With a busy work and social life, I don't always get to add to this blog as often as I'd like to. May was an example of this: I planned to write several new reviews but, alas, life got in the way. Oh to be a full-time writer! Anyway, rather than let those adverts pass me by, I write here a round-up of three ads that caught my eye in May.
The first is social trading site eToro's 'Trade Like a Steve'. This ad actually debuted back in January but I didn't see it until May. I was amused and a little startled when I first saw this ad because my name is Steve (as you might have guessed from the name of my blog) and because I actually started researching the stock market and how to invest just a couple of weeks before I saw it, so the timing was a little spooky. I was also pleasantly surprised that Steve is still seen as a popular enough name to include in an advertising campaign, considering the name's decline in popularity in England and Wales since 1996. In the ad, Steve is the trading wonk whose investments man-child Dave copies and makes just as much money from, so the suggestion is that with eToro you don't have to do any work and can still make a killing off the stock market. Except read their website's small print and they are obliged to inform readers that 66% of their customers lose money when trading derivatives with eToro. So it's not as easy as the ad suggests.
The next advert is the brilliant new spot for Warburtons, entitled GoodBagels, starring none other than Robert De Niro. The Oscar-winner is the latest celebrity to promote the bread brand, after Sylvester Stallone, Peter Kay and the Muppets. Warburtons must have had to pay De Niro a lot of dough (geddit?) to appear but it's money well-spent because the ad is an absolute gem and has met with almost unanimous praise, except from Piers Morgan. But who cares what he thinks anyway. De Niro plays a New Yoik mobster unhappy about Warburtons new bagels. Swapping Brooklyn for Bolton, De Niro explains to Jonathan Warburton how he and his 'associates' plan to take over the business by brute force, with several hilarious references to his classic gangster films Goodfellas and Casino along the way. 'Sounds like a great movie', says Jonathan Warburton at the end, not realising that De Niro is deadly serious. Adding together Hollywood royalty and humour was a good bet because the ad has got everyone talking and plenty of mentions in the media. The only challenge for Warburtons is how do they possibly follow this?
The last advert that caught my eye is the sequel to an ad I wrote about in April. Ribena launch their new Frusion range with a funny ad which continues to parody the artisan, hand-crafted products beloved of hipsters. In this new ad in the series, 'blackcurrant artist' Andrew Berry returns and is joined by an unwelcome collaborator, the pompous and self-satisfied 'fruitologist' James Bloom. The creative tension between the two is palpable and Andrew resents every second that James is there. Somehow the two manage to collaborate long enough in order to develop the new Ribena Frusion drink, the name of which Andrew is quick to point out that he came up with. I'm pleased to see another ad in this series because the first one made me laugh. This one develops the characters further and continues to poke fun at hipsters, which keeps the laughs coming.
Well, there it is - that's my round-up of three ads that caught my eye in May. Tell me what you think of my choices in the comments box.
