Campaign Review: Is Tetley slightly sexist? Plus the verdict on Uber Eats and Nimble
Mumbrella invites the industry’s creatives and strategists to offer their views on the latest ad campaigns. This week: Saatchi & Saatchi's Iona Macgregor and Daylight Agency's Chris Mitchell offer their views on Tourism Tasmania's invitation to 'come down for air', Tetley leveraging female stereotypes, Uber Eats' rock trio, and whether Nimble made a mistake in dropping the man in the bunny suit.
Brand: Tourism Tasmania
Campaign: Come down for air
Agency: BMF
The verdict: A strong brand platform
Iona Macgregor, chief strategy officer at Saatchi & Saatchi, says:
“I have a soft spot for this work. Any tourism campaign that shows people stuck inside due to torrential rain, and yet still manages to make me want to go there, must be doing something right. The locations are stunning, but it plays with category conventions rather than boring you with them. The line is perfect and I thought executions were like a little breath of fresh air in an ad break too. In the context of an overwhelmingly sunny, smiley, beachy ‘brand Australia’, I would expect this to keep driving local tourism for Tasmania without undermining its mystique. I hope Tourism Tasmania sticks with this platform as you can see it working hard over time. The biggest challenge for many tourism brands seems to be flip-flopping between strategies. We (marketers and agencies) too often get bored of our own work before the audience does.”
Rating: 8/10
Chris Mitchell, executive creative director at Daylight Agency, says:
“I have always been a fan of the Feed your Curious/Discover Tasmania campaign. I think it really captured the uniquely different experience that Tasmania offers, and was successfully changing people’s attitudes from Tasmania being a ‘Weird’ place to ‘Curious’ place. For me the three standout tourism campaigns over the past decade have been- Barossa Valley, Every Piece of Victoria and Discover Tasmania. So when I came to look at the latest campaign for Tasmania I was very curious to see how it could build on the previously successful campaign.
“I actually like the ‘Come down for air’ tag. In fact, I think it would sit nicely on the old campaign too. I guess my only negative about the three video executions would be that they are pretty dull and uninspiring. It’s one thing to have an insight that everyone needs a rest, however it’s still necessary to inspire action. In other words, bring the story to life in a more compelling entertaining way, to make it more memorable. Having said that, I think over time if there is enough investment in it, the campaign could build, but for me it will need to be a bit more adventurous with its executions.”
Rating: 6/10
Brand: Tetley
Campaign: Thirst-Tea?
Agency: The Works
The verdict: A nod to Celeste Barber that didn’t come off
Macgregor says:
“Sigh. Well it looks like a lot of work went into this. And I will say that anyone having to promote anything in beverages deserves credit. Especially when it’s a product in one of those in-between segments like ‘cold infusions’. This one might even be in with a fighting chance of survival. It all seems to make sense: a big famous, popular brand, with all the tea-cred you can muster; an all- natural product in a range of reasonable flavours. We drink lots of cold coffee here. Perhaps cold tea deserves a turn? I can see that the campaign picks up on a pop cultural theme of authenticity vs. fakeness. It reminds me a lot of Celeste Barber’s hilarious Instagram influencer parodies.
“And yet… There’s just a bit too much going on. Is this the brief in pictures? Our target audience is female, but we need to be relatable and real to show that we are natural and accessible, so let’s do a juxtaposition with artificial, inaccessible female stereotypes. But not a mean, snarky comparison, because we’re all about positivity. And we need to give people a really important reason to consider us and add cold infusions to their summer drink repertoire without waiting for it to be on special. We want to be your ally for summer health and wellness. Hydration! That’s big. It’s right at the bottom of the Maslow pyramid, you can’t really get more important than that. But we won’t be heavy or worthy. We’re light-hearted and fun. So, let’s wrap it up with a pun. Thirst-tea! Boom.
“I’m sure it researched very well. I also wonder if there wasn’t a much simpler way to do this. At the end of the day, it’s just tea minus the hot, right?”
Rating: 6/10
Mitchell says:
“I’m a huge fan of Celia Pacquola, and hats off for casting her in this campaign. I love her quick wit and her down-to-Earth personality – which, no doubt is the key reason why she was cast in the first place. Although it wasn’t immediately obvious to me, (I don’t follow Instagram models) what was going on with the ‘model’. What’s the idea? Why is she involved? Is it sexism sells? Or was it a nod to the hilarious Celeste Barber, whose millions of fans follow her constantly to see how outrageously she sends up Instagram models and celebs? If so, this idea is very on ‘social’ trend. The difference is Celeste Barber is hilarious. It feels like the agency must have sold the ‘trend’ but chickened out when it came to the execution. As it turns out, by being conservative, they have now got themselves into hot water with their intended female audience. Naugh-tea.”
Rating: 6/10
Brand: Uber Eats
Campaign: ‘Barnesy, Farnsy and Anhsy’
Agency: Special Group
The verdict: Not mind blowing, but solid creative work
Macgregor says:
“Hmmm. It’s a bit celebrity endorsement 101 isn’t it?
“The Australian Open campaign was a clever media twist on sponsorship that shook up the original construct. This latest iteration feels like we’ve gone backwards. But then again, it is a very straightforward creative and strategic platform designed to give Uber Eats mass awareness and normalise usage, fast. You can’t fault it for that.
“So we’re seeing a new instalment clearly aimed at boomers, without deviating from the formula of living-room famous celebrities. Is it building a brand? Probably not in the imagination-capturing, deep memory-structure building sense. Then again, I’m not sure that Uber Eats are trying to do that. Uber is the brand, and together with all its sub-brands like Uber Eats, the value is mostly shaped by user experience. Their comms do specific jobs like reassurance on safety or social norming.
“The only disappointment is that when you have such a clear construct, and you’re using big talent, you’d hope for something a little more entertaining. I’m sure there are funnier insights about people’s little food foibles and ordering quirks. But maybe the app experience just irons all of that out anyway. This isn’t mind-blowing creative work, it could have been funnier, but at the end of the day, I’m sure it does a solid job.”
Rating: 6/10
Mitchell says:
“When Uber Eats launched into the Aussie market, it was obvious they were not going to do anything by halves. When you’ve got heaps of money it’s not surprising how impressive your line up of talent can be. And how lazy you can be with how you use them.
“Like Swisse, Uber Eats obviously have bucket loads to be able to afford the calibre of talent they bring to their marketing mix. But even with sure-fire talent, you can go wrong. But not this time.
“This ad made me laugh. It’s bloody funny. I love it. So hats off to the team and talent who made it. It’s a great segue from the AO integration idea and keeps the brand top of mind while they are no doubt busy dreaming up the next integration campaign.”
Rating: 9/10
Brand: Nimble
Campaign: Makes finance faster
Agency: Engine Room Productions
The verdict: The man in the bunny suit provided more cut through
Macgregor says:
“I suppose you can look at this in two ways. On the one hand, the rebrand is clearly about making Nimble come across as a modern, credible financial service provider, who are simply alleviating some of the pain points of a legacy system for the benefit of everyday users. That’s a pretty valid utility proposition. On the other hand, this new work has put a dent in their distinctiveness. I’d worry about attribution in a sea of ‘use mobile app to get something faster’ ads.
“Maybe the man in the bunny suit didn’t pull his weight in terms of trust, but I would have thought there might be another way to use him, or at least some way to weave in Nimble’s pretty distinctive bunny ID. It’s all pretty rational now. Politeness can get in the way of effectiveness. In terms of good advertising, I think you have to go for ‘polarising but highly memorable’ over ‘pleasing but quiet’ to do the job right.”
Rating: 4/10
Mitchell says:
“I prefer the man in the rabbit suit. It was stupid, but at least it cut through.”
Rating: 5/10
- As told to Zoe Wilkinson. If you’re a senior creative or strategist who would like to take part in a future Campaign Review, please email zoew@mumbrella.com.au
These reviews of Tetley’s campaign are pretty ill informed and bitchy. I have nothing to do with the agency involved or the brand, but I’m aware enough of the category to know that Twinings have already hit the market about a year ago with their version in a campaign fronted by the Insta-friendly by Rachael Finch.
It’s not the best ad ever made, but its got a lot more going for it than what these two snarky reviews do.
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Tetley – The obligatory long legged model – sex sells? But why if you are aiming towards a female audience who many can’t relate to. Also how stupid to portray her as being that brainless to start drinking sea water.
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