Organic Valley Calls Out Advertising BS
We all know advertising is crafted to tickle different parts of our brains. For the most part, it is aspirational, giving us something to strive towards; inspirational/emotional, meant to tug at our heart strings; or utterly batshit insane, in an effort to be memorable.
Each of these major categories of creative can work if they are done well enough, and can be complete disasters if done in a way that is too ham-fisted or self-serving.
Recently, I came across THIS AD FROM ORGANIC VALLEY, which breaks not only the fourth wall, but also the norm of squeaky-clean, overly simplistic environments and models that are used in your average ad. The spot suggests Organic Valley understands its consumers’ lives are not picturesque or filled with unlimited time to craft the perfect meal. It’s funny, smart, and backed by research, no less!
To me, this spot speaks to a couple very basic, but so often forgotten, things about speaking to consumers:
1) Consumers are not dumb, and like to be treated accordingly. People can tell when they’re being advertised to, so if you’re going to make it obvious, do it well. Whether you’re being straightforward or lampooning something, though, talk to us like we’re adults.
2) They appreciate something that is well done, even (and sometimes especially) if it is done with tongue-in-cheek and not 100% positive/inoffensive.
And the numbers back this up. One thing you’ll notice is that Organic Valley’s message has achieved something advertisers pray for every day: As of this post, this creative has over 750,000 views on YouTube (with mostly positive comments/likes).
The popularity of ads like this should be a reminder to all of us not to get too cute, not to overthink, not to try to be something we’re not when crafting creative.
You can check out the full story at AdWeek here.