Progress is Over-rated?

Shredded Wheat Cereal from Post claims that it has sustainability because it didn’t innovate. The new series of commercials from Post features Frank Druffel, their President who clearly states that Progress is over-rated. The commercials are made very well and one can’t help laugh out aloud on the way some of our business clichés have been juxtaposed. Apparantly, Ogilvy has been making these wonderful ads that’s raking in top ratings on Youtube.

But then, here’s the thing to think about. It’s really cool to claim that the product hasn’t changed in a long-long time cos it’s good and consumers want it the way it is, and quite another to claim that they innovated the cereal way back and then decided that they must say ‘no’ to innovation. Why? Is innovation harmful and addictive? Some of the ads claim that advertising has done no good to the world and that landing on the moon has made no difference to us. Maybe so, Maybe not!

Something tells me, this ad is hoodwinking us into believing in things that may not be true based on anecdotal evidence. It’s like saying there is no air ‘cos we can’t see it. Quite a few may disagree.
Here are some of the ads:

Amazing Evian Babies

I know, ads with babies are just so the cutest. But these Evian ads with babies are something else all together. Check out the new ads released by Evian water to communicate their “Live young” proposition.
Here’s the ad:

Apparently this comes 10 years after the Evian swimming babies ad. Check this one out too:

Even better than the commercial, is the making of the ad video:

For more news coverage, read this: http://great-ads.blogspot.com/2009/07/evian-live-young-dancing-babies.html

Just a Couple of Ads

The last ad for The Economist, that I saw, used some benign form of fear appeal: What if you ended up with someone ‘really important’ (Henry Kissinger) in close proximity - like the business class airplane seat? What if you are dumb-stuck ‘cos you really are dumb? Read Economist….kind of thing.

Basically saying: “Hey Dumbo! whoever you are that’s not reading Economist times, start reading now…lest….

“How presumptuous” - I say!!

Thanks to print media quickly going down the swamp which is thanks again to the new interactive media, the new Economist ad seems to have toned down the arrogance a bit. Its noteworthy that while all other magazines seem to be on survival mode, the Economist is actually showing signs of growth. Maybe, thats because they are not limited by geography and do not confine themselves to 'breaking news'. They are rather good with their commentary on whatever it is that they wish to focus on. In risky times its best to carry eggs in different baskets after all. If you look really close, they are starting to sound more and more like erudite bloggers who spend more time and money on the same kind of stuff - to make it sound more knowledgable. All this talk of change, is it the media or is it the consumers? Or has the media already changed the consumer preferences, not just just in media but even in content? That could explain the profits?

And now The Economist wants to talk to - no longer the Dumbo, but anyone who cares to watch their communication.

What’s the ‘positioning’ again? Or did it say?