Advertising with an Edge

There’s plenty of good advertising out there and there is plenty of bad advertising out there. This week I’m going to make a couple comments of what I think is pretty good advertising that undoubtedly turns heads.

• Last week after what could hardly be called public outrage, Coors pulled down a billboard in BC picturing an ice cold Coors Light and a large caption stating “Colder than most people from Toronto” (pictured below). Apparently some Torontonians found it offensive, not all Torontonians though as the ad was actually designed by a Toronto based advertising firm.

• If you’ve been listening to the radio lately you may have noticed the new ads Virgin Mobile is running to promote their mobile internet service. The ads themselves are full of innuendo and take the form of a guy calling one of those late night adult 1-900 numbers that always advertise aroused women staying in and talking on the phone to have a good time, because evidently that’s what they do these days. By the vocabulary and intonation in passing it may sound like a 1-900 number but if you listen they’re actually talking about the feature of the new mobile services. The ad airs on CJAY and Vibe.

Some people would argue that ads like these are too edgy to be good for the brand, but nothing could be further from the truth. Edgy or provocative advertising and publicity is a fine line to walk and some would argue that brands such as American Apparel may sometimes cross that line. But if you really know your market, sometimes the risk you take could be a lay up for a slam dunk. (For the record I wouldn’t have considered the Coors ad walking that line until I heard people were actually complaining to Coors about it).

With the Coors ad, chances are they are in the clear because a) People in BC probably don’t live in Toronto, b) even people from Toronto might get a chuckle out of it, and c) if you’re a loyal Coors drinker and lived in Toronto, you’d probably forgive them for it because you know that’s their brand. But most importantly, even if you do get a huge public response from the ad (good or bad), you’re still getting way more exposure than you paid for with the cost of a billboard and an ad design. The same goes for the Virgin ads, they’re pretty borderline and the innuendo is pretty transparent but rarely has an ad like that hurt a company’s bottom line. On the contrary, Virgin has been running ads like that ever since the young Mr. Bronson started Virign records 30 years ago.

The key a really good ad is to know your target market and demographics, this takes time, research, and an exceptional understanding of your customer. After that thought to ad design and ad placement is critical if you want to break through the clutter and evoke a response. This goes double if you want your ad to walk that fine line between clever+provocative and just bad press.

As always if you have any questions or comments feel free to email or leave a comment. I'm going to go enjoy a nice cold Coors Light now (actually I don't drink Coors...).