Small budget does not mean bad advertising (sometimes)

Many of us, when judging advertising, tend to take into account our use or taste for a product or brand. Really good advertising, by definition, can get you to try and buy something that you're not already predisposed to, however. This is mind, the commercial I'm referring to overcame a few obstacles to catch my attention.



I've always been a coffee drinker. I can probably count on two hand the number of days I've gone without hot coffee this decade. Yes, that implies I've been drinking liquid awareness since I was 12 years old. It's safe to say that I've seen the bottom of a few cups, so at first it seemed like this ad was rubbing me the wrong way.

"How dare they insult the almighty java," I thought.

Upon reconsideration, I think they're right. One cup of coffee does not last all day. In fact, I'm on 2.5 cups today and it's not even one o'clock. The really compelling idea here is "the 2:30 feeling," that is, the inevitable sluggishness that you feel (usually at work) a little bit after lunch where you feel like you're going to die without a nap, yet you need to make it to 5:00.

What a great way to position the product. It's not a substitute for coffee, which few people would give up at 7 AM, it's a substitute for afternoon coffee, which at best puts off the "2:30 feeling" for an hour or so.

As a frequent consumer of both coffee and energy drinks, I've always been skeptical of the product. I've asked people who've used it what "no crash" means, because all I've known is the famous energy drink crash, which if you're not a caffeine addict, is when after 2-4 hours you suddenly lose all the energy gained from an energy drink and go back to being as tired as you would have been at that time without the boost. They say that 5-Hour Energy gives you a gradual boost and a gradual let down, instead of a sugar plateau like the other guys.

I have heard, however, that this little shot is not much in terms of taste. Obviously having no sugar hurts it there. But if it works like they say it does, I may be trying it sometime soon. It can't be much worse than some of the energy drinks out there...


To me, more than anything, this little spot proves that you don't need a huge budget to have a huge idea in this industry. I've seen the spot on several cable channels during the day, so we're not talking about expensive media buys, either. And yet, they've gotten me to consider a product I would never otherwise pick up. Bravo.