Week Seven EOC - The Pitch

Luxury is never out of place

BMW has built it's brand upon being a luxury car company with sporting roots and classic, dependable German engineering. Nowhere is this more prevalent than in it's 3 series automobiles. The line, consisting of fluidly designed unimposing sports cars is aimed for a specific group of individuals, upwardly mobile mid 20s females. While there are men who own the car, BMW expects that most 3 series will go to women who want to live the luxury lifestyle while their male counterparts will usually choose the more expensive and more sports inspired 6 series.

Many women who purchase the 3 series are living upwardly mobile lifestyles. While not always true, many may have grown up in small towns in rural states, left to go to college and pursue a degree, and then moved to a big city and got a well paying job. These women buy a BMW as a status symbol, to show that they are grown up and are making a name for themselves. Still though, they are tied to their hometowns and are not easily separated from the small town ideals.

In this respect I propose a new kind of advertising campaign for the 3 series, one that will have an emotional pull for both sides of these women. The scene will be set in what appears to be the red barren desert along a classic US highway (think Route 66) at a decrepit, hole in the wall diner/bar. Seated at a booth along the windows there sits a young, attractive female with her makeup done, donning a fashionable, but unassuming, outfit (think black Louboutin pumps, dark wash skinny denim, white t-shirt, vest, and appropriate accessories). Her table has a clean white tablecloth on top of which sits flatware arranged in the continental style, a small votive of fresh flowers, and her meal including a steak and a glass of red wine. All around her are the type of roughnecks one may expect to see in the down old country, (bikers, truckers, etc) all of whom are causing a scene around her. They're throwing punches, spilling drinks, breaking windows, all while she sits unperturbed enjoying her meal. When she has finished dining and paying for her meal, she gets up to leave the diner and heads outside where there are a line of old fashioned, dented, rusting vehicles. She saunters past all these vehicles and walks directly towards hers, a perfectly pure, clean white BMW 335i convertible. She comfortably gets in the car, pushes the start button ignition, puts it in gear, and calmly drives away. Luxury is never out of place.

Week Five EOC -- Super Bowl Ads Good and Bad

It has happened, the biggest advertising event of the year came and passed this past weekend.  All around the country friends and family gathered around their obnoxiously large televisions and watched the Super Bowl.  This is like the Olympics for advertising, new campaigns and brands have been made or broken by a good or bad ad in the Super Bowl.  This year the ads were mostly unimpressive.  There were a few standouts such as the Volkswagon Darth Vader spot and some other effective amusing ads that were run by the usual suspects, ie Doritos and Budweiser.  Its amusing to note that on the list of most like and most recalled ads that was compiled by Neilsen only two ads, both for Doritos, made the top 10.  One of these commercials, Man Licks Cheese Crumbs off of Co-Workers Fingers was quite effective.  First, they made the ad memorable by making it amusing, and even if people were enjoying some beers and don’t remember much else, we usually remember things that make us laugh.  I think it was also so effective because they built upon a familiarity with the company that all Doritos consumers are familiar with, the orange dust that is a byproduct of enjoying the salty treat.  Doritos took that idea further by saying that their chips are SO good that one would go so far as eating the crumbs off of their co-workers fingers just to get a taste of that chip. 

The beer commercials which normally are a highlight for the event were quite disappointing this year.  I particularly did not enjoy the Kitchen Makeover ad.  I think that the idea was clever, what with America’s current obsession with makeovers and makeover shows but the ad just did not work for me.  I don’t think that it was wise of Budweiser to say oh look, we bought you a bucket of Bud Light, yay your kitchen is now so much better.  Yes, they may make decent beer, but it is nowhere near good enough to be considered a makeover for a drab kitchen, the wife could just have easily painted the walls and she would have been much happier.  I know that the ad was in jest and meant to be humorous but it just did not appeal to me at all. 

Week Four EOC - Bob Isherwood

Bob Isherwood was the worldwide creative director of legendary ‘idea’ (the company removed the word advertising from all nameplates in 1992) [AdAge] company Saatchi and Saatchi.  Isherwood began working with the company in its Sydney office in 1986, by 1988 he was named creative director of that branch, and then in 1996 he was named worldwide creative director which he remained until his resignation in 2008.  He, along with worldwide CEO Kevin Roberts, are credited with reinventing the company and making it the advertising giant that it is today.  Not only did Mr Isherwood gain awards and recognition for Saatchi and Saatchi, but also for himself; “under his leadership, [Saatchi and Saatchi] won almost 8,000 significant creative awards. During his 35-year career in the advertising industry, his work has been endorsed by the industry's most prestigious national and international award shows.  He won Australia's first Gold Lion for Cinema at Cannes and also launched the Saatchi & Saatchi New Directors' Showcase, presented at Cannes Lions every year.” (Design Taxi) He has also won such awards as “Clio Lifetime Achievement Award  and has been inducted into the Clio Hall of Fame.  He is also a member of RMIT’s Acclaimed Alumni and received the first ever Honorary Doctorate in Communications from RMIT in 2007.  He was inducted into the Australian Writers and Art Directors Hall of Fame, August 2009” (Wikipedia) With all these stunning awards it is very easy to see how he flourished and made Saatchi and Saatchi what it is today.  The company’s clients include T-Mobile, Toyota, JC Penney, and other large international names for which Isherwood helped to create advertisements for.  With such prominent clients it’s no schock that his work is renowned and well respected.  After leaving the company Isherwood has now started a new company, i.e. healthcare, that helps companies to ‘engage’ with their healthcare providers for their employees.  This shows his attention to doing good deeds for not only his employees but others and helps to explain his creation of the Award for World Changing Ideas.  “This global biennial Award attracts extraordinary inventions and initiatives with the potential to make the world a better, kinder place. The most recent winner was LifeStraw, a personal, portable water purifier for use in the developing world.” (Wikipedia) These are great accomplishments for a man who quit a part time job at a mechanics shop to get his first job in an ad agency.