Where (exactly) the bloody hell are they?

This week the ad industry collectively shrugged its shoulders as the new Tourism Australia campaign was launched.

The 'Nothing like Australia' TVC received mixed reactions as either an effort by Tribal DDB to put the Bingle bungle behind us (and play it safe) or an "... innocent and charming" look at the real Australia, as seen from afar.



While many were wringing their hands at the setback to the brand, a "wonderful piece of creative from 1987" said one comment on mUmBRELLA, the ultimate test will be - does the ad work?

Effective campaigns connect with the target market with an unmistakable and irresistible truth. This requires research, careful planning and execution and often the willingness to put forward creative that sells, not sell creative.

A fine example of this is the Pringles 'can hands' banner ad that won Silver at Cannes in 2009 (should that be 'Cannes hands silver to Bridge Worldwide?').

Play with it here...

http://awardshome.com/cannes2009/pringles/can-hands.html

There were other, more exciting ads and campaigns on show but the little thing is just irresistible.

The more you click, the more you enjoy yourself.

The more you enjoy yourself the more engaged you become with the Pringles brand.

A neat benefit of the ad is while its aggregating clicks for the client (nice for the agency too!) the consumer is repeatedly saying 'yes' to the brand and creating trust through a medium known for shenanigans.

By the final message (I won't spoil it) the truth that 'YOU are awesome!' is established and Pringles said it. Repeatedly.

It was not fancy. The colours are terrible. The budget could have been about US$97.25.

But it worked.

There were extraordinary clicks and time spent with the ad was over five minutes. There were 100,000 visits to the staging server in one day, great stats for sharing through social media (one person per minute tweeting the ad) and 100% positive comments through social platforms.

The banner ad was perfect for the audience and for Pringles. While the idea was clever it also showed a strong understanding of the main target segments and what pushed their buttons. It got under their skin and connected with them for five minutes in their world.

Kevin Johns recently asked in BandT "... [if many] practitioners have fallen perilously out of touch with the man on the street?" And it's a valid question.

Whether you're a creative, a suit or the guy who signs the cheques you should be concerned about meeting the client's needs by helping to produce the work that should be made.

Even if it looks like it's from 1987.