Posts Tagged ‘World Cup’

The advertiser’s view of workmen: Can they fix it? No they can’t!

Published on Jun 24th, 2010 by Chris

If you were to ask a tradesman what they think of people that work in advertising, what do you think they would say? Do you think it would be anywhere near as out-dated and patronising as the view that those in advertising hold of tradesmen?

Advertising for men has often been pretty poor and with a World Cup upon us we’re inundated with the same attractive women/bad jokes based adverts we’re used to. When the agency came up with the cider slogan “maximum refreshment, minimum effort” they could have been talking about their approach to male focused adverts not just the cider in their advert.

Whilst there has been some improvement in male advertising in general, one group are stuck with the caveman image, so far as ad agencies are concerned are tradesmen. Turn on the radio and the local DIY store is advertising a new trade counter…By a few men singing badly to the tune of ‘Vindaloo’, visit the website and discover that the same chain is sending women on motorbikes round to building sites to dish out free cups to builders!

Another example is the battlefield/ cathedral based adverts featuring tradesmen for a popular cider brand. Utterly patronising no matter how ironic they claim it is! It’s made even worse by the fact that the brand is only targeting tradesman because they think they’re too cheap to buy the premium Irish competitor which everyone else seems to prefer.

So why are ad agencies so out of touch with tradesmen? Perhaps it’s their educational background, social circles etc. If that is the case we can’t expect any real change soon. Regardless It is already too late for the current world cup, but with the London Olympics expected to cause a deluge of advertising, perhaps two years is a reasonable timeframe  for ad agencies to learn how the other half live.

Footballing Lager and Cycling Television

Published on Apr 27th, 2010 by Jack

The Playing Field

The World Cup, The Tour de France, Wimbledon, The European Athletics Championships and so the list continues. These are just some of the major sporting events taking place in the summer of 2010. Naturally, certain activities will occur as a function of these events; national sorrow as we lose another penalty shoot out – hopefully not, but probably. A cycling drugs scandals – maybe. A Macomms onslaught – guaranteed.

With sporting events receiving vast media coverage this summer it is only natural that brands will capitalise on this opportunity to communicate with millions of sports followers, but has it gone one step too far? Does our football team really need an official beer? Does Wimbledon really need an official mineral water? Not really, no. However, do Carlsberg want to be associated with the England football teams’ participation in the largest sporting event this year and do Buxton want to be associated with one of the four major global tennis tournaments? Yes, and rightly so, as it gives them the opportunity to communicate with a vast audience and increase both their awareness and sales.

And the Gold Medal Goes To…..

Why then, despite not needing “official beers” and such the like, will the excess of Macomms accompany this summer’s abundance of sporting activities? Simple, it is beneficial for all parties involved. For example, BSkyB is providing £30 million in sponsorship for the Team Sky cycling organisation and Buxton is providing The All England club with £15 million. In return, the beneficiaries of this sponsorship provide their chosen brands with wide scale exposure during the summer months (FIFA predict that the World Cup will be cumulatively viewed by 26.3 billion people in 214 countries with Wimbledon and The Tour de France garnering estimated global cumulative viewing figures of 2 billion each), resulting in something never seen in sports before, both sides winning.