Photography by Orin Yost

I was catching up on Mad Men tonight when I was hoodwinked into watching an ad. I was moving through commercials, as my demographic does oh so well, and stopped quick because I thought I was missing the show – only to feel tricked to be watching an ad (-10 points).

The recent creation of Smith Winter Mitchell’s (a fictional ad agency from the 60′s) grouping of Unilever products (Dove, Breyers, Hellman’s, Klondike, Suave and Vaseline) over the course of 4 weeks will be sharing 60 second commercials showing how these products would be viewed in the 60′s. More info here.

How this commercial is brilliant:

• I purposely stopped my DVR because the cinematographer matched the lighting and the set designer matched the look and feel of Mad Men.
• It interrupted my day/watching.
• I watched the entire commercial.
• I’m talking about it enough to write this post

Why it doesn’t matter:

• The presentation is terrible (best explanation here) – The reason we watch Mad Men is because we watch in horror at the misogynistic, alcohol and cigarette laden past. It’s not to sell a real product. trying to capitalize on it seems like a misstep.
• After the realization that I’ve just been duped, all of the negative feelings that are associated with it are now connected to this product. I don’t blame the agency, I blame the product. In essence, Unilever is paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to destroy their own brand. They might want to adjust that strategy because there’s an Iceberg Ahead!!!!
• Unilever isn’t just leaving it to one brand – they’re incorporating across platform so they’ll be able to attach negative feelings to all of their products.
• The creation of a faux agency – In theory this could work and work well. There needs to be a full commitment to the idea, the YouTube channel isn’t cutting it.

How it could be better:

• Adjust the content – The Mad Men theme/look isn’t a bad one but I’d dial it back to more of an Odd Couple/Sit Com feel than building on the-Don-Draper-has-no-soul/chauvinism/sexist plan.
• Create a Website for the Smith Winter Mitchell agency – this would give the audience a more complete false reality, and in turn, encourages consumers to see what’s going on that reality. This curiosity is an easy place for acquisition of emails, referral to special content only available on the website and further connection to the brand.
• Social Media presence – duplicate much of that content and have it run across a facebook fanpage, a twitter account from the agency/characters with updates. Tease out promotion materials, give away a vacation or prize pack of Mad Men merchandise. And of course there’s always coupons.

What’s next?

What would you do?
What would you tell Unilever to change?
Do ads that interrupt your day bother you?

Posted in: Advertising, Blog • 1 Comment

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