Now that I have your attention ...
Well the beavers have been revealed! Not much of a cool reveal, nevertheless, those blue and white beautifully wrapped billboards that have plastered Toronto streets for weeks have been unwrapped to expose .. you guessed it … Frank & Gordon! Those darling metro sexual Bell Beavers!
We had a feeling those flat-tailed rodents were hiding underneath. I should start off by confessing I really like those critters. They crack me up … talking animals go straight to my heart, that’s why I liked Babe so much!
But, wait a minute .. what are those beavers selling? I know it’s a Bell ad, but I have no freakin’ clue what those castors are telling me to buy? I know one ad had a beaver screaming outside a window with a megaphone and the other had wallpaper falling on him .. but what was the product sell? I dunno …Perhaps there is no product message just building awareness for Bell? That’s expensive!
I am a Rogers customer and fairly happy so maybe those ads aren’t directed to me. But even still, I am pretty cognizant of the “product sell” in most advertising and I didn’t get it at all … Now the billboards are all over the place complete with mobile devices along with cutesy taglines, but again, I just see beaver … nothing else.
Can you just imagine a PR campaign that gets tons of coverage but not one key message makes it to the editorial? Everyone remembers reading your story, but no one is moved to action. Can this happen in our PR ecosystem? It sure can! PR is not exempt from this catastrophe.
It’s unfortunate, but that’s how I see the Frank & Gordon critters. Great concept and I love the furry mascots, so Canadian. But even in this billboard execution “where’s the beef,” er, um … product message?
3 comments:
My take on the beavers campaign is they are trying to sell the company imagine of being fun, light and make you forget that you had to call them 10 times to get your phone hooked up properly.
I believe Bell is losing customers at an alarming rate. Do you know of anyone that LIKES Emily? And let's not even muse over their small business play... is there really one? Small business and residential are the same buyers.
What is Telus and Rogers using as a campaign these days? Ask 100 people and they will recognize this Bell campaign before any others.
Bottom line message, in my opinion - put up with us because you KNOW you like our beavers.
Which Came First?
(a) The beaves (Frank & Gordon) on the Bell commericals ...
OR
(b) The beavers in Chronicles of Narnia?
This is grreat
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