Originally Posted by worrals
it's about peace and nourishment of the soul in these troubled times where the media are spending a huge amount of effort convincing us how hard life is despite the fact that it generally isn't (for Australians).
Are they advertising a commune or a transport company?
They are a luxury goods company (in the target market of this ad) and need to advertise accordingly. They don't do backpackers on price, they do comfort and luxury and experience for more affluent types. If backpackers fly them then great, but they don't want anything to do with price wars. They're defintiely NOT selling a commodity like transport, they are selling something much higher in value and are charging accordingly.
They are selling how they make you feel so good that your precious holiday experience you may have saved many years for will be maximised with them.
That's where Dixon started and Joyce delivered even more major damage to Qantas, the public has been confused for some time about what QF stands for. This appears to be an attempt to get back some of that prestige feeling. Not sure it will be successful but I suspect that's what they're trying to do.
Originally Posted by worrals
Seriously, thanks for the insight and you obviously know your stuff with this so I'll ask the question...what about product? Even with an esoteric ad, shouldn't you still show someone using the product somewhere? Even weirdo beer ads have someone drinking the beer at some point.
No probs.
Let's try the Socratic method way of answering this:
What do YOU think the product is?
My thoughts are:
It certainly ISN'T transport. It ISN'T aircraft or technical experience or any of that hard tangible stuff.
It is emotive, happiness and joy and hope for something the punter can focus on and look forward to experiencing, and Qantas want to be part of that whole process, not just the transport bit.
Originally Posted by worrals
I get the feeling that the people who like this ad are the enlightened advertsing types who know a lot about the medium, a bit like people who appreciate Jackson Pollock paintings or Steven Berkoff plays which leave the rest of the population either and/or . Does that make us unenlightened? Probably, but so are the majority of airline customers, art gallery visitors and theatre goers. Most people just aren't all that sophisticated. Are they pitching their ad to the several thousand advertising experts who 'get' it or the remaining millions who don't?
I think you're spot on. They've overdelivered on "clever" at the expense of "immediacy" and "cut through". That's one of the problems with marketing campaign, you spend so long working through the process of developing them that you get so familiar with your output that you forget it has to be consumed and understood in 30 second repeats rather than the hours, days and weeks you have had to understand it during the development process.
Originally Posted by worrals
The soundtrack titled ‘Atlas’ by Daniel Johns, devours a chilling and eerie state preparing the audience to witness something special, setting off an emotional state for viewers.
In their opinion. In mine (and it's subjective but so is theirs) it's a bland dirge.
Ad types love spending money engaging stars to work in their campaigns, they get to talk and hobnob etc.
The question on this one is what value does this person bring to your brand and brand values? As far as I can tell the answer is zero in this case.