Adwatch (13 April) - Top 20 recall: Bernard Matthews pits strategy against credibility

Turkey-promoting campaign is strategically sound, but tests the bounds of credibility.

Bernard Matthews emulates TV series The Trip
Bernard Matthews emulates TV series The Trip

Skip to full table

I have learned a valuable lesson in recent months. Only ever be nice about other people's campaigns. They are like other people's children - they may look odd or behave badly as far as you can see, but to their parents they are beyond reproach.

And so it should be: making ads is hard. Overcoming all the challenges set by clients, the regulators, researchers and link-testers is gruelling, and anyone who gets anything on-air should be applauded.

So, well done to Bernard Matthews and Isobel for getting this campaign on-air and double congrats for getting the brand onto this list. It is clearly not a big spender next to the regulars here, so obviously Bernard Matthews is doing something right in its creative communications. For me, though, the bit that is right is the strategy; the execution trails somewhat, but I'll come back to that later.

The challenges facing Bernard Matthews are clear for all to see, especially if you have just watched this ad. People think turkey is for Christmas, it's hard to cook well and Bernard Matthews is a slightly naff brand.

The solution of getting a celebrity chef to talk about how great turkey is, and side-step the brand entirely, is solid thinking. If turkey sales rise, the leading brand of turkey products will rise. Makes sense.

Perhaps a little too much of the strategy is showing as each key point is reeled off, almost as if read from the brief, but that's a small criticism and, as I say, I don't say anything nasty any more.

However, I am struggling a bit to say anything that nice about the execution. In truth, I find it hard to watch: it feels just too forced to be comfortable. Marco Pierre White is clearly now a hired gun for tired old family-favourite brands. Does anyone think he actually likes Bernard Matthews' products or Knorr's stock pot things, really? Testing credibility like this is, ultimately, never a good thing for a brand.

Then there's The Trip-inspired set-up. That was a great TV show because we all enjoy seeing equals, friends and sparring partners locked in banter. But MPW and Martin Kemp? Again, really? It seems the Spandau man's role is simply to be a-bit-of-alright for the middle-aged, pre-packaged-meat-buying mum at whom this ad is aimed. Precisely the sort of mum who never saw The Trip.

Maybe I'm getting all a bit 'Soho' here. We have a clear strategy, an ongoing campaign of MPW meeting famous people to talk turkey, and evidence from this survey that ads with celebs, however badly acted or miscast, are liked, noticed and will shift products all day long. Bootiful.

Adwatch (13 April) Top 20 recall
Latest Apr-06 Brand Agency/TV Buyer Recall
rank       %
1 -2

Moneysupermarket

.com

Dare/MediaCom 46
2= (–)

Funkypigeon

.com 

DLKW Lowe/Carat 44
2= (–) Barclays 

Bartle Bogle Hegarty/

Walker Media

44
4 (–)

Holland &

Barrett 

Big Communications/

MediaVest Manchester

42
5= (–) Asda 

Saatchi & Saatchi/

Carat

40
5= (–) Morrisons  DLKW Lowe/MEC 40
7= (–) DFS  Uber/Brilliant 39
7= (–) Colgate Total  Y&R Paris/MEC 39
9 (–) NatWest 

M&C Saatchi/

MediaCom

38
10= (–)

Marks &

Spencer 

RKCR Y&R/

Walker Media

32
10= (–) Network Rail 

M&C Saatchi/Walker

Media

32
10= (–)

Rowntree's Fruit

Pastilles 

JWT London/

Mindshare

32
13= (–) Homebase 

Leo Burnett/

Mindshare

31
13= (–) The Co-operative 

TBWA\Manchester/

PHD Rocket

31
15 -1 Tesco 

The Red Brick

Road/Initiative

29
16= (–)

Cadbury Spots

V Stripes 

Fallon London/PHD 28
16= (–) Bernard Matthews  Isobel/Initiative 28
18 (–)

Nestle Kit Kat

Pop Chocs 

JWT London/

Mindshare

26
19 -13 Dreams 

re-production/

Starcom

25
20 (3=) Sainsbury's 

Abbott Mead

Vickers BBDO/PHD

24
Topics