Funny old thing, I thought. Those of you who work in PR will know that there are some old stand-by tactics that will work at least to some degree. Research, chuck a celeb at the problem, make a list. Same old, same old.
Looks from this clip that the same piece of thinking has been applied to this piece of film by Thomson: their latest in-flight safety film. With small cute children in it, doing what small, cute children do.
I can't decide whether to be a bit cross about this. Or whether to applaud the fact that they've done something at all, even if it is a bit safe (no pun intended).
More than that, though, I really hope that we don't end up seeing a rash of viral/online ad cliches erupt as a lot of new brands come to the medium and as a lot of agencies that don't have quite the creative talent of others do their work.
Ultimately though if it does go viral then does it matter at all that in our industry opinions the creative route is cliched. If the public are engaged, smile and share it then Thomson and their agency will have scored no? I actually think it could have been much better for the record
Posted by: Holmesy | 18 July 2009 at 10:43 PM
It's a fair point and as long as it isn't over-used, those brands that do expolit the cliches will do very well, and will get the eyeballs.
My worry is that, as with research stories in media relations (which are ten a penny), the cliches get the eyeballs (or the coverage), but the brands don't get the message across or gain any kind of differentiation because everyone is at it.
I'm all for using cliches, but only where they are going to get the eyeballs AND get the brand message across and where the viewer/reader leaves with a firm sense of WHO did it first of all and what the point was as well.
Posted by: James Gordon-MacIntosh | 19 July 2009 at 11:16 AM