13 September 2008 Advertising Your Competition

One of my marketing hates is when a campaign, usually a television spot, advertises an industry and not a specific product.Most advertising fails to integrate the content with the brand. Throwing a logo at the end of a commercial rarely does anything. Same with making the logo bigger. This spot promotes online casinos, not Ladbrokes Casino. This joke of a campaign advertises instant noodles, not Fantastic Noodles.But when you see an Apple iPod commercial, you know it. They aren't advertising any MP3 Player, they are advertising iPods.Same with Coke and Pepsi do it well too. Schweppes has done it well here and I think Solo has pulled it off here too. In all four cases, they promote their specific product and brand, not the soft drink industry.Yet so many campaigns don't. A waste of money and one of the many reasons the television spot should ensure their will is all in order before a long and painful death....