I would have loved to have been around for the brainstorm on this company name. 'Right, what about cardsdesignedbyu.com? Uniquecards.com? Personalcards.com? Wait, what about Moonpig.com? Boom. Job done, mine's a pint.'
Before Moonpig, Father's Day cards consisted of a cartoon bloke stood on a golf course with the line 'Number one Dad'. These days, there is no need to settle for anything so mundane. Now, you can let your imagination and creativity run riot on a website and have the personalised, professional and glossy item arrive through the post. When you have a product idea like that, the best strategy is to just show it.
Moonpig's latest TV spot has a Father's Day focus, showing, among other things, vignettes of a dad's face being painted by the kids while he's fast asleep on the sofa.
They then take a picture, turn it into a card online and watch with glee to see his reaction when he opens it. It's not saccharine, but nor is it laugh-out-loud funny.
It is, however, a simple, light-hearted demonstration of a great product idea, and it has Moonpig topping Adwatch this week.
For years, Hallmark has tried to illustrate the joy a greeting card can bring, albeit in a schmaltzy way, which doesn't always sit well with us Brits. In more ways than one, this Moonpig ad is different. For a start, there's something special about getting a personalised card.
Someone has gone to the effort and put some thought in, rather than just popping into the BP garage at the last minute. The product and spot have tapped into this rich emotional territory in a modern way.
The ad demonstrates the end result - the actual joy of receiving the fruits of someone's toil and ideas - with humour relevant to this century.
Will Dad care that, technically, the kids have made him look a bit of an idiot? No. He loves it and is thrilled that the moment they have captured has enabled them to share a joke. It's obvious, but it's effective.
The voiceover is the equivalent of a product demo, explaining what is possible with Moonpig and how it works. It may seem to labour the point, but if you assume that not all Moonpig's target audience are computer-literate under 35s, maybe there is method in the madness. It makes the process easy to understand, and the accompanying visuals demonstrate the potential for fun.
This ad is never going to set the creative world alight, but as a vehicle for explaining a fairly new concept to the masses, especially those for whom Hallmark was the gold standard, it does the job.
Adwatch (June 29): Top 20 recall | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Latest | Jun-22 | Brand | Agency/TV Buyer | Recall | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
rank | % | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1 | (–) | Moonpig.com |
Wordley Production/ MNC |
50 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
2 | (–) | Colgate Sensitive | Y&R Paris/MEC | 48 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
3 | (–) | Asda |
Saatchi & Saatchi/ Carat |
45 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
4 | (–) | Funkypigeon.com | DLKW Lowe/Carat | 44 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
5 | (2=) | Sky |
Sky Creative/ MediaCom |
40 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
6 | (–) | Fallon London/PHD | 39 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
7= | (–) | Marks & Spencer |
RKCR Y&R/Walker Media |
38 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
7= | (–) | The Co-operative |
TBWA\Manchester/ PHD Rocket |
38 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
9 | (–) | Laughing Cow | Y&R Paris/OMD UK | 33 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
10 | -14 | ING Direct |
Beattie McGuinness Bungay/PHD |
30 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
11= | (–) | Quorn | Dare/Starcom | 29 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
11= | (–) | EDF Energy |
Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO /MPG Media Contacts |
29 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
11= | (5=) | Morrisons | DLKW Lowe/MEC | 29 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
11= | (–) | Pizza Hut |
Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO/Starcom |
29 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
15 | (–) |
Euro RSCG London/ ZenithOptimedia |
28 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
16= | (9=) | Tesco |
The Red Brick Road/ Initiative |
27 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
16= | (–) | Aldi |
McCann Erickson Manchester/UM Manchester |
27 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
18= | (–) | Argos | CHI & Partners/Mindshare | 25 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
18= | (–) | Currys/PC World | M&C Saatchi/Walker Media | 25 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
20 | (–) | Matalan |
Bartle Bogle Hegarty/ Feather Brooksbank |
24 |