You might have noticed ads that look similar. If not, open any premium magazine and you will find half a dozen skin care and perfume ads that look the same.
Check the ads below – close up of the model face – usually placed on the left, taking up half the space; pack shot – right side, quarter of the page – with logo below it; the headline above the pack shot with the body copy – taking up the rest of the quarter.
Some might dismiss the above as a layout issue. Even arguing that these layouts are the most beautiful, impactful, standout etc.,
I think otherwise. These ads don’t have insights. Take out the brand name and you can interchange them for any other product – most of the time across categories.
Going one step ahead, what about TV ads that have the same insight?
Of late, I have started noticing ads that build on the same core thought. Some of them have been made recently and some, a copy of ideas executed a few years back or across countries by different brands. And because they have the same core thought (some of them might be powerful), they aren’t differentiated. Pretty much the same case as above.
So, why do they happen?
Lazy Brand Managers; Lazier Ad Agencies
The premium product ads as mentioned in the beginning of this post fall into this. The lay outs are tried and tested, the ad agencies don’t want to put their brains and create a new template and the brand manager doesn’t want to take any chance. Whatever the reason, the ad agencies, brand managers are doing a lazy job by just putting a pack shot, a mnemonic (a few beams of light, numbers or the sun) in the background and a pretty face in the foreground.
Then there are powerful execution elements that come up in every research and are recalled by most consumers. Check the ads below.
The Johnson’s baby team created a super slow motion shot of the wobbling cheek to dramatise soft skin. Almost 10 years later, 2 different brands are copying it (will add the second ad soon in the playlist). Probably, the lazier ad agency thinks that the same can be leveraged for a different category – adult in this case – and the lazy brand manager concurs.
Research / Ad agency taking them for a ride
Check out the following ads of Maggi and Santoor. These are on air currently (June ’14). Then see the 3rd in the series by Johnson’s baby in the US and finally the Cadbury ad again in India.
They kids ads have the same thought that, ‘kids nowadays aren’t playing outdoor as much as they do indoor or on their devices’. A great insight. But, how can 3 different brands from different categories, headquartered in different cities come upon the same insight? Most probably, the research or ad agency pushed a standard research / trends deck to them. Then convinced the brand manager, how great an insight it was. Whatever the reason, now all the brands have to find a new insight as this one is not unique anymore to stand out.
By the way, I think the 4th in the series is on the same lines as well, just no kids in the ad. And I remember, Prasoon Joshi, talking about this kind of a situation almost 4-5 years back.
Blatant copying
This happens to a lot of small brands and companies. At times to even big companies. The brand manager doesn’t issue a proper brief. And the agency copies an international campaign lock, stock and barrel thinking that the brand guys will never find out.
The worst case scenario is when the brand team wants an ad from another country copied – by either issuing a similar brief or asking the agency to copy the execution itself!
More about global big ideas and different take on similar insights in another post.
