Campaign Review: TAB and World Vision switch tactics, BINGE goes conventional
This week, By All Means' founder and creative partner, Toby Cummings, and Speed's national head of strategy, Rachel Teh, share their thoughts on the latest from TAB, BINGE and World Vision.
In Campaign Review, Mumbrella invites industry creatives and strategists to offer their views on recent ad campaigns.
Brand: TAB
Campaign: ‘National Sport’
Agency: The Monkeys
The verdict: Clever!
Toby Cummings, founder and creative partner at By All Means, gave it an 8/10, saying:
Interesting times for gambling advertising: for the gaming companies themselves and their agencies. As this window-in-time narrows it’s no coincidence that even the mandated warning end-frames look like the unbranded black cupboards behind your local shop-keeper, and the flip-top lid on a packet of cancer sticks.
So I think the clever people at the Monkeys have done a clever job of making the topic seem harmless. That it’s part of our larrakin national character to chuck a bet on everything and anything that rolls, plays, shoots and scores. Just like they’ve done for so long with lamb.
So leaving aside the ethics of the issue for a moment: this is a good ad. Its core idea is sound, its writing solid, its execution well crafted and the payoff worth the preceding fifty seconds.
Rachel Teh, national head of strategy at Speed, gave it an 8/10, saying:
In essence, it’s a clever misdirect moving away from the ‘how to’ dialogue to an emotional narrative. I initially thought ‘why are they not promoting their novelty bets to bring in new audiences?’ but soon realised there are few avenues for betting companies to venture down, especially when the bulk of their punts come from sport. It’s well executed and timely. And capitalises on the hype from the recent Women’s World Cup.
As one of the few long-standing Australian betting brands, TAB has earnt the right to play in the age-old debate of national sport. I especially liked that it encapsulates the DNA of Australian code rivalry by featuring a diverse cast of men and women, set in the backdrop of a country fish’n’chip shop.
Is it a well-trodden path? Yes. However, I am not a gambling enthusiast, but I see merit in what TAB are trying to achieve by tapping into a culturally relevant insight that everyone in Australia (no matter your background), can relate to.
Brand: BINGE
Campaign: ‘Binge, you’ve either got it or you don’t’
Agency: Thinkerbell
The verdict: Funny, but poorly executed.
Toby gave it a 6/10, saying:
This is an obvious strategy, and the film is not executed particularly well. Awkward pauses and David Brent-isms don’t maketh up for poor casting and lacklustre writing. See Foxtel’s pretty brilliant ‘Game of Thrones’ ad from a few years ago for a better example.
But look, it’s not awful.
Rachel gave it a 6/10, saying:
A hilarious piece of content. However entertaining, let’s remember what the purpose of the brand ad is meant to achieve – to create distinction and brand bias for BINGE. It’s founded on a generic category insight and doesn’t hit the mark of being specific to BINGE (BINGE shows feature at the end; but blink and you’ll miss it). Perhaps it is trying to be too clever by borrowing category cues from the dating world (a play on HINGE) and dramatising awkward first dates. If not watched to the end, there is a possibility of being misattributed to either a dating or another streaming platform.
The ad ostracizes, rather than invites, which may be the point of the ad to be the antithesis of ‘Netflix & Chill’. I felt indifferent after watching it, as it evoked feelings of ‘if you’re not in the cool group, you’re not worth my time’. Being the newer player, it needed to dig deeper on specific brand insights to strengthen its brand association.
Brand: World Vision
Campaign: ‘Your Support Means the World’
Agency: In-house creative
The verdict: Smart to move away from shock tactics.
Toby gave it a 6.5/10, saying:
‘Your support means the world’ is a nice piece of writing, and the intent here is really admirable. Moving away from shock tactics and negativity is a good move, and anything with a Primal Scream track gets a very big nod from me. It’s just that there’s a nice little idea in there (in showing the two worlds at the heart of the interchange) which I don’t think is given enough air.
Hopefully I’m wrong, but I question whether this will drive new donations. I do think it will get people who are already donating tapping their feet and feeling good, but that surely isn’t the point.
It’s a good music video though.
Rachel gave it a 9/10, saying:
I loved this. It’s a warm, fuzzy, feel-good ad. It flips the traditional narrative in all the right ways, inviting the viewer to celebrate the outcome of World Vision’s efforts.
To me it’s a celebration of success, a ‘thank you’ that communicates a simple message of ‘putting the right funds in the right areas can and will affect change’. And as a result, World Vision empowers local communities to make the difference. It’s a stark change from the age-old narrative of featuring privileged celebrities helping malnourished children and disenfranchised communities. We all know ‘the image’ that is usually referred to when talking about World Vision, to the point it’s now become Trevor Noah’s go-to joke in his comedy sketches. It is refreshing to see a piece of creative that stays true to their brand purpose, whilst applying behaviour change principles to enact change – my husband even donated after watching the ad!
As told to Lauren McNamara.
If you’re a senior creative or strategist who would like to take part in a future Campaign Review, please email Lauren at lmcnamara@mumbrella.com.au.
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Lauren McNamara is a journalist at Mumbrella, covering the creative and PR beat. She joined in November 2022 as editorial assistant, after completing a Bachelor of Communications (Journalism) at UTS.
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