When Bad Ads happen to Good People

This is a True Story.

My partner and I are at a meeting with a client. We're talking media and campaigns. She starts talking about doing a TV ad for her product. Perfect! I know the person you need, a great director who does ads for very little and they come out looking like a million bucks. He has done this and that, I say, and keep telling her the list of clients that we have worked on together.

Oh! She tells us. I just saw the ad for (insert whatever product here). I thought it was brilliant, she said.

Good thing we didn't look at each other, we just kept our eyes on her. Why? Because we were going to flip out. This TV ad has been the topic of discussion for almost two weeks now, and not even at the office, but everywhere we go. Other peers are talking about it, friends, etc. The basic conclusion is that everybody hates it. So you can imagine when a person gladly tells you that they love an ad that you think blows hard. It's like finding a 20 dollar bill at the street. You are wondering where it came from and very surprised.

Wait, wait. Don't get medieval on my ass (again) for saying that if I don't agree with her opinion that I am a bitch. If you read me correctly, I am not judging her opinion or telling that she missed the boat on the tv ad. I understand her point and opinion. The thing that bothers me is the fact that I honestly think the ad was wrong for the brand and for the prospective clients.

I respect her taste and I am very happy that the ad worked for her. That means that maybe the ad will work for a few. But like a friend told me today at lunch while we were talking about it, yet again: we all sat down and watched it, time and time again. We tried to figure out, honestly, if the ad made any sense, did the concept work, music, etc. We took any insight we could have and put it aside.

There was no way you could think the ad worked. It is a nicely done graphic tv ad, but the concept is weak and it doesn't tell anything at all about the brand or the experience that it brings to your lifestyle. It's like Flock of Seagulls' "I ran". A really bad video.

I can't tell you what the ad or what product it is, because it may fall into the anonymous thing we got here at WAS.

But trust me. I am not kidding. It sucks.