Advertising - Snapshot Chronicles

Commercials worth watching: P&G Thank You Mom/Raising An Olympian series and Budweiser’s Super Bowl #BudweiserPuppy

02.02.2014 by Susan Getgood //

Disclosure: I attended a press event for the launch of P&G‘s Raising An Olympian short films last fall. I have no connection to Budweiser or the #BudweiserPuppy.

Normally, I write about commercials over on my marketing blog, and share my opinion about both execution and effectiveness, focusing on how well they reach (or don’t) the target audience. While it is entirely possible that I will get around to a post about this year’s Super Bowl and Olympic entrants, just in case I don’t, I want to offer up some purely personal opinions about P&G’s 2014 Thank You Mom/Raising an Olympian campaign and Budweiser’s stellar Super Bowl entrant, the #BudweiserPuppy.

First P&G.

The company began using its Olympic ad budget to recognize the mothers of Olympic athletes in 2010, as the “proud sponsor of moms” and continued in 2012 with a massive multi-brand campaign around the London Summer games, #ThankYouMom. The cornerstone of the 2014 campaign is a series of films (28 worldwide) interviewing Olympic and Paralympic moms about “Raising an Olympian.”

And it’s a winner. Not just because it tugs at the heartstrings, and makes you want to call your mom. I like this campaign because it is a positive portrayal of mothers, something we don’t see as often as we should in advertising. More often than not, Mom is a stereotype.

Certainly those who criticize the campaign for its focus on moms have a point; in all probability, Dad is equally supportive of his athletic child and may even be just as likely to buy toilet paper or chauffeur to early am practices. But, at the end of the day, the audience knows that. Thanking Mom doesn’t detract from Dad or pretend that he isn’t a part of the story.

For me, however, it does go a long way toward offsetting the many negative or stereotypical portrayals of women, and especially mothers, in mass advertising. These moms of Olympians are real people. Even if our kids will never win a gold medal, we can identify with their hopes and dreams for their children. We have them too.

Another reason to like this year’s campaign is the Raising An Olympian films themselves, which give as good a picture of the hard work these athletes, and their families, have invested in achieving their dream as any network-produced biography spot.

Budweiser. You win at Super Bowl commercials. That is all. I even allow artistic license on two things that a responsible breeder would never do: the “puppy adoption” sign and letting the new owner put the puppy loose in the car.

Update 2/3/2014: A fellow dog breeder and good friend reached out to me this morning about the #BudweiserPuppy ad. There *are* a few things about the ad that a responsible breeder would hate, as they give the wrong impression about dog breeding. Specifically, and I reference them above, a breeder would never have a Puppy Adoption sign on her property nor would she let the new owner take a puppy loose in the car. If you don’t come with the crate, you don’t get the dog. Also very unlikely that the puppy would be able to sneak out so repeatedly.

It’s also pretty clear to me that the woman is supposed to be a responsible breeder, not a shelter or rescue. You only see one breed and a litter of puppies. Would it be more realistic if you saw the dam? Would it be better if they hadn’t had the “adoption” sign? Sure, but this is a commercial. It’s fake!

I truly believe Budweiser wanted to make a heartwarming, puppy-centric commercial that would sell some beer. Not spark controversy about purebred versus shelter dogs.

And it is a great commercial. It’s funny and cute and animals, and I’m just choosing to forgive Budweiser for mistakes that I attribute to artistic license. Most viewers wouldn’t get that the woman was a breeder without some sort of sign, and I prefer to think they just didn’t know that the term “pet adoption” is often used to bash purebred breeders. The crate? You can’t have the heart-wrenching scene with the doggie in the car window, followed by the Clydesdales and the dog running home, if the puppy were crated. It’s a story.

But it bears repeating. If you want to adopt from a shelter, go for it. Just do your homework and know what you are buying with your “adoption fee.” If you are interested in a purebred dog, that’s an equally good and responsible option. Do your homework on your breed, and look for a responsible breeder through the national or local breed club or the AKC. She won’t have an adoption sign on her lawn, she will put you through a pretty exhaustive check before she sells you a puppy (and rescue will be JUST as strict), and if you don’t have a crate on the day you come to pick up your puppy, it won’t be going home with you.

Hey #BudweiserPuppy – maybe you could share some of these tips with your many followers?

The time warp of the Metro North Bar Car

04.26.2012 by Susan Getgood //

Bar Car - why don't they have these on my train? — Bar Car - Photo credit: bitchcakesny

Of late I have felt a bit like I am living a distaff 21st century version of Mad Men.

I work in advertising, although for a social media publisher, not at an agency. I commute daily on Metro North’s New Haven line and live in Fairfield County, although in far less glamourous Bridgeport, not Cos Cob. And of course I am not a philandering asshole like Pete Campbell. But every time there’s a Mad Men scene on the train, or when the city dwellers venture out into the suburbs, it feels just familiar enough to resonate.

And sometimes my life has echoes that evoke Mad Men.

This was particularly strong the other night. I missed my usual express train, so had to take the slightly later train that runs local from Stamford to New Haven, and the last car (which I prefer for proximity to the parking garage in Bridgeport) was the bar car.

Plus I wanted a drink. It was that sort of day.

Sitting in the Metro North bar car when it is staffed (versus just the car with no bartender) is like stepping into a time warp back to the 60s, and not just because the actual car seems (but probably is not) that old. It’s a semi-private club, with regulars who have been traveling the commuter rails together for what seems like years. Now, the train itself is like that –I see the same folks everyday, some of them on both ends of my commute, and we chat on the platform or in the elevator at the parking garage.

But it is a quiet community.

Not so the bar car. The bar car is the polar opposite of the quiet car. It’s a party on the rails, and the regulars are a mix of modern day Roger Sterlings and Pete Campbells. There are a few women in the bar car, but it is overall a pretty estrogen-light place with a locker-room feel. For example, on this occasion a main topic of conversation was the erotic ebook Shades of Gray, which I had never heard of until the gentleman sitting next to me asked if I had read it.

Yeah, the bar car is that sort of place.

Not sure I have the constitution to ride it every day, especially since it makes me a few minutes late for my sitter when it is the 5:48 train. But I learned last night, I could do so, as there is a website Where’s the Bar Car (wheresthebarcar.com) that reports which MNR New Haven trains have the staffed bar car each day. I’m pretty sure that the folks I was chatting with the other night decide between the 5:26 and the 5:48 depending on which one has the bar.

A votre sante!

L’Odyssee de Cartier – Magnifique!!

03.17.2012 by Susan Getgood //

The best advertising tells a story. Sometimes it’s simple, sometimes it’s complex. And sometimes it just stands in a class all by itself.

Like L’Odyssée de Cartier.

Yes, it’s long. Yes, there’s no call to action, although, quite frankly even if there were, most of us couldn’t act anyway. But I challenge anyone to watch the film — with an open mind — and not understand the core of the Cartier brand.

The power of this short film is not just in the production budget (although that helps!). What makes this so amazing is how the filmmaker brought us through the Cartier odyssey in surprising ways. Hopefully it will set an example for profoundly good storytelling in advertising rather than just inspire a bunch of richly executed but boring knock-offs.

Because good storytelling works at any budget level.

If you’d like to know more about the film and Cartier’s history, a post at the Inspiration Room offers a nice summary, and there is a wealth of material on the film’s microsite.

Hat tip to Sandra for sharing this with me.