Dear UPS

Dear UPS,

Thank you for your unashamedly all-American delivery trucks…not the vans, the trucks.

Yesterday evening, you made the B2027 between Islip and Bletchingdon feel like Highway 61.

Americana in Oxfordshire. Yessiree.

OK, so your trucks look totally out of place on the UK roads, but they do a great job of helping your brand stand out. As do those somewhat unflattering acrylic mud-brown uniforms…Brand touchpoints my boy, brand touchpoints…

But what I really wanted to thank you – and your vans – for, was enabling your drivers to bomb along with both doors open.

Seeing one of your drivers bouncing around on his seat whilst the evening sun pours in, is one of those little things that makes me smile.

• It’s the van drivers’ equivalent of putting the roof down in the convertible and blasting off into the sunset with a broad smile on their face – happy days!
• It’s as if the driver is saying, “I fear no-one and nothing …I’m the master of my own destiny and I laugh in the face of the health and safety pedants” – nice one!
• It’s a sure sign the sun is shining and life is good – summer’s here!
• In fact, it’s nearly as heart-warming as seeing a dog, ears-pinned back, taking in the air from a moving car window – one of my favourite sights of all time

And thank you for that driver seat – the fact that it looks like the cross between the type of loo you might find in a mid-state penitentiary and the electric chair you might find a hop and a skip along from Death Row, makes your trucks seem all the more American.

Thanks again UPS.

Ned

 

 

 

Dear Specsavers

Dear Specsavers,

Thank for making me laugh time and again. Your latest iteration is no exception:

Your consistent commitment to the “Should have gone to Specsavers” idea is admirable.

But then again, why would you change such a brilliantly simple and winning formula?

Here are just some of my favourites:

 

 

 

 

The realisation that “Should have gone to Specsavers” was slowly but surely entering the common vernacular must have been wonderful – you have provided us all something to aim for.

Thanks again,

Ned

PS – I sort of thanked you when I was thanking Honda here, but  I fear my gratitude was insufficient. Your Lynx / Axe spoof is pure genius:

Dear VW

Dear VW,

Thank you for keeping the concepts of “strength” / “robustness” / “durability” so consistently at the heart of your Polo brand – and for delivering against the promise so convincingly…in the crowded “small-hatch” segment, you stand out and stick in the mind, above all others.

I have had the pleasure of regularly driving 3 VW Polos during my  “career” on the road, and despite the slightly dodgy colours (1 mustard yellow, 2 Cigale Blue…which actually means purple…one of which I still drive occasionally), never once have I had cause for even the remotest concern…in relation to the cars at least.

I like what you’ve done with the most recent iteration of the positioning as it builds on the theme, but takes it in a new direction:

I just love this one from a few years back – it’s sublime:

And this one makes me laugh every time:

This one was banned – fairly unsurprisingly – but like many things that are slightly uncomfortable and shocking, no doubt it did the viral rounds nicely:

Thanks VW Polo for getting me from A-B safely and thanks to you and your agency DDB for being such consistent brand guardians.

Ned

www.volkswagen.co.uk

PS – And thanks again for your classic air-cooled vans which I blogged about here – one day, one day…

Dear McCain

Dear McCain,

Thank you for your new “family pride” ad…it’s one of those heart-warming, “feel-good” ads that confirms me, in the words of our antipodean cousins,  “as a total wuss”. (Really, I shouldn’t be quite so moved by DIY SOS (and here on Twitter). Anyway, here’s the new McCain ad:

I love the way that you’ve shifted the positioning away from being about you (and potatoes / chips) , to being about your consumers, whilst remaining true to your truly powerful, global and innovation defining, It’s all Good “big brand idea”. Talk about tapping into one the biggest and most fundamental human drivers (i.e. pride) and clarifying your targeting, in one fell swoop.

Until the final sequence of the new ad, a chip only features once, in the scene with the Dad and his young daughter showing her brick-building dexterity…now that’s “pride in action” and certainly resonates with this Dad. Robert Cialdini‘s principle of Social Proof (one of his 6 universal Principles of Social Influence – the others being: Reciprocation; Authority; Commitment / Consistency; Scarcity; Liking.) certainly seems to be in action here…Not to mention Gordon Gallup Jr‘s famous Mirror Test exploring self-awareness…

So nice job McCain – so much more engaging, for me at least, than your previous campaigns:

That said, I do absolutely love the “Potato Factory” execution, even though “the factory” is an idea that’s been “done”, albeit in many different ways, countless times before (Coca-Cola Happiness Factory, Skoda Fabia Cake Car, Honda – What if?, Honda Cog etc etc) – and it’s about you and not about me!

Thank you for making me think about the journey you’ve been on. I am amused at the thought of the smiles emerging on the ad agency‘s collective faces when it was agreed that the potato / chip no longer had to be the hero of the ad…I can almost hear the whoops of delight as they realised that they were able to move the global It’s all Good “big brand idea” onto the next stage… Or maybe it was just the influence of a new Marketing Director who’s not a fan of musicals.

Thanks McCain – your Sweet Potato with Rosemary and Garlic is now on my shopping list.

Ned

www.mccain.co.uk