[Closed] Simple is as Simples does.

You've brought something to my attention that I have previously ignored.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Simples-Life-Times-Aleksandr-Orlov/dp/0091940508/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1299074746&sr=8-1

oh god, its worse than I'd imagined possible.

Amusing wordplay showing insight and creativity?

If you don't like it, there is always the off switch.

ChalrieMungus FTW. Simples.

The off switch to LIFE?
It's impossible to ignore [i]everything[/i]. As MrNutt has demonstrated.

Hmmm. Good point DezB. Complicateds.

[i]Good point DezB[/i]

Thanks. Doesn't happen very often.

If you don't like it, there is always the off walk.

..there's always the
[img] [/img]

what he said..simples

As above...spot on! Pimples!

right!

THATS IT!

/flounceon

[i]Are we doomed?[/i]

Yes we're doomed.

Actually, the Compare the Meerkat ads have got to be one of the best ad campaigns ever. They've taken a pretty boring product/service, and brought it right into the public consciousness. That the word 'Simples' has now entered the Oxford English Dictionary shows just how much it has captured people's attention.

The ads are very funny, clever and well made, imo. Loving the latest one:

[i]'Bogdan did a sponsored silence and we shaved Piotr'.[/i] 😆

And now there's even merchandising?!?! Genius.

To me, those involved in creating this campaign, and making it work, are as deserving of accolades as film-makers, musicians, and any other creative types. Why not, just because a work is in the commercial realm rather than being presented as 'art'?

That they irritate and annoy snobby up-their-own-arse pseudo-intellectuals desperately trying to be 'above' such things is a bonus, as far as I'm concerned.

[img] [/img]

Is this a marker, a low tide mark in the English language?

Is this a linguistic flag waved by the dumbed down?

Quite the opposite, I'd say.

Is this an example of the pervasive nature of televisual advertising's success?

Undoubtedly. You don't have to watch it though, do you?

Is it a call to others, a method of attracting potential peers?

Or does it just say: "I think adverts for compare the market car insurance are hilarious"?

I don't get it, it sounds retarded. STOP IT!

Maybe it's just something as simples as people appreciating something funny, imaginative and uplifting?

Or is this beings too difficults for you?

he's right you know. Just 'cos it's successful and pervasive doesn't mean it's not good or creative. It's a very clever bit of marketing. It'll wear out though, quickly.

As a result of this thread, I've just remebered my mum has a Homepride Fred string dispenser. I'm having that...

[img] [/img]

Wish I'd bothered keeping all those tokens...

[img] [/img]

And six or seven pints is definitely not good for you...

[img] [/img]

It's just another advert on telly.

[img] [/img]

Steady now....

[i]As a result of this thread, I've just remebered my mum has a Homepride Fred string dispenser. I'm having that...[/i]

And therein contradict yourself.
[i]And now there's even merchandising?!?! Genius.[/i]

Merchandising based soley on advertising has, as you point out, been around before most of the people on this forum were born. It's neither genius nor creative, merely following a well worn path.

I have no doubt there are secret marketing schools hidden around the country in dark caves but I very much doubt the people who attend are taught smart stuff, it's just nasty stuff.

The meerkat advertising theme is based entirely on the lowest common denominator, just like virtually all advertising campaigns are. You can't convince clever people to buy your product with nice images but you sure as hell can get stupid people inline.

I'm still trying to work out if Nokia are actually trying to pitch their latest camera/smartphone at blind people.

It's an untapped market for cameras for sure.

And a very bold move by the marketing team. I mean, can you imagine putting that one in front of the board? "We're going to use a blind man taking pictures in our next ad. Yes, yes, I know it sounds like the biggest pile of bullshit you've ever heard of but hear me out. There are almost 2 million people in Britain with serious loss of sight, that's a lot of cameras we're not selling. Let's wheel out some blind chap and pay him a ****ing fortune to say he likes taking photographs he'll never see. Stick him with some pretty girls and we'll have an advert to convince the blind buggers they need our phones.

Now pass me that crack, I'm dying for a drag."

And therein contradict yourself.

How so? That Homepride, Robertsons, PG Tips etc etc have had successful spin-off merchandising stuff is testament to the creative brilliance of their ad people, in creating iconic brands. Same with CTM. Take a boring product, create a brilliant ad campaign, even create demand for merchandising- if they intended all that from the start, that's genius! I don't even own a car, I can't even drive ffs, but I want to Compare the Market, simply because of those ads.

I would love some of the little characters off the Lloyds' ads. That is a simply beautiful campaign, that one.

The Pot Noodle ads too; brilliant.

Welshmen 'mining' pot Noodle, with Welsh accents and everything. Tidy.

[img] [/img]

And who can forget, the 'Slag of all snacks'?

[img] &w=352&h=249[/img]

The meerkat advertising theme is based entirely on the lowest common denominator, just like virtually all advertising campaigns are. You can't convince clever people to buy your product with nice images but you sure as hell can get stupid people inline.

I must be very, [i]very[/i] stupid then. 😀

You suggested that producing merchandise based entirely on a marketing campaign was genius despite your mum having a 30 year old example of precisely that. I'm doubting the term genius when it's been done many times before.

I doubt you're stupid unless of course you buy stuff because you like the pretty pictures you see in adverts. You...don't do that do you?

"Welshmen 'mining' pot Noodle, with Welsh accents and everything. Tidy."
People love a stereotype.

Yeah but Kev surely it's a positive cultural stereotype, no? Celebrating the hard working men of Wales, and the contribution they have made to Britain. I thought it was quite a subtle dig at Thatcher/ism, personally...

I'm doubting the term genius when it's been done many times before.

The 'genius' is in the fact that ads for such a mundane product have spawned merchandising. And the success of the ads in installing that brand into the public consciousness.

I doubt you're stupid unless of course you buy stuff because you like the pretty pictures you see in adverts. You...don't do that do you?

Oh yes, because I am [i]incredibly[/i] stupid. Kev will tell you.

Now take a shufti at the Shake'n'Vac ads if you want to see truly irritating dumbed-down advertising. The CTM ads really [i]are[/i] genius by comparison. I'm totally with Elf on this, I think the meercats are a very clever piece of marketing, tapping into the love of an amazingly appealing animal that the public already love. They make me laff every time, while not actually leaping for the computer to access their website.

Seriously Count, they make you laff every time?

I'm sure I've sat near you in the cinema - are you one of those people that lol at adverts you've already seen a thousand times on the tv 😉

"Yeah but Kev surely it's a positive cultural stereotype, no? Celebrating the hard working men of Wales, and the contribution they have made to Britain. I thought it was quite a subtle dig at Thatcher/ism, personally..."

not in my opinion. it's a pot noodle advert dreamed up by some ****s in an ad company that have no idea of Wales or Welshness, or even "working men" in general.

Got to say I think you're wrong on that one Kev. Interesting that we have differing interpretations, innit?

it's a pot noodle advert dreamed up by some **** in an ad company that have no idea of Wales or Welshness, or even "working men" in general.

The blokes in the ad were former coal miners. And you're making massive assumptions about those working on the campaign.

And it was created by an agency who you've expressed admiration for in the past...

I dunno, I know all that. Is that Mother? I guess I just got old and sour and cynical 🙁 I liked it at the time. I'm fed up of advertising.

Ok then. Don't be sour though. Try to be more sweet, like me.

Limnescale. Rust. Ground in dirt.

CILLIT BANG CILLIT BANG CILLIT CILLIT CILLIT BANG!

BANG! And the dirt is gone....

You do realise that if we deny the evolution of language, no matter what the source,and try to capture it as a historical entity. Never changing, preserved as a museum piece to define a Britain past (false utopia), that we will be copying the French!

😕 😯

OMG I agree with Fred.

This must be the exception that proves the rule that he's always wrong.

There's a programme comparing meercats? That's a joke surely? Some of you watch too much TV!

Surely not as bad as the 'wassssuppppp' Budweiser advert from a few yrs ago that had everyone repeating it inanely?

I remember some marketing woman cold calling me on my doorstep one time. She presented me with a load of pictures of very well known adverts that didn't actually show the product and asked me to identify the product.

I failed terribly. In so many cases the advertising was more succesful than the product. I knew the advert, I could sing the jingle but could I remember which actual beer or cleaning product was being sold? Nope. I suspect she'd chosen those specific advertising campaigns on purpose to highlight that very point. But she worked in marketing so who knows, she was screwing with my head no matter what she was up to.

The Meercat stuff is pretty close to that. You have to think about what they're actually advertising. The wassuuppp advert for which I truely believe someone should have been shot is another good example. And those frigging stupid gorilla on the drums adverts, what was the chocolate bar again?

Unless it *is* insanely clever and so subliminal that we don't even realise the product is being planted into our heads but I've never developed a taste for dairy milks, budweiser or insurance comparison sites. Again, it may be something that only works on stupid people, like convincing someone that one football team from a city that plays in red shirts is in some way superior to another football team from the same city that plays in blue shirts.

like convincing someone that one football team from a city that plays in red shirts is in some way superior to another football team from the same city that plays in blue shirts

Well this is actually borne out in reality. Manchester, Liverpool, London, Milan. To name just a few. Red is statistically a more successful colour in football.

To me, those involved in creating this campaign, and making it work, are as deserving of accolades as film-makers, musicians, and any other creative types. Why not, just because a work is in the commercial realm rather than being presented as 'art'?

+1, very clever campaign. When it first started i thought it was a bit naff but as it's gone on i'm in total awe at it's cleverisness.

Still can't believe you can get so enthused about a tv ad. Far as I'm concerned ads are there to be ignored or skipped over on Sky+
Far from genius, it's just someone doing their job properly.
Since when has popularity with the great British Sun reading public been a sign of genius?

It is clever and creative and in financial terms has been very successful. And "simples" will not last forever anymore than the "wasuuuppp" already mentioned did.

Compare it with some of the really dire ads around - the Halifax Radio ad for instance.

I use sky+ most of the time to screen ads - but the CTM ones are one of the few I choose to watch.

HAHAHAAAAAAA! 😯

Far as I'm concerned ads are there to be ignored or skipped over on Sky+
Far from genius, it's just someone doing their job properly.

No you see you don't understand; ads have become an artform in their own right. In fact, some are even better than the programmes they interrupt.

Here is an example of true beauty:

Didn't read the thread. Might do on Sunday.

puns and a hilariously skilful mangling of the English language

The content of the ad is irrelevant, it's just the carrier for the hook which generates the emotional response you're then supposed to attach to the brand you're shown.

Like Bill Hicks said, if you work in advertising or marketing, kill yourself. Seriously.

I'd love to work in advertising.

Can you imagine, the satisfaction and pleasure you could have, getting people to buy whatever product you've promoted?

Buy my new thing, it is good and will enhance your life.

[img] [/img]

And where is Monsieur Hicks now, pray tell? Hmm?