Two good ads

I'm no advertising major, but as I see it the purpose of advertising is to get me to at least be somewhat interested in the company/item/issue that is paying for the ad in the first place. But, usually, I see jut two different types of ads.

First, the majority of ads out there that really really suck. I mean, if I notice that it's an ad, and think "what's up with that?!" the ad most likely didn't work. I'm certainly not interested and most definitely won't check it out any further. The second type of ad is the minority--they are good enough that i just ignore them and don't complain or look twice.

Ok, there's the third kind, the kind that really work--you know, the "If I could be like Mike" or the "Big Mac" song or the iPod ads that proved to effective that entire generations can still sing along. But--those are once a year type of ads. Probably less than 1% of 1% of all adds produced in the course of any given year.

But this week, two ads caught my attention and, I think, both for the right reasons.

First was the really creepy, but totally effective Adidas adds in China for the Olympics. The idea of the entire country holding, supporting, throwing, these individual athletes has to be both incredible stressful for the athletes (as if they didn't have enough pressure representing the glorious motherland already) and unnerving for any foreigner in China that assumes that people, not ants as the Chinese call themselves, are more than just supportive primordial ooze.

But even though I didn't like it, the images have stuck with me. Do I want to buy more Adidas' gear? No. Do I want to be part of the wave of nameless black heads? No. Do I remember that Adidas is supporting the ads (and the Olympics)? Yes.

The second is an ad in the US for the National Guard. A very good song (that you can download for free on the NG website) from 3 Doors Down plays for 2-3 minutes with sceens from WWII, Vietnam, 9-11 and other disasters while very good images of courageous (and scared) armed forces personnel are shown in the background. Good music, great imagery, emotional tug. All in all a very good ad--for something you wouldn't ever associate with advertising. Would I donate money to the NG if they had a bucket after the ad played. Probably. will I download the song? Probably.

So what's the difference? At first I thought, maybe it's just me--I'm American not Chinese. But I live in China more each year than the US. I have Chinese family too. But I think that the emotional attachment to people in the NG was great than my connection with the Athletes. Many of the soldiers were black, or female or hispanic. I'm none of the above--but I'm not Chinese either and all of the athletes were Chinese? So what's the difference?

I have been to the Olympics before, 1984 in LA. Track & Field Day when Carl Lewis, Edwin Moses and others simply cleaned house. But I'm not inspired by them nor do I identify with them. The military ads got to my "historical/tragic" memory spot (whatever that may be) and it was hooked. The music was powerful. The images were identifiable and the stories were already known.

So maybe it was because I'm not Chinese--i didn't recognize the athletes or know their stories. But I also just didn't like all those people touching (supporting) the athletes--I certainly don't want to be touched like that. Either way, i've ben thinking about both of them enough to write a blog-that's pretty effective advertising!