Filed under: Attitude & Aptitude, Brand Suicide, Communication Strategy, Crap Campaigns In History, Crap Marketing Ideas From History!, Crap Products In History, Marketing, Marketing Fail
It’s been a few weeks since I last wrote about this so I guess it’s time for another post about another massive lie peddled from a kickstarteresque company.
Yes, I know I ranted about them earlier this week, but I can’t help myself.
Have a look at this …
Let’s move past the fact they have the audacity to claim a lens – held on with a bloody bulldog clip – gives you the equivalent standard of a US$4000 camera [unless they mean a US$4000 camera held onto a smart phone with a bulldog clip] and let’s instead focus on the image they are using to sell ‘said’ item.
Look at the screen of the smartphone.
Such incredible quality.
Such incredible clarity.
Such incredible focus.
Wow, maybe they weren’t joking when they said this simple attachment could make an expensive DSLR redundent.
But hang on, something isn’t right.
That super sharp image doesn’t seem to relate to the ‘live’ image going on in the picture.
Sure, they’ve blurred the shit out of it, but I’m pretty all the action is going on in the middle of the court, not by the net.
OK, I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt. After all, I do only have one good eye.
But there’s something else bothering me. Hmmmmn, what could it be?
Oh I know, it’s that perfect image on the phone.
Look, I have an iPhone and if I so much as zoom a bloody milimeter on it, everything looks like I’m trying to do an impression of a Tony Scott movie, so either the person holding the phone/lens in the photo has the steadiest hand ever created – especially as they are located on the other side of the court – OR THIS IS A PILE OF BULLSHIT.
I know I’m in adland so look at these things a bit more closely than the average punter, but that shouldn’t mean brands don’t care about this sort of thing.
Why would you supposedly go to all this effort to make a great product and then short-change the work that is designed to tell the World about it?
It’s like my issue with people who spend weeks working on a pitch but don’t rehearse it until the last 5 minutes.
All that effort, wasted.
Of course it’s because people still believe that ‘the quality of the product/work/idea’ will shine through.
In a perfect World – maybe – but in the real World, how you present something is often of equal importance to what you are presenting. Sometimes, even more important.
When I was at HHCL, one of their tenants was the quality of advertising had a commercial benefit on the brand.
In short, the better the work, the more people were interested in you.
Now I appreciate that some may challenge that view, but I passionately believe that what you do says more about who you are than what you say … so while the creators of this lens may claim it can single-handedly put Canon and Nikon out of business, the fact their communication is so obviously bullshit makes me think you’re more likely to find this attachment inside a cheap pack of Christmas Crackers than a high-end photographic store.
Which means if you actually end up buying it, then you have no one to blame but yourself.
And this is coming from someone who paid $100 for a remote control ball!!!
Have a great weekend, only 50 odd weeks till Christmas.
21 Comments
how many have you ordered campbell?
Comment by andy@cynic January 19, 2017 @ 6:25 amIt doesn’t have wifi. So probably just the 12.
Comment by DH January 19, 2017 @ 7:00 amwhere the fuck was this ad? bet it was on social media. who the fuck believes anything on there. donald fucking trump is on it.
Comment by andy@cynic January 19, 2017 @ 6:26 amPre-written post that yet again thinks it’s Friday in Shanghai. What was that line about rehearsal?
Comment by John January 19, 2017 @ 6:32 amyou really focus when reading his shit huh?
Comment by andy@cynic January 19, 2017 @ 6:35 amwhen I skim read his shit.
Comment by John January 19, 2017 @ 6:55 amIn truth, I’m just hypersensitive to any suggestion that he might be having another day off.
Comment by John January 19, 2017 @ 6:56 amI am. Still ill.
Comment by Rob January 19, 2017 @ 8:38 amAt least you are back to commenting which suggests improvement. Hope you feel fighting fit soon Rob.
Comment by Pete January 19, 2017 @ 4:49 pmBased on this ad, the industry is in the post truth era as well.
Comment by DH January 19, 2017 @ 7:01 amAnd post craft.
Comment by DH January 19, 2017 @ 7:04 amMaybe it’s the start-ups who created it. In their bid to drive investment they have gone to even greater levels of exaggeration than before.
Comment by Rob January 19, 2017 @ 8:39 amThere’s a difference between ‘craft’ and ‘crafty’. Everybody can recognise it, except the people who put this together.
Comment by Ian Gee January 19, 2017 @ 10:38 amWhat male basketball fan would have a white iPhone?
Comment by Bazza January 19, 2017 @ 7:30 amBlack or bling. Anything else marks you as a casual.
Looks like a college game to me.
Comment by John January 19, 2017 @ 7:33 amSame rules. No white.
Comment by Bazza January 19, 2017 @ 8:05 amAnd for women with strong hands?
Comment by John January 19, 2017 @ 8:19 amAnd hairy arms.
Comment by DH January 19, 2017 @ 8:29 amExcellence in destruction Robert. Well done, it appears they fully deserve it.
Comment by Lee Hill January 19, 2017 @ 9:42 amDoesn’t matter what what brand it is or what purpose it is for, dishonest communication is dishonest communication. Making something appear more appealing than it really is has been done in our industry since it existed. There is just a line that we all agreed on that we do not cross, which is subjective to say the least. This is an obvious hyperbole of what the product can do, but we do not like it because (1) it is not subtle and (2) it is executed horribly.
Case in point: http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/52af731eecad04801a6e411e-480/mcdonalds-ads-vs-reality.png
Comment by Michael January 19, 2017 @ 4:29 pmAs margins and budgets get tighter, expect more agencies to be prepared to walk over that line.
Comment by Pete January 19, 2017 @ 4:48 pm