Time … as many have said … is a commodity.
I am sure I wouldn’t be wrong to suggest we’ve all gone through situations where the time available has impacted what we’ve wanted to do/achieve.
Sometimes this limitation of time is down to us … maybe we’ve miscalculated how long something would take to do or – a personal favourite of mine – we’ve procrastinated to the point where we’re left with a fraction of what we could have had.
There’s other scenarios too …
Maybe there’s been a sudden change of situation that means a much quicker response is required or it could be that an opportunity presents itself where despite all practicality screaming “NOOOOOOO”, you just have to give it a go, if only to satisfy your curiosity.
However, as much as there are an almost limitless amount of circumstances that can result in time being impacted, more often than not, when it absolutely matters – you will have certain standards that ensure what you do isn’t the cheapest or nastiest solution.
Except for those who work in adland it seems.
Ladies and gentlemen … boys and girls … I present you with the laziest in “lazy ads of the World” …
Now I’ve been around long enough to know there may be mitigating circumstances …
1/ The client briefed the agency late
2/ The client kept turning down their ideas and the deadline had arrived
3/ The client thought they were a creative genius
… but regardless of that, it is totally shit.
Now to be fair, I only saw the ad in the American press, so there may be a TV spot that turns this car crash into more of a slight car bump – but it’s still terrible.
Jesus, they’re small ice-creams … surely there’s a bunch of ways they could have promoted them other than “Test Drive”.
IT’S A BLOODY ICE CREAM FOR GODS SAKE … TEST DRIVE? I DON’T THINK SO.
What about …
1/ The “depression-of-the-recession-is-making-Americans-eat-so-we’ve-launched-this-so-you-can-eat-your-troubles-away-but-not-need-expensive-medical-treatment-once-it-all-gets-better” ice cream.
2/ Helping supermodels know what it’s like to be normal.
3/ To you they’re small but to Bazza, they’re still bloody huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge
Hell, even “American classics made smaller” could of led to some interesting stuff [Closing shot: Tom Cruise with the voice over, “However some things are small enough already!”]
But this?
THIS????
It’s bloody terrible and yet again it demonstrates why all ads should feature the names of the people responsible for them – given most in adland are shameless fame seekers [me included] maybe the potential of ‘name & shame’ may reduce ads like this … ads that are about as individual, differentiatied and motivating as the Volvo range since 1975.