The insight within

Great effect but what's wrong?

Having recently browsed through Campaign’s best creative agency of this decade, I came across an ad that I had forgotten about but still loved to this very day. Despite modern day’s growth in technology and society’s maturity in artistic civility, this particular ad hones in on the bloke inside of every man.

 

Now from a personal perspective, I like the production, it makes me smile, I’ve always liked the productions, I’ve at times embarrassingly reenacted them across dance floors to the tune of ‘make luv’. I even like the smell, I certainly remember the brand name and yet I still don’t buy the product. So what’s wrong?

As Ivan Pollard says, “A person’s feeling towards a brand is made up of the aggregation of their experiences with that brand layered one on top of another over time”. 

This brand has been apart my life since I was a prepubescent young lad running to matron feeling poorly (anything to get out of Latin!). So it’s safe to say that Lynx has had a lot of time, and a lot of individual influences, to generate a feeling towards the brand.

Clearly it’s not the communications, or even the product that is discouraging, but similarly to the Porsche case study, it’s the person using it that is the problem. In the case of Porsche back in the 90’s, after extensive research among those who drove them showed that the car looked good, it was a great drive and was all round excellent, the company execs simply couldn’t understand why there was a decline in sales. Product was good and the people who were driving them loved it. So what was the issue? The issue was that those who didn’t drive Porsches thought that those who did were a bunch of slick tossers and hence didn’t want to be part of the group. Now when you revert back to the type of male using Lynx, they are often meager, nerdy, teenage and one would assume they would struggle to ever find a girlfriend, despite the resurgence of geek chic. Each time a person sees this uninspiring audience using the product over a period of time, the associated effect on the brand negates the communications that the brand is trying to convey.

Still love the ads though.

Great Nostalgic Pitch

Now this is a great pitch! I hate to sound like a broken record but it just goes to show the power of nostalgia. Although lets not forget, nostalgia is just one of many powerful emotions that can be harnessed.

 

[Funny how its the media guy who scampers out the room in tears.]

P-P-P Pick up some nostalgia

It was a usual day at my local supermarket. Whilst my legs meandered the aisles and my arms reached out for supplies, my eyes were suddenly unexpectedly drawn. Glistening in the distance was a packet of McVities Penguin bars.
Now I don't ordinarily purchase chocolate bars, but the sight of them immediately reminded me of school. For a moment, I was transfixed. The smell of floor polish filled my nostrils and the sound of battling conkers echoed in my ears. Weirdly enough, it also reminded me of a bloke named John Perry, who used to always have them. I used to be so jealous of him as I would often have a piece of fruit, which was simply incomparable. Trying to trade it was like trying to swap a 4 bedroom townhouse in Chelsea with a mature garden for a cosy bedsit in one of Rio De Janerio's least friendliest favelas. Even today's most hard nosed media buyers would have struggled! It just didn't happen. Although this memory made me crave them. I simply had to buy a multipack.
Even though Penguin bars have a very personal meaning to me, the first thing people asked when they saw me with one was, "What's the joke?"
Having pondered this, I think the Penguin bar strikes an emotional cord across lots of different people. It's this touching, nostalgic pull towards childhood brands and images that helps explain the success of the recent Cadbury's Caramel and Hovis Ads. Brands that have the ability to affect consumers on such an emotional level hold vast amounts of potential power. Unleashing this force during these difficult times will not only help them to avoid Woolworths' fate, but fortify their role in the lives of the consumer during better days.

[Q. Who's the Penguin's favourite Aunt?  A. Aunt-arctica]