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Australian Business Review Weekly, 1997. By Neil Shoebridge
For most of the 1990s, ad agency executives have complained about the lacklustre standard of Australian advertising. They have complained that recession-battered clients discouraged agencies from producing interesting, highly creative work, in favor of take-no-risks ads or simply repeating old ones. Agencies have responded by recommending safe, dull ideas. Excessive research has contributed to the decline in creativity in Australian advertising.
Some of the complaints were deliberate exaggerations by agency executives worried about the dwindling importance of advertising in the marketing process. Research, for example, does not kill creativity. Bad research might hamper it, but some of the best campaigns in Australian advertising history resulted from research (think of 'You oughta be congratulated' and 'The quiet achiever'). However, the basic argument - that the creative standard of advertising has declined - is correct.
Now the Cassandras can shut up. In the past month, five great television commercials have appeared, three of them from marketers not noted for their love of creative ads. The ads for Kit Kat, McDonald's, Whiskas (two ads) and Nintendo 64 are engaging, original and built on strong, simple ideas - qualities that are found in all great advertising. The ad for Nintendo 64 is already contributing to sales - day-one sales of Nintendo's new video-game system were $9.4 million, compared with a target of $6 million - and the other three ads should achieve similar success.
Proclaiming a revival in the standard of Australian advertising on the strength of five commercials might be a bit of a stretch, but the ads are fresh and highly creative. Maybe it is simply their freshness that makes them so noticeable, considering the dross that fills the commercial breaks during TV programs. For years, many agency executives have argued that producing highly creative ads is the only way to cut through the clutter of advertising that bombards consumers every day. The Kit Kat, Whiskas, Nintendo and McDonald's ads prove that point.
Consider the ads that DMB&B/Weekes Morris Osborn created for Whiskas cat food. Whiskas is made by Uncle Ben's, a company that has inflicted more than its fair share of dull commercials on TV viewers (look at any Pal or Chum ad). But the new Whiskas ads, particularly the one that features an acrobatic cat leaping around the room killing flies with its tail and paws, is funny and memorable, qualities rarely associated with Uncle Ben's ads.
The creative standard of Nestle Confectionery's advertising has been erratic in recent years, but the new ad for Kit Kat is a winner. Created by J. Walter Thompson, it features a collection of strange people from the deep south of the United States claiming that Elvis Presley is still alive. The ad ends with "Elvis" sitting with his back to the camera and telling people he is not dead, "just taking a break".
McDonald's and Nintendo have a history of interesting ads. DDB Needham has created a stunning commercial for McDonald's, featuring an old couple playing bowls and eating a McDonald's icecream. It is a simple idea, executed with skill and style, and adds to a body of work designed to position McDonald's as an icon brand.
Y&R Mattingly's ad for Nintendo is as frenetic as the McDonald's ad is serene. Most video-game ads are faceless, with fuzzy, fast-paced computer graphics that might be entertaining but fail to build brand awareness. The Nintendo ad breaks the mould of category advertising by using comedian Tim Ferguson to recreate scenes from the new product.
A simple, powerful idea is the key to a creative, successful ad. The Kit Kat, Nintendo, McDonald's and Whiskas ads prove that creativity is not dead.
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