Adwatch (Nov 23) - Top 20 recall: Babybel

Ad promoting 'pointless' plastic cheese melter is unfunny and badly edited.

Babybel execution features kids engaging in forced dialogue that seems unnatural
Babybel execution features kids engaging in forced dialogue that seems unnatural

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The world needs more interesting things. Talented architects make it a better place to live (see Paris). They solve their client's problem, and in the process bequeath something interesting to enjoy. C-list architects, on the other hand, make the world hell (see Basildon).

The same applies in our business. Like architecture, advertising is now everywhere you look. So while we are commercially obliged to sell effectively, we are morally obliged to do it in ways that provide something interesting or inspiring for the audience to enjoy.

Every time we fail, we make the world a bit more annoying, a bit more soulless and a bit more like Basildon.

Trawling through the Adwatch table of prompted awareness, I was amazed how little that is 'interesting' it contained.

I have a shaky understanding, at best, of what prompted awareness means. Judging by this top 20 the answer is: it's a measure of how much money you need to spend to ensure the audience can recall dross.

Football aside, I'm not a ranter, but I was astounded by how poor the line-up is. Most of the entries ticked at least one of the boxes marked 'banal', 'formulaic' or 'total bks'. Many ticked all three.

I'm sitting here, spilling peppermint tea over my trousers and feeling angry about it. So angry, that I'm going to have to kick something, and Babybel, it's you, although if it's any consolation, you are no more guilty than a dozen others.

I picked on you because you don't realise that kids are funny. You used dialogue penned by adults and then forced it into the mouths of babes. However hard you try, Babybel, you will never come up with funnier stuff than what kids say naturally.

A while ago at TBWA, we made a radio ad where kids explained how they picked up their cuts and grazes. We didn't write a script. We just got kids into sound booths and let them get on with it. The kids were funny and brilliant. Mums loved it. It sold lots of Elastoplast. It won awards. If you want to appeal to mums, show them real kids, not cardboard cutouts.

I also picked on you, Babybel, because you felt that a badly edited film about your free, but, in my opinion, utterly pointless, plastic cheese melter would brighten anyone's day. It never occurred to you that the end voiceover 'What you dip in it is up to you' really is piss-poor.

Congratulations, Babybel. You just made the world a bit less interesting - and a bit more like Basildon.

Adwatch (November 23): Top 20 recall
Latest Nov-16 Brand Agency/TV Buyer Recall
rank       %
1 (–) Wonga.com Albion London/
PHD
51
2 (–) Asda  Saatchi & Saatchi/
Carat
47
3= (–) DFS  Uber/MediaCom 45
3= (–) Colman's  Karmarama/
Mindshare
45
5 (16=) Argos  CHI & Partners/
Mindshare
43
6 (–) Microsoft –
Windows 7
 
Crispin Porter &
Bogusky/Universal
McCann
41
7 (–) Currys/PC World  M&C Saatchi/
Walker Media
40
8 (2=) Morrisons  DLKW Lowe/MEC 38
9 (–) Tetley Tea Bags  Dare/MediaVest 37
10 -7 Holland & Barrett  Big Communications/
Carat
36
11 (–) KFC  Bartle Bogle Hegarty/
Walker Media
35
12 (–) Jobsite.co.uk  Hooper Galton/
MediaVest
34
13= (–) Baxter's Soup  The Leith Agency/
MediaCom Scotland
30
13= (–) Panasonic –
Viera TV
 
Brave/Vizeum 30
15= (–) Kellogg's
Crunchy Nut
 
Leo Burnett/Carat 27
15= (–) Babybel  RKCR/Y&R 27
17 (–) 118 118  The Brooklyn Brothers/
ZenithOptimedia
26
18 (–) Domino's Pizza  Big Communications/
Arena Media
25
19 (–) Samsung –
MultiView camera
 
Cheil Worldwide/Starcom 21
20 (–) Clover  Grey London/
Universal McCann
20

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