You would think that by now we would have seen every possible ad demo available in the tire business. Not so. Bridgestone Tires has a new campaign about the tires they make for airliners and the stress that those tires must endure during landings. This is meant to be a torture test demo for the brand that will resonate with you and make you expect more durability from Bridgestone tires.
The first rule of torture test demos is that they must be relevant to your audience. Classics like Neutrogena’s Norwegian Formula handcream’s, “made for the hands of Norwegian fishermen” and Bullfrog Amphibious Formula sunblock’s “developed originally for surfers,” were relevant enough to the audience that they contibuted to major marketplace success. In both cases, these demos are a torture test for presumably the same formula that you would be buying to use. Is there a lesson in this?
The Bridgestong demo is not a demonstration of the durability of the tire that you might buy from them. You will most likely never buy a set of airliner tires from anyone, much less Bridgestone. Maybe that is why this demo is not compelling to me. It is an example of non-compelling differentiation. I would welcome your thoughts.
Now if they filmed a plane landing and then told me these were the same tires they’d put on my car………THAT might be compelling!
I agree wholeheartedly! Back in the late 60′s I was working on a tire account when we presented a storyboard for a tire commercial to the client that was relevant to the target (pick up truck owners) based on a strategy “The tougher the tires, the safer they are”. As briefly as possible, the spot opened with a pair of pickup truck headlights on a dusty road and then the pickup pulling into a service station garage late at night. The driver, dressed in jeans, a cowboy hat and boots gets out of the truck and is greeted by the garage owner who opens the shop for him. It’s obvious that they know one another. They chit chat a bit about how long it’s been since the cowboy last bought tires, with the cowboy saying how pleased he’d been with the old ones and wanting the same. The owner and the cowboy roll out a set of four tires and load them in the bed of the truck with sparse dialog about the cowboy not trusting any other tire. The tire logo is clearly seen throughout most of the rest of the spot, both on the truck wheels and in the bed.
Then, with a sudden roar of a crowd, the scene cuts from the dark, lonely nightscape to a huge rodeo arena fully lit just as a Brahma bull throws its rider and turns to run down a rodeo clown who escapes by diving into a barrel encased in the same brand of new tires we just saw on the truck. The bull hits the barrel with full force and sends it flying. When is settles and rolls to a stop, the clown climbs out and waves his hat to the crowd. It’s our same cowboy from earlier. An announcer voice over says “When your life depends on your tires make sure they’re Brand Name.”
The client turned it down. He didn’t know much about rodeos and thought they were too low class. He lived and worked in Akron. The art director I worked with on the concept quit the agency and the advertising business the next in disgust and became a cartoonist.
Unlike many posts on the internet, this was fun to read and gave me some valuable input. I will have to put a backlink on my website. Regards. J