insights, ironies and idiosyncrasies in communication and design
from the wide, wide world and the world wide web
Moulded in the self-effacing image of Avis and owing much to the banality of a particular line of Alan Partridge bedroom banter, this piece of M&C Saatchi print – promoting Dixons' online-only, low-cost store – is an authentic, distinctive and daring piece of branding that brings the call for action to the fore.
If only the message too was executed in a more dynamic medium, it would have surely won big at this year's Cannes Lions.
For maximising the potential of social media in masterly fashion I take my hat off to W+K – but, strategy aside, and ignoring the fact that the Old Spice executions rely more heavily on irony than insight, I'm really not being swept away with the online tide because I just can't erase the stench of the anticlimax of unwrapping a present and finding a gift pack of aftershave, deodorant spray and talc rather than a toy or at least some chocolate bursting out of my stocking on Christmas morning.
Specifically, while the multiple online replies are the result of a superb piece of planning, the branding is scarily really just dressing (smelly) mutton up as lamb.
