Although my 18 year old son would balk at being called a child, truth is, he still is in many ways—many of them good. We were always taught in creative classes to look at life through “child-like” eyes—not “childish,” ‘child-like.” BIG difference. And so it is with Perry when we engage in conversations about advertising, reality television, branding, and other work related topics that we discuss often. He has a real creative streak and of late, I have been “testing” him to see if he can turn his creativity “on and off” based on a particular subject or “product” that I throw out to him. So I was fascinated when I found this article on the Planning Lab blog. It’s about how good 9 year olds are at creating ads. I’m sure they work cheaper, too! PS– you don’t really need to try to read the ads– they are in Swedish.
The Brief: Draw an ad for BMW or Mini. Write a slogan – why buy a BMW/Mini?
Tools and Deadline: A piece of paper, pens and 15 minutes.
Ideas
1. “Buy a BMW/Mini. So much power for real men.”
Account planner comment: power and masculinity becomes the proposition of this ad. A clear call to action. Buy the damn car!
Ad #1
Ad #2
Ad #3
Ad #4
Ad #5
2. “Buy a BMW. For a cheap price. Make a good choice. BMW is the safest.”
Account planner comment: Price and safety is generally not the brand proposition of BMW. This is usually what happens when creatives get loose briefs. Plus for showing the different angles of the car.
3. “Buy a BMW. A cosy trip for the whole family.”
Account planner comment: this ad focuses on consumer benefits beyond product attributes – family cosiness, visualised by two station wagons for that competitive angle that BMW is famous for. An excellent strategy in Volvo land.
4. “Buy a BMW/Mini!!! It’s both fast, modern and cheap. It will only cost you your “pants”! Four seats and bold! For a real man!”
Account planner comment: another ad that focusses on masculinity. It’s also the only “copy ad”.
5. “BMW/Mini!!! The car everybody has been waiting for. BMW/Mini. The car for real men.”
Account planner comment: the creative execution of this very much like early Volkswagen ads. Simple copy and lots of white space around the product shot.
Two things come to mind from this. First, I’m amazed that 9-year olds are so literate in the language of advertising and brand knowledge – three of the five ads included masculinity (without any outside influence). Second, a sad but true fat is that some of the ads here are actually more strategically relevant than real ads from actual advertising agencies!
Would you like to know more about strategic relevancy as it pertains to your business?
Tags: advertising, brand equity, Branding, creative marketing strategy, Creativity, marketing, relationship marketing, relevancy, Research Links