ad. It's not easy to drastically alter or expand product awareness and opinion without alienating your client base, but by god I think that if this thread is any indication - they pulled it off.

Thanks to Michael Jordan and NFL Sundays, Gatorade's already a recognizable brand. We all know what it's for and what it tastes like.

The energy-drink competition is pretty limited, so I don't think a Gatorade advertisement really has to do anything other than plant the "Gatorade" label into our brains, so that when we shop for an energy drink, we'll grab the Gatorade bottle instead of Powerade.

In that sense, although this commercial was stupid as all hell, I'm pretty sure it's a success.