is a great example of a poorly thought out, unimaginative and desperate type of generic off the shelf promotion that many FMCG brands cling to in the hope of persuading mums to buy their product.
The biggest problem with this campaign is that it doesn’t know what it is. Is it something for everyone with unbranded activities? Or is it about winning a year of family fun, involving brands like PizzaExpress, Cineworld and Blockbuster? offers both options, but I can’t help but think that the best way for it to truly work would have been to brand all the activities with those used in the prize draw! Bizarrely they are kept completely apart.
As a result when you search the for free activities there is no description of them. For example when you look up Museums there is just a generic descriptions about how great museums are!
Yet in the prize draw, which only 10 people can win, there are some truly great family brands linked in including National Trust, Pizza Express, Center Parcs and English Heritage. Now why aren’t these activities available through the family fun activities for everyone? That would not only have been much more powerful and compelling proposition, leveraging the trust of these great brands.
There is no point of difference here with any other ‘kids go free’ promotions. It’s so generic as to be indistinguishable and provide no reason to purchase. There dozens of other kids go free and family days out promotions on the shelves, for example Bisto is running a Family Days Out promotion this week which is just as lazy and unimaginative. But the execution and delivery of this one is abysmal.
At least Bisto can claim to have a link to a family time. Charmin haven’t and nor should they - since when did you share going to the toilet with your family?! Where did they get that idea?
Charmin claim to offer many activities and I tested this. Firstly none are free that I could find, all are 2 for 1. Secondly I live in central London so you would imagine I would have a choice of all of the different types? 80% of the activities I have been offered near my home are either martial arts or, bizarrely, scuba diving. This leaves me with two questions:
1) What’s martial arts and scuba diving in a swimming pool got to do with family time together? 2) If I don’t want martial arts do I want to travel many miles to do something else? Also there are no descriptions of the martial arts themselves. Are parents supposed to know the difference between Shaolin Dong-xi-dao and Bozdag Taekwondo or Kayzen Ryu Karate and Genshi Ryoku Karate? When looking up the activity information it merely gives a generic description about the company behind it. How are you supposed to know which of these might be good for your kid?
And so, it will comes as no surprise that this appalling promotion gets a very low score.
Rating: 1 out 5
Client: SCA
Agency: Chemistry Communications
On Monday the next Promo Review on Guinness's 250th Anniversary promotion will be published on the
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