Why stay on strategy when you can have a celebrity spokesperson?

A fairly recent ad for Gillette body wash annoys me in a few ways, and I'll have to ask forgiveness from the consumer product advertising gods if I offend the mighty Procter & Gamble here.



In the first 13 seconds of this :30 spot, this appears like it could be an ad for Tiger Woods brand clothes, Nike, Gatorade, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10, the PGA Tour, or any of the countless brands the sponsorship magnet represents. It is actually for Gillette.

I am a big fan of humor in ads, especially in television. I am not, however, a supporter of the failure to quickly introduce the brand, or the ever so popular meaningless endorsement. This commercial does have some decent jokes ("He can see us"), but neither the humor nor the celebrity endorsement do anything for me in making me want to buy this stuff. The only fact about the product (3x the moisturizing something-or-other) that makes it mean anything is almost hidden away at the :23 mark of the commercial.

Tiger signed with Gillette shortly after it was acquired by P&G a few years ago in a deal suspected to be worth anywhere from 10 to 20 million dollars over 5 years. P&G is now using that windfall to finance the watering down of the Gillette brand. A book I recently read, The Origin of Brands by Al Ries, would point out that Gillette entering the body wash market is a signal of convergence, a surefire way to commit brand suicide and finance your own funeral. They are essentially paying up to $20 million to confuse people as to what Gillette is.

Unfortunately, the other problem with this ad is that people love it. Yes it's funny, and yes Tiger Woods is the man, and yes daddy can show his kids the funny commercial he made at work, but nobody is going to rush out and buy Gillette body wash because of it.


Recent comments on this video on YouTube include:

"Omg I am laughing so hard!"
"hahaha I love the way he says check "
"tiger rules"

The funny thing about advertising is that you can get all the pats on the back, handshakes and giggles in the world when the ad runs, but nobody's giving you that raise until the sales figures come in. Tiger Woods is not marching into the BBDO office to hand YOU a giant check.

Perhaps the men behind this one could have started with a campaign and message along the lines of: "We are Gillette, we have body wash now. It cleans better than other body washes." It would beat the current copy: "Prepare your skin, with Gillette's new line of hydrating body wash." Ads like this one make me think that there are copywriters and creative directors out there who, while entertaining, need to get the Lennie Small treatment in this industry.

Yes, that was an Of Mice and Men reference. Deal with it.

Best ad on TV 9/9/1966

I've always been enamored with cereal mascots. Kids' breakfast cereal is really the only product on Earth that needs a mascot to be a real brand. The bigger, more colorful, and kookier, the better.

After seeing this classic Cap'n Crunch commercial, it certainly looks like the Cap'n has lost some of his swagger. The old school Cap'n is mouthing off to pirates (the one in the commercial noticeably has a French accent) and dropping anchors on people's heads. Into the late 80's and early 90's, the Cap'n became nothing more than a glorified potential child molester with his own island.

The emotional appeal of a cartoon character works when the character is made up, but how about when children's icons begin to endorse products?



Baaaahney! My cigarettes!

Rather ironic that the Flintstones would go on to endorse vitamins, and coincidentally, a breakfast cereal.