Our friends from the west will notice the “drinking and driving” conventional wisdom disconnect. The saving grace then is this is taxi cab ad, which implies that you are not the one drinking; you are the one rolling around drunk in the backseat as your driver speeds down a small alley dodging residents, bicycles, motorbikes, and the odd chicken/dog combo.
This is a pretty cute ad; great example of catching attention, and creating user interaction through unconventional means; though I can see where it may go wrong; after seeing this you may want to drink a beer, but not necessarily a ZhuJiang beer; the brand disappears as the window gets rolled down.
The main issue then is it doesn’t draw our the difference between ZhuJiang vs. Qingdao, or Suntory, or any of the western brands; there is nothing to motivate you to purchase this particular brand… no immediately identifiable difference, nothing for the mind to grasp. The ad seems to say “drink beer”, not “drink ZhuJiang beer”.
Client: Zhujiang Beer
Agency: Ogilvy & Mather Advertising Guangzhou
Creative Director:骆耀明/梁广
Copywriter:骆耀明/梁广
Art Director:郑世荣/ 梁广
Photographer:郑世荣
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{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
While I agree with LRB tha Ogilvy missed on the effectiveness of the ad, the idea is terrific. Since the ad is probably temporary (i.e. at the end of the ad contract with the cab company the ad will be removed), I would have included a line of the sort “Bring this window to the next bar/shop and get a free ZhuJiang beer!”. A little investment for a great WOM and branding. At this point, it wouldn’t matter whether the brand is visible or not when the window is lowered. The impression is done, wouldn’t you agree?
@Davide – I do think the impression is made – but whether that impression is “drink beer” vs. “drink ZhuJiang beer” is up for debate. I derived this from my own experience, I have had this ad in my files for about a week now, and I never remembered the name of the beer – I only remembered that it was a beer promotion. This is the main concern – cause when someone leaves the cab, will they remember that the ad was for ZhuJiang?
This reminds me of an article I read on the Energizer bunny, and how people confused that with the Duracell bunny (or something like that). While the “keeps going and going” bunny campaign creative won the awards and was immediately indentifiable – it was actually the competitor that benefited since people didn’t remember the exact battery brand attached to the bunny.
This was cleared up later with way more obvious packaging and promotion. In my eyes, the same problem applies to this ad; while yes, you don’t need the logo to show on the top – the idea is that you maintain some awareness that this ad is about ZhuJiang brand. The Wow factor is after the window is lowered – if the brand isn’t represented after the wow, will it have that memorable impression of the brand, or will it simply be an ad for beer in general?
Also, how would you bring the window to a bar? I’m sure the taxi driver would disagree with that approach
Bringing the window to the bar is more of a euphenism for driving to a bar/shop, like the many that you have on the street in China (at least in beijing), and showing that you drove there with that cab specifically for getting your free (or 50% off) bottle of ZhuJiang beer. Something like that will sure get me talking even if never get to buy that beer right after the ride.
I believe a strategy of this kind would sure leave an impression of the specific brand, and maybe, some more tangible results on future sales. Lets not forget that advertising does not only serves the purpose of branding + cool, but most importantly, it should translate into sales at some point. I’m not saying all ads shall include a call to action, but if they do I’m sure the ad agency client is more likely to return in the future if they can clearly see that the ad resulted in $$$ for the company.
Or more simply, the ZhuJiang name could have shown on the right bottom corner of the window (right above the bottle) when the window is lowered.
Just a little contribution. I believe Art Directors should keep this point in mind when brainstorming and designing communication strategies and ads.
Also, sure the ‘bring the window’ thing would find disagreement with the cab drivers. The point being for such a mind triggering line is to attract further the attention of the viewer rather than having he/she to screen out the ad.
my first reaction is i think it’s obnoxious and annoying to have things stuck on a taxi window, leave that to the buses.
but if you’re totally stuck on sticking things on taxis, why not make use of the small window – which doesn’t roll down – to add more branding? maybe just the brand name and tagline so as not to interfere with the taxi rate sticker or totally obstruct the passenger’s view.
Since we’re supposed to be a community on this site, why don’t we make it better and send over version to back to the brand? My suggestion is to incorporate foamy pearls into the head of the beer image with a line like “Ever wonder what a cold pearl could taste like?”I would wonder what pearls tasted like…
pearls? they probably taste the same as the color pink, which lives on the square root of october
category mistakes don’t make for catchy ads, in my mind
sorry, just had to say it
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RT @littleredbook: ZhuJiang; Taxi Cab Beer Advertising. http://tinyurl.com/lvv7yb
June 24, 2009RT @littleredbook ZhuJiang; Taxi Cab Beer Advertising. http://tinyurl.com/lvv7yb
June 24, 2009Nice ad from China RT @MalcolmMoore @littleredbook: ZhuJiang; Taxi Cab Beer Advertising. http://tinyurl.com/lvv7yb
June 24, 2009@littleredbook: ZhuJiang; Taxi Cab Beer Advertising. http://tinyurl.com/lvv7yb
June 24, 2009RT @MalcolmMoore: RT @littleredbook: ZhuJiang; Taxi Cab Beer Advertising. http://tinyurl.com/lvv7yb
June 24, 2009ZhuJiang Taxi Cab Beer Advertising « China Advertising and ... http://bit.ly/ScohK
June 24, 2009ZhuJiang; Taxi Cab Beer Advertising. « China Advertising and ... http://bit.ly/uFF3m
June 24, 2009http://AdStand.net ZhuJiang; Taxi Cab Beer Advertising. « China Advertising and ... http://bit.ly/BXNdx
June 24, 2009RT @littleredbook: ZhuJiang; Taxi Cab Beer Advertising. http://bit.ly/1bm25W
June 25, 2009RT @littleredbook: ZhuJiang; Taxi Cab Beer Advertising http://bit.ly/1bm25W
June 26, 2009