Aussie Veet ad that went viral to run in NZ and Canada
A quarter-page tactical ad for hair removal product Veet is now running in newspapers in New Zealand and Canada after the Euro RSCG-produced work went viral yesterday.
The “Goodbye Bush” ad to mark the departure of President Bush ran as a simple quarter page in Sydney’s Daily Telegraph and Melbourne’s Herald Sun yesterday. But after readers scanned in the ad and forwarded it to friends, it went round the world.
Rowan Dean, executive creative director at Euro RSCG in Sydney, told Mumbrella: “It’s been incredible. We started realising that it was going to be quite big at about 3pm yesterday, when people started forwarding it back to us. By the end of the day we were getting it in emails from friends in comapnies across Australia, and most of the other creative departments in town were letting us know. There’ve been thousands of comments on the various sites around the world.”
Dean said that copywriter John Gault and art director Patrycja Lukjanow had the idea before the election, but “held their breaths” until the best moment. And he praised his client, category manager Anja Voss, for investing what was for the brand a significant media spend in the ad. Media agency OMD also had a key role to play in working with the two News Ltd papers to ensure placement and get advice on whetehr to run the ads on yesterday or today, he said.
Dean said that Veet was a client that was willing to experiment with new approaches and launched a Facebook site several months ago .
He said the ratio of free PR to the original media placement was “huge”, adding: It really has been fantastic.”
What the blogosphere thinks:
US site AdFreak says: “Veet, maker of hair-removing waxes and creams, finds itself on the right side of history with this simple ad from Euro RSCG Australia, running today in Australia’s Sydney Daily Telegraph.”
Public Relations Sydney says: “Veet have done a great job of linking a topical news story with an advertising campaign.”
Stan Lee of the Brand DNA blog contributes:
“I’ve always been a big fan of topical advertising. And this ad for Veet hair remover really made me smile when I saw it in the paper today. No idea who did it, but kudos for getting the client onboard.”
Brand Strategy magazine‘s take is:
“We love this ad we got sent. Obviously there has been much cashing in from a variety of brands on the new presidency, but we think this jokey take is one of the best……nice to see a brand with a sense of humour in these tricky times.”
Give up Internet labelled the work its ad of the day. It was also highlighted on the site I Spy Cool.
Beauty site Kiss and Makeup said:
“Sadly I can’t take credit for this wonderful picture (not living in Oz ), but it’s provided some serious office entertainment! Enjoy. Oh, and hair remove while you’re at it!”
Current.com said: “I love this one, final humiliation for George Bush – being used to advertise a ladies hair removal product.”
It was also picked up by The Frisky:
“Americans aren’t the only ones happy to see former President George W. Bush move out of Washington. Veet, the stinky hair-removal product, has joined waxing salons in using the “Goodbye Bush” concept to their benefit. Lawn landscaping companies really should get in on the action before it’s too late.”
The only place Mumbrella could find where comments were mostly negative was the Australian-based creative site Campaign Brief. While there were positive messages like “Awesome. Simple, clever and great media. Hope it picks up” and “This went viral. Well done. Who said print was dead?” others on the site said anonymously:
“I was just thinking today ‘thankfully we don’t see those old-school lame ass topical ads anymore’… and there it is.”
“I dunno… just feels really like a very 1995 tone of voice. The whole topical thing.. and really, really, really expected.”
Tim Burrowes founded Mumbrella in 2008. He worked on Mumbrella until 2021. At various points he was editor, content director and editor-at-large.
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the difficulty now for Veet’s media planners will be when to run the ad again. the agency would’ve known that the 21 jan would’ve seen blanket obama coverage – and it is the juxtaposition which made the ad work so well.
but how and where will they decide to run it again?
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Agree with Public Relations Sydney. Good timing, a simple ad & a clever tie-in with a topical event. Full marks! It also goes to show you can’t really plan ‘viral’ (and those that pretend they can are mugs) – it’s up to the punters out there to determine what gets passed on and what ends up on the scrap heap. In this instance, it was a hard copy ad that was scanned and sent on, which requires more effort than simply hitting the forward button. Great placement too, under pic of Obama – worth paying the loading fee! Well done!
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Any reason why they would want to run it again, Kevin?
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@dianne bayley – isn’t that what Tim’s story is about: how the ad will be running elsewhere?
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*rolls eyes* oh please. Goodbye Bush by Veet is sooo catchy that it will capture the world’s attention? No. We have to do better than this.
Is this your “positive” article Mumbles? *sad face* okidoki.
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Hi Laurel,
Unfortunately that comment does sum up a big part of the communications industry’s biggest problems.
Too often, we forget that ad agencies have a job to do.
Instead, people end up obsessing with what’s new and clever, rather than what’s effective.
I was a little guilty of it this week. When I saw the ad on Wednesday, I didn’t link to it or comment on it. To me, it was okay, but that was it.
But the point is: I obviously missed something (I still don’t quite know what). It did work. It did go viral. Google the words “Veet” and “Bush” if you don’t believe me. The links I provided are only a small sample.
The ad agency gave that client a very big return for a modest media investment.
Fortunately for the client, Euro created a piece of work for the public, rather than for the likes of you and me.
It’s all very well to say “we have to do better than this”. Sure we do – but if I was Veet or Euro RSCG I’d been feeling pretty pleased with myself right now.
Cheers,
Tim
“Too often, we forget that ad agencies have a job to do.
Instead, people end up obsessing with what’s new and clever, rather than what’s effective.”
I couldn’t agree more Tim. A fabulously simple ad that captured the imagination of the audience. Its good fun and quite typical Aussie humour. As it is a global brand I wonder whether anyone in another region had to sign it off and whether they hesitated.
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“Instead, people end up obsessing with what’s new and clever, rather than what’s effective.””
…could not agree more. It’s really easy to sell out Australian culture as uncouth trailer trash for low hanging dollars than it is to commit to longterm and engagement. But hey! at least it was funny!
Congratulations to all agencies who are beavering away to follow up to Bush Gone and Where the Bloody Hell Are You. I’m sure you won’t have any problems not only sinking lower, but taking everyone else with you.
Incidentally, these childish jokes actually do appeal to my sense of humour. but only when made by a real person, and only the first time I hear them. By the 50th time, I see past the infantile tagline into a darker pervasive unwholesome perversion of our Australian Brand overseas. Brought to you by people “who are only doing their job”.
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This is a great piece of work.
Congrats to Euro & Veet (for not being too politically correct).
I’ve received it days later from ten individuals at last count(all female), who’ve seen it for a cheeky humourous poke at (lets face it) a man that has provided us with loads of great comedy material.
If anything they took the tone and the person and completely did a topical approach justice.
Besides who cares if you’ve seen it before – others haven’t so it’s still original for them.
My bet is the people who it was meant for have seen Veet in a new, maybe better light.
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Nice work!
I would think Veet would be delighted.
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