So Yahoo have just splashed $100m+ on an ad campaign in the US, whilst Budweiser continue to push one of the UK’s largest ever campaigns highlighting the fact that “Good Times…they’re out there”. Presumably, this means there are good times out there, especially if you like drinking watered down, tasteless American beer. Give me the Czech Budweiser anyday over the US version. It seems to me that both Yahoo and Budweiser have missed the point about their products.
1) Yahoo’s ad campaign focuses on telling everyone about how big they are. FANTASTIC. Big doesn’t mean cool and it certainly doesn’t mean useful. I know about Yahoo. Everyone who uses the internet knows about Yahoo. Therefore, we are all presuming they are pretty big. Tell us something a bit more interesting with your $100m campaign…perhaps an Apple-esque discussion about Apps, plugging Yahoo Answers, talking about Flickr, Delicious, etc. But please don’t tell us how big you are, it isn’t going to make me convert.
2) Budweiser are telling us that “Good Times…they’re out there”. That would certainly be correct if Budweiser enabled you to have one of those “Good Times”, but I think the majority of beer drinkers in the UK would not consider Budweiser a drink worth choosing. I would much rather opt for a Becks Vier or new Stella at 4%. Its no suprise that this campaign comes out of the Fallon stable, although with the business up for review I’m not sure this will really deliver what Bud want. It is a bit disappointing that the cityscape chosen isn’t a UK one, surely there would be alot more resonance or salience by saying “London. Good times… they’re out there” and using some great London imagery.
So I feel Budweiser and Yahoo may have spent big, but got it wrong. Budweiser continues to push its American heritage for lager, even though we think US lagers are pretty shoddy. Yahoo focus on their size, rather than the intersting elements of their service. A real shame as both campaigns could have had much more potential…
