I’ve been working on a project for a category recently that I had to politely refer to in client meetings as “a low interest category for shoppers instore”.
Jon Steel in his Planner’s bible Truth, Lies and Advertising recounts the story of a 1980’s client who, flushed with excitement that their new chocolate biscuit bar would be wrapped in an extra half millimeter of chocolate, presented it to the agency as nothing short of a life changing enhancement for consumers. The Planner’s response was (allegedly) that “it’s only a f*cking chocolate biscuit”.
As Jon puts it, ‘It’s a sobering discovery for many of those who live, eat and sleep their products that their customers do not feel the same way’. But out of that briefing came this ad:
It’s a great example of turning a product feature that it’s hard for anyone to care about into a benefit that’s attractive to a particular audience. And if that fails, you can always go for funny: