SELL ME SOMETHING |
CONTINUED
...
ABOVE
Dove is different, see full
campaign on pages 72–73.
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invites you into the product’s world. Once
there, you are given a clear and powerful sense
of “this is who I am as a brand” along with “this
is what I do better than anyone else.” The best
of these advertisements leaves you, as viewer,
with a powerful and unsaid call to action. Like
the brand is asking, “So, are you with me?”
Product demonstration done well has
always been among the most memorable of ads.
Great demos are also hard to beat in terms of
sales effectiveness. The recent Out-of-Home
(OOH) advertising campaign for Dove is
a great example. Here is a product that has
built a powerful category umbrella brand on
the compelling product story of not being soap
because it contains one-quarter moisturiser.
The OOH execution, featuring soap as the
cheese grater bad guy and Dove as the hero,
is consumed and understood in an instant.
The visually impactful advertisement leaves the
viewer to quietly confirm their agreement that
‘Dove is different’ (pp. 72–73) as they go about
their daily lives, until the next time they stand
in the beauty aisle of the supermarket. Job done.
Quite often, we don’t even recognise
a great product demonstration when we see
one because of the way it’s done. Apple has been
a master at this since the first iPod Silhouette
campaign with ‘1,000 songs in your pocket’
to the latest iPhone release.
They show how product demo advertising
never need be dull.
Few media provide a better test of
a product-truth-based creative execution, or
of a creative team, than the simple blank canvas
of an outdoor billboard. Distilling the product
truth down to a winning image, or a few key
words that carry the whole conversation, has
stolen many a creative team’s evening and
weekend.
But when done well, advertising simply
do esn’t get any better.