This being an Olympic year, I decided to institute the Olympics of newspaper advertising. You know, take ads from papers around the world (all appearing on the same day – level playing field and all that) and let them go head-to-head for gold, silver and bronze.
A noble experiment. And a bit of fun, too.
1. FRANCE: The Economist
Gold. The translation of the line goes "Everything is not black and white." And the background colour – red – is The Economist magazine’s banner colour. In all fairness, this French ad probably wasn’t conceived in France. Rather, it’s part of a long-running campaign created by Abbott Mead Vickers Advertising in the U.K. Like every execution I’ve seen for The Economist, it is simple and to the point, but still clever. A nice effort for the French team with the English coach.
2. UK: Fiat
Bronze. This is one of the most offensive ads I’ve ever seen. But then, you have to consider where I saw it – in the London Sun. A newspaper with page three nudie girls and headlines like "Chomp chomp…Football star eats Queen’s terrier." This is not a newspaper read by women, or by men with two eyebrows. So kudos to the agency for coming up with the perfect ad for the medium. And hats off to a very, very, very brave client.
3. Germany: Wacker.com
Last place, but winner of the popularity contest. Hey, every Olympics has its Jamaican bobsled team, its Eddie the Eagle. This is the Eddie of our newspaper Olympics – an ad by a client who loved his name and had no idea that the paper was distributed outside the Vaterland. This ad begs the eternal question: If Wacker didn’t know how to get off a horse, would you help Wacker off?
4. US: Pocket PC
Disqualified after steroid testing. I hate ads that crap on the competition. This one’s big, brutish, unsportsmanlike and probably has gun-toting fans with the Stars and Stripes painted on their faces. I hate it.
5. CANADA: Project ‘P’
Bronze. You just can’t write a better headline than "Take your penis to the gym." However, I did find the art direction a bit lacking and the copy all over the place. Top marks for originality, but undisciplined. I expect if the penis buckles down and spends more time at the gym, we’ll see him going for gold at the next Olympics.
Also in this report:
– Flying blind: Without knowing the answers to some pretty fundamental questions about newspaper readership, media buyers are forced to make their decisions based on assumptions, not facts. And that’s not good enough, says one expert. p.B16
– NADbank building on solid base: Newspaper readership study evolving in dynamic market p.B18
– The war: views from the sidelines: The battle of the national dailies is causing other papers to redesign, rethink their news delivery p.B20
