131. Ad of the Week: Buckley's.
Nov 12, 2007 at 09:53AM
jj

buckleys.jpgEvery now and then you see something in advertising that encourages, and makes you feel a little better about marketing managers, agencies and the industry as a whole. This installment of the Ad of the Week was chosen not for it's visual sophistication or clever wordplay. It's actually fairly ugly. Nor was it chosen due to some fancy schmancy video director or photographer. This campaign was chosen because it was courageous. (Not courageous in the sense of running into a burning building to rescue a puppy mind you - but courageous in the advertising sense: not scared to death to be honest or self-deprecating about your product. Not heroic, but courageous anyway.) The whole point here is to promote how terrible Buckley's tastes while indirectly enforcing it's effectiveness in relieving coughs and congestions due to colds. Somewhere, there was a marketing director that was OK with saying their product tastes terrible. Not just terrible, as they compare it to 'trash bag leakage' in one radio spot, and  to a 'public restroom puddle' in a tv spot. Now that takes some courage - as it wouldn't be a stretch, should this marketing fail, for the people responsible to lose their jobs. But they won't lose their jobs, because this campaign is memorable, funny, and just a bit disgusting. And one subtle benefit of this campaign is that I bet the taste is not quite as bad in reality as it is currently in my imagination - having yet to try it. So, they are even going to exceed most people's expectations that are set with this creative/strategy. Could it really be as bad as Pig Tongue Scrappings? You can view all 7 of their TV ads - which I saw on NBC last night - via their website. Or on YouTube.  This is a great rejuvenation of a long-term campaign - check out their print (newish and oldish) here.

Still trying to figure out the agency responsible, or if this was an in-house job. Anyone know?

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