Breeo Laundry Detergent: ‘O’ they did it again
In advertising it is often said that if you want to see the most creative work of an agency, look them up in the rejected ones. The same goes, if I am not wrong, for Red Communications. The latest Breeo Laundry Detergent TVC is too obvious to make a point. I think we should coin a different term for agencies doing the ‘creative’ work. Or we should define the word creative; if we do, it will be half the work for all the creative people out there. For most of the clients creativity is stating the obvious. Most of us cannot do that; state the obvious.
Breeo Laundry Detergent removes stains, it is a given; bottom line. That’s the one thing all detergent brands do. The point is that showing a situation that has been over-used a million times in detergent ads is meaningless. It makes the ad less believable, less convincing. Surf Excel gets the highest brand mileage in the category if compared to its direct competitor Ariel, because Surf Excel invests in ideas and Ariel lacks them. Brite is also on a right track as far as brand communication is concerned.
The presence of Ayeza Khan makes the ad noticeable. Her fans might pay less attention to what she is endorsing and focus more on her looks. If you take Ayeza out of the equation, then what are we left with? Camera, lights, props, Art direction, etc. Can they be meaningful? The first thing is brand communication. What the brand wants its audience to think, feel, and believe. Creating a bond with a strong message and with a touch of emotions.
Breeo Laundry Detergent is not alone in the pursuit of non-creative work. The whole industry is trending towards hard-selling campaigns. As thinking beings the only thing we can do is stop for a while and ask why? Without much deliberation the answer is likely to pop up in your head.
The answer is, generally speaking, we are a ‘short-term’ nation. We cannot think beyond days, months or at most a couple of years. We lack the ability to plan ahead. Since the country’s socio-economic and geo-political situation is in topsy-turvy nobody is in for a long haul. Brands clearly showing this tendency.
The other day I was in a briefing session with one of my clients, the CEO opened the meeting with the sentence “My brand should come in the first line and the first frame of the TVC. I need a hard selling ad.” Hearing that was enough to evaporate the creative juices that were supposed to flow in my mind.
I feel bad for the creative agencies and the creative people who initially try their best to come up with a creative idea. But they are somewhere stopped in their tracks with a universal truth in advertising “Client is always right”. Little courage is required from Breeo Laundry Detergent. They have no idea what this ‘O’ can do for them.
