I couldn’t believe my eyes when I stumbled across a bottle of the infamous Claytons in an Ausralian supermarket recently. Appologies to any youngsters who are none the wiser but you would need to be over thirty to remember this one.
This was ‘the drink you had when you weren’t having a drink’.
The beverage originated in London in 1880 and is reputed to be a blend of Kola nuts and citrus essence although like the Coke recipe the makers still aren’t letting on. I’m sure the recipe will remain a well kept secret because I don’t imagine anyone will be beating the doors down to discover how it is made. The drink proved so unpopular that Beecham the New Zealand distributor withdrew it from the market mid 1980’s having spent a small fortune on television advertising.
The TV ads became the talk of the nation but for all the wrong reasons. In fact the term Claytons is still a part of Australian and Kiwi vocab. If something pretends to be something it is not then it is commonly called a ‘Claytons’.
The commercial finished with the line; “The drink you have when you’re not having a drink.”
I guess New Zealand wasn’t ready to become a nation of wowsers or more to the point if it was it didn’t want to draw attention to the fact by being seen with a glass of Claytons in hand.
Why the ad agency had to showcase the conncoction as something it wasn’t, turned out to be a very serious mistake, especially around a product (alcohol) that is so much a part of national folklore. The bottle was even designed with a label to look like a whiskey bottle.
The advert opened with a character (Jack) in a bar obviously enjoying a joke with his mates. We hear him deliver the punch line “…and then this guy says, ‘Now we can all get some sleep’” to which his mates unable to contain themselves burst into laughter. Not only did the drink become a joke but the joke’s punch line also became about as popular as Tui’s ‘Yeah right’.
Unfortunately the joke backfired on Beechams but not before they left our language a little richer for the experience. Claytons reluctantly joined the advertsisng ‘hall of shame’ alongside other notables of the day such as Skoda but that is another story for another day.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Kevin Robert’s plain unvarnished truth could do with a coat of something
Kevin’s cure for the economy is advertising. According to Roberts the country needs to advertise its way back to financial health.
Now why does that not surprise me?
Along with other flamboyant ideas I have heard him utter this is an absolute pearler. His New Zealand Herald article sounds more like a small boy whistling in the dark than words of wisdom
Put aside for a moment the obvious self serving motivation for this commentary and consider what he is suggesting.
If advertising can get us out of this mess then it would be fair to ask what part did it play in getting us here in the first place?
To be fair to Kev he doesn’t explain what he means by advertising but let me give you my definition; advertising is ‘paid skiting’. If the advertising industry was booming (which it isn’t) then his comments might make sense and I quote…
“Too often it's claimed that advertising is all about selling people stuff they don't want and need. If it had been that dumb and short-term advertising would have been up against the wall decades ago.”
…(which was about when advertising did indeed start its fitful dive.) Advertising right now is more than ‘dumb and short term’ (in general) it is also expensive, ineffective and for the most part poorly executed.
Recent statistics from the Fournaise Marketing Group a firm, which specializes in tracking, measuring and auditing the real-time performance of global marketing and advertising campaigns refute what Kevin is saying. The January 2009 WARC news article claims that ‘as much as 60% of all tracked advertising expenditure worldwide during 2008 failed to deliver the results expected by its marketers and can therefore be considered wasted.’
Business needs to build brands of value rather than advertise.
My definition of a brand is a ‘reputation’. We are in a value crisis not an advertising crisis. Brands are built with advocacy not advertising, because when consumers buy something of extraordinary value they talk it up to friends and family. Word of mouth is the most potent form of ‘advertising’, it always has been and probably always will be.
But don’t let me stop you form reading Kevin’s article it should provoke a hearty belly laugh. Perhaps he has shares in APN?
Now why does that not surprise me?
Along with other flamboyant ideas I have heard him utter this is an absolute pearler. His New Zealand Herald article sounds more like a small boy whistling in the dark than words of wisdom
Put aside for a moment the obvious self serving motivation for this commentary and consider what he is suggesting.
If advertising can get us out of this mess then it would be fair to ask what part did it play in getting us here in the first place?
To be fair to Kev he doesn’t explain what he means by advertising but let me give you my definition; advertising is ‘paid skiting’. If the advertising industry was booming (which it isn’t) then his comments might make sense and I quote…
“Too often it's claimed that advertising is all about selling people stuff they don't want and need. If it had been that dumb and short-term advertising would have been up against the wall decades ago.”
…(which was about when advertising did indeed start its fitful dive.) Advertising right now is more than ‘dumb and short term’ (in general) it is also expensive, ineffective and for the most part poorly executed.
Recent statistics from the Fournaise Marketing Group a firm, which specializes in tracking, measuring and auditing the real-time performance of global marketing and advertising campaigns refute what Kevin is saying. The January 2009 WARC news article claims that ‘as much as 60% of all tracked advertising expenditure worldwide during 2008 failed to deliver the results expected by its marketers and can therefore be considered wasted.’
Business needs to build brands of value rather than advertise.
My definition of a brand is a ‘reputation’. We are in a value crisis not an advertising crisis. Brands are built with advocacy not advertising, because when consumers buy something of extraordinary value they talk it up to friends and family. Word of mouth is the most potent form of ‘advertising’, it always has been and probably always will be.
But don’t let me stop you form reading Kevin’s article it should provoke a hearty belly laugh. Perhaps he has shares in APN?
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