ReGifted? What about ReSpoted?
You know things are tight when marketers start reusing old creative.
It’s a sign of the times, and a cost-saver for sure, and maybe not even a bad idea when you think about it. After all, clients get tired of the creative loooooooong before consumers do. It’s just that repurposing creative stands out in a marketplace that puts a premium on fresh, differentiated content.
I first noticed this trend a few weeks ago when a Saturn ad came on–the one where a guy checks the outside of the dealership to make sure he’s in the right place, and the salespeople tell him about the “new saturn.” I knew I had seen it before. That was followed by the spot where a guy buys his wife a paper bag, a pillow and a new car, then uses the bag and pillow to help her recover from her excitement when she sees her new car for christmas! (the problem is, I couldn’t recall if this spot was for mastercard or mercedes or lexus or cadillac . . . and I know I’ve seen the thing at least 20 times over the past couple of years!) Turns out it’s for Mastercard, part of the Priceless campaign. And in this year’s spot the pillow replaces the box of tissues featured in last year’s version, which ended with a loud thump as the wife hit the floor. I bet somebody complained about that.
It’s not just the car and credit people reusing old creative; I just saw a reused Heineken spot, the one where a guy wraps up a sixpack, then pulls a bottle out through a tiny tear and covers it up with a bow, thus inventing the “Holiday Five Pack.” That spot originally aired two years ago but there it was again the other night. Still funny, too.
The old benchmark used to be 20 viewings of a spot before it a) took hold and b) got tiring. I doubt that it’s that high now, with more ad-savvy consumers and Tivo virtually eliminating the possibility of 20 viewings in the first place. So maybe getting more mileage out of a strong idea isn’t a bad thing. As long as it’s not the maddening “ch-ch-ch-chia” chant that’s been running on radio for the past two months . . . a sure sign that a) it’s the holiday season and b) some things never go away.
December 22nd, 2008 at 6:16 pm
What if these annual repetitive ads are more about tradition than recession?
Like every year, on every other channel, you can find It’s a Wonderful Life, Miracle on 34th Street or A Christmas Story, so goes the Corona commercial with the lit-up palm tree and the melodic whistled version of the 12 days of Christmas, signifying the beginning of the holiday season. And every time I see those cuddly Coke polar bears rolling merrily along the ice covered hill caps providing refreshment where ever they go, I know I’ve got only a few shopping days left till C-day. And who doesn’t look forward to the Pampers commercial year after year, the one set to the tune of Silent Night as it pans over a multi-cultural collection of precious sleeping babies. While this might be the ultimate commercialization of the holidays (in the truest sense of the word) those damn sleeping babies get me every time.