The power of the home-grown commercial
You may remember my rant of a couple of weeks ago concerning that excruciating Veet ad which had been so poorly dubbed into English. What I didn’t mention was that my opinion doesn’t matter.
The truth is that from a strategic perspective, it doesn’t matter whether I – or anyone else – actually likes an ad. What matters is whether it does what it’s supposed to do, which is usually to help drive sales.
Marketing initiatives may drive sales directly (by using a call to action in direct mail piece, for example) or indirectly (by increasing brand awareness or equity in a tv ad, for example), but either way, a successful ad isn’t the one everyone ‘liked’ – it’s the one that got results.
Now, I have no way of knowing whether that Veet ad got results for Reckitt Benckiser. It’s entirely possible that just by running any ad, they increased awareness and therefore increased sales. But I’m positive that if they’d created a new, English-language spot, they’d have done better, and created more long-lasting brand equity. As it is, the ad, with its obviously bad dubbing, just makes the viewer think “Oh, this must be some rinky-dink brand which couldn’t afford a proper English ad” or “It’s clear this was done in some other language – I guess Veet is some weird European brand. Who knows what’s in that stuff?” Either way, it’s not doing much for the brand.
How do I know this? Because after years of running their own repurposed spots, Nutella has created a Canadian spot, and it works a treat:
[Nutella’s had some legal problems recently, because their previous ads tried to convince mothers that between all those hazelnuts, milk and cocoa, Nutella (“on whole wheat toast”) was practically a health food. Someone sued (of course they did!) and now Nutella has to dial back the health talk, which has necessitated new ads in North American markets.]
This ad was created for the Canadian market: A little more sentimental, a little less bright-white-o-scope, and a voiceover that sounds home-grown. Heck, it even seems like a sister ad to that Maple Leaf Prime chicken spot that keeps turning up (and we know that one works, because it’s been around for more than 2 years). Its seeming familiarity does a better job of resonating with the audience – and doesn’t confine itself to reaching mothers of young children.
Do I like this spot? Well, I’m not going to be tweeting about how cool and creative it is, and it’s not going to go on my list of all-time favourite commercials. But I’ve never been a big fan of Nutella – I could never understand why you’d want to spread the filling of a Ferrero Rocher chocolate on toast – and this ad got me thinking that maybe I should give it another try. And that’s the mark of a successful commercial.