Why are there no great cricket ads?
I bloody love this time of year. The news agenda starts to slow down and The Ashes becomes a permanent fixture in the background at home and in the office.
And I can’t think of another event that has so many ads made specifically for it. Grand Finals may draw bigger individual audiences, but they come and go in a few hours of course.
Because of the longer nature of The Ashes, it’s a bigger deal. Arguably, it’s the closest we get to a Superbowl effect for advertising.
But the standards thus far have been disappointing.
There’s been the okay – CommBank’s community cricket stuff and another outing for John Laws and Valvoline springs to mind.
The good-idea-not-quite delivered – KFC’s visit from the Colonel Sanders.
The appalling acting – anything involving cricketers including Bet Fair stuff and the incomprehensible VB live spread betting offer.
And the painfully clunking brand integration – Johnnie Walker Trivia, the Gatorade drinks break and the Vodafone Tea Break. Even the Milo dance flash mob made me want to take a cricket bat and hit myself on the head with it. Having the camera standing by and the commentary team ready with the brand plug bled any remaining life from it. (Monday update – the sports agency behind the Milo stunt – ESP – informes me that although Nine knew in advance, no dollars changed hands.)
And nothing yet that feels really clever or original. Or to lower the bar a bit, that doesn’t tend to treat the audience like idiots.
I’d love to think I’ve missed a great cricket ad. Have you seen one this year yet?
Monday update:
I forgot this one for Vodafone, by Host, which I do like:
Tim Burrowes
Linkedin
you appear to have missed this one….
http://www.threebillion.com/puma-cricket-video/
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I couldn’t agree more. This is rich territory to mine. Why not frame something funny around the intense rivalry between the Poms and the Aussies, anything but the cack-handed product-driven promotions that we are seeing at the moment.
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Because clients don’t buy it. Simple.
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Vodafone got more coverage than Milo
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The worst part of summer, the worst part of cricket are the lame ads I’ve been watching for 30+ years now. Every year I re-double my efforts to NOT to eat KFC due to the assault on the viewers’ intelligence and their general unfunniness which grows exponentially as the summer wears on…
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The Earl Of Twirl? Creepy much? And complicated.
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This is my absolute favourite cricket ad:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9qIssi2WuA
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Steve Waugh – Keep Walking
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5fjWxIG7Lo
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