When Ads don't add up

I am a visual person so I really appreciate a good advertising campaign. I define a good campaign as one that ties a strong message to humour or wit. Which brings me to a campaign that, as far as I’m concerned, completely misses the mark. And that would be Centennial College’s four-poster series of advertisements that can be found in subways (and possibly elsewhere).

Each poster features a picture of a teenager doing typical teenage things – scarfing down food, bumming on a couch, making a face with a hanging-out tongue and plugged into an smartphone/mp3 gizmo. The messages on these posters imply that there is great potential to be found in all these individuals, even if on the surface they look very clueless.

I can imagine that it’s getting tougher and tougher to stand out among Ontario’s homogeneous colleges. But I strongly feel that this campaign’s meaning gets lost under the in-your-face images and captions. It is too caricatured for high school grads, and too childish for more mature students like me. All I could do was shake my head at these posters. Yes, I understand that Centennial is trying to emphasize inclusiveness, diversity and different perspectives as one of its values. But there is certainly is subtler and more elegant way of indicating that, is there not?

But perhaps in this crowded marketplace, we have become so desensitized to marketing, and marketing has becoming so manipulative of us, that brazen, attention-seeking advertisements is the only way we can communicate with each other.

John Mayer needs some PR help

I sympathize with John Mayer’s publicist.

The pop guitarist has, little by little, shown himself to be quite tasteless, frequently mouthing off his sexual exploits to the press. This comes as quite a shock to the “smooth crooner” image he projects as a musician. His latest outburst involved making comments on his sex life with ex-girlfriend Jessica Simpson. As a fan, I am horrified (because really, JM, I thought you were better than that). As a PR student, I think he desperately needs some PR management.

The recent turn of events in the John Mayer universe has made a good case for first, why every celebrity needs the services of a good publicist, and second, why he should darn well take the advice of said publicist.

The guy’s got the talent and the looks but he could use some lessons in being discreet. He needs to scale back on the TMI and re-focus the attention on his career. If I were his publicist, this would be my advice to him:
1.Don’t say the first thing that comes into your head (or third, or fourth)
2.Don’t reveal details about your love life. The market is saturated right now.
3.Be tactful about which media you choose to feature you (if you’re reaching out to Playboy, you know what you’re headed for)
4.Provide the media with boundaries before sitting down for an interview

Here’s a list of things I learned from PR disasters

Bad publicity is just bad publicity. Tiger Woods sits front and centre in this category. The once-untouchable golf great has seen his public image dragged through the mud since his numerous extramarital affairs were brought to light in 2009. As a result of his public humiliation, many of Tiger’s lucrative endorsement contracts with big companies have been cancelled. The parade of affairs have thrown qualities associated with Tiger – excellence, commitment, skill – into a dubious light.

Taking responsibility for your actions is the way to go. Carmaker Toyota has been taking up prime newspaper space of late due to its widespread car recalls. For a brand long associated with quality and efficiency, this situation is likely to be new territory for the company. However, Toyota sent a top American executive to be interviewed on the Today Show, acknowledging the scope of the crisis as well as keeping consumers informed.

Everyone is your audience. Toronto’s besieged transit system learned this lesson the hard way, after two employees were caught on camera taking some downtime away from their jobs. The impromptu images were widely circulated, causing much embarrassment for the TTC and unleashing a firestorm of criticism from Torontonians. Apparently, in today’s digital world, everyone is your audience.

Social media will magnify weaknesses. When I watched TTC chairman Adam Giambrone’s YouTube video announcing his candidacy for mayorship via a “Rocky” sequence, I thought he looked ridiculous. His performance was lackluster and the production was poor. I don’t think he impressed very many voters with that and what’s worse; it did a good job of showcasing his youth (also frequently associated with inexperience). Goes to show you that social media PR is not for everyone.