Thursday, May 10, 2007

Controversy in the creative department



Senior AD and I had a bit of a dust up over this new spot for Nando's. He reckons it's a "bunch of cats": several half-formed ideas shoved together with scant regard for coherency. His argument is that there's so much going on that the proposition - that Nando's is addictive - is obscured.

I can't really argue with him about any of that, it's just that I think the jumbled up nature of the ad is part of its charm

I could be wrong, but I don't think Nando's alleged addictiveness is really what the ad's about. I think it's more an exercise in brand personality - while all the other fast-foodies are trying to be The Beatles, Nando's fancies itself as the Pistols - edgy, a little dangerous and not interested in tastefulness.

It's got massive cut-through, it's polarising and it completely defies the norms of fast-food advertising (not a lovingly shot lettuce or a seductively framed tomato to be seen).

It's exactly where a challenger brand should be.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

"Mummy, that chicken is too spicy. And if that's what you do at work all day, why can't you stay home and cook like you used to?"

Anonymous said...

The ad is causing quite a stir in Australia, including many complaints to the Advertising Standards Bureau. The Board has just announced that the ad is fine and noted the M rating. There's a Boycott Nandos site set up in response.