Nonsense

It seems I can't get enough of Coca-Cola right now. Well, not actually classic Coke, but Diet Coke, Vitamin Water and the company's various drinks pretty much get me through the days and nights, especially in the ridiculous heat LDN has been bathed in this past week.

Liz, my most excellent flattie, bestie and all round superstar mate sent over a link for Guardian's Word of Mouth blog which featured a range of rather silly TV ads for FMCG's that have been around this past month. Check it here.

One of the ones I loved, and wholeheartedly agreed with the blogger on, was for Coca-Cola. It's so wonderfully silly and nonsensical, like a melange of Lewis Carroll's imagination and The Gremlins' absurdity, with a touch of heart. Coca-Cola have gone beyond telling consumers about the product, and now, being one the biggest brands there is, they have to be far more creative with their messaging. 'The Organ Player' takes the sugary dark stuff and turns it into this absolutely epic life source, one that creates mutant-like hamster creatures to play musical instruments inside an organ and sing a rather funky beat. Moreover, it manages to gather a crowd of dedicated boogiers up a hill, and bottles of C-C to emerge from the grass for everyone to guzzle down. And the whole thing is glazed over with a perfect yellow-amber warmth that takes the viewer into a Coca-Cola wonderland, full of friendly Oak trees and lucious green grass you could probably munch on.

As Tony Naylor notes, it just makes you smile. Which really, far from actually trying to sell you something, brands pretty much have to do now. This example is funny 'haha', yes, but if that's not the objective, then the smile's got to come from somewhere else. The Apple iPhone advertising does a good job - it's not necessarily funny, but it's clever, quirky and shows you perfectly just how effective and polished the product is. Plus, it's Apple, so the brand equity messaging is just superb. The new ad for the iPhone 3GS though are lamer than hell, and I don't quite know what Apple are playing at. I give them a few more weeks before they do some focus group testing and realize if it ain't broke, don't fix it.