Oftentimes within the deep dark bowels of advertising agencies, when new campaigns are being developed, different creative teams will be assigned to different parts of the campaign.  For instance, one team for TV, another for print, another for radio, and then they usually get some kid in the mail room to do the internet part because they blew their budget on TV, print, and radio creative. Sometimes, in fact, the various creative executions are even done by separate agencies all together.

Frankly, I have no friggin’ idea if that was the case with this next set of ads.  I’m not a big, old school magazine pretending to be young and hip by having a blog under a different name; I’m just a dude who uses his spare time to escape from the hell his home life has become.  So, I don’t have the access to the information other ad review sites have, so I can’t even tell which agencies pull this shit together and frankly, I don’t have the energy to look it up.  Basically what I’m saying is, I’m talking out of my ass.

Anyway, my point here is that with the two campaigns I discuss after the jump, I noticed a real difference in the quality of the creative between the radio and TV executions.  Now, you may say, well of course, radio got the shaft, but it’s actually not that simple.  As you’ll see, for one brand, the radio execution is actually much better than the TV version, but not so much for the other.

First, let’s look at Taco Bell’s new campaign for their 5 Layer Burrito and it’s TV spot:

Wow, what a goofy piece of crap.  I get it, the guy is approaching the way too hot to be working at a Taco Bell chick behind the counter like he was buying a car or something and asks her to go get another way too hot to be working at a Taco Bell chick to hook him up with a cheap price.  However, it just doesn’t work here and the ad just comes off as stupid.

The guy is way to normal looking to be acting this kind of crazy and/or stupid and the chicks behind the counter react way too calmly to an insane person that is asking for a special deal on a burrito.  This dude should be in a long jacket that is partially covering a well-worn Teletubbies t-shirt, with wild strands of hair sticking out from a hat he made from a box of Wheaties and some pipe cleaners.

I could make an easy race joke here about the workers at that Taco Bell but, one, I’m not a racist asshole; and two, when I lived in Wisconsin for awhile, I actually did see some white chicks working behind the counter at fast food places, so this isn’t a complete fantasy… however, they did make them a little too hot to be believed.

Now, on the other hand we have their radio spot, which is take off on the very popular “Tella Novellas” (Spanish language soap operas):

Taco Bell Radio Spot – 5 Layer Burrito – Version 1 Dude

Now that’s actually pretty funny.  Sure, it’s a little goofy, but it’s actually meant to be goofy… they committed to the humor and carried it all the way through.  Plus, the ending is a little risque for a Taco Bell ad and I like that side of them a lot.  Of course, they either had second thoughts about that ending or are testing another because I heard a second version of it the other morning:

Taco Bell Radio Spot – 5 Layer Burrito – Version 2 Affair

The “I’m having an affair, too” bit isn’t as funny as the trans-gender humor, but hey, the ad still works as a whole and I actually enjoy listening to this one rather than watching that train wreck of a TV spot.

Next up, we’ll see the better quality ads switch from radio to TV in an ad for Diet Dr. Pepper.

I actually saw this Diet Dr. Pepper ad in one of my favorite test environments, a bar.  You see, most of the time in bars, especially sports bars, you have a dozen TVs running with different games and other programming, but you usually only have the sound up on one of the key games of the day.  In this instance, I caught the Diet Dr. Pepper ad on one of the TVs with the sound down, but oddly enough, I got the gist of the concept almost immediately… a support group for imaginary creatures.

For starters, the production value on this ad is impressive.  I mean, Diet Dr. Pepper is just selling brown caffeine water, but they obviously spent a shit load on this ad.  Look at it, the Rudolph of my youth didn’t look that good.  The jokes are funny, the voices are well done.  It’s basically a really great ad that is framing a smart concept.

Now, somewhere along the line, the quality of the campaign went to hell in a hurry because the radio spot just didn’t work as well. I think they may have blown their budget on the TV spot.

Dr Pepper Radio Spot – I Exist – Version 1

Now, unlike the Taco Bell TV ad, this radio spot is still kind of funny.  The leprechaun’s voice is a little cliche’ and over done, but whatever, how the hell do I know what an imaginary creature really sounds like? They could have nailed it.

Anyway, I think what my problem with this ad is that there’s almost too much of it there.  It’s actually the same length as any other radio spot, but man do they try and cram as many jokes on this concept into a very tiny space.  Personally, I think if they would have cut some of the weaker jokes out (like the alien picking a side) and just slowed it down a bit, it could have worked a lot better.

Oh wait, did they hear my screams from the 5 freeway?

Dr Pepper Radio Spot – I Exist – Version 2

Nope, that one sucks even more. Well, maybe they didn’t understand what I was screaming as I raced by because this one is almost too slow and, just not as funny.  I actually can’t tell if this is just a follow up to the first ad or the agency testing a new concept because the first wasn’t working with audiences.  The jokes in this one just don’t work and they slowed down the leprechaun’s patter so much that he sounds like he’s about ready to fall asleep.

* * *

My point to this comparison is that agencies need to use their A game across the entire campaign’s execution.  I know times are tough and good people are hard to find, but agencies, you really need to push to make this shit work at every touch point.  You guys simply don’t have the luxury of having audiences follow the same media usage patterns that they used to and there is a better chance that your target only heard or saw one execution of a campaign and there’s always a chance it’s going to be the one you half-assed out of the door to make a deadline.

There’s something larger to be said here about pride of workmanship and the responsibility of both the agency and the client to push out the best work possible in the name of making the company as successful as possible.  I know this country is going through some economic shit right now  and it’s not all bad advertising’s fault, but let me tell you, it’s definitely not helping.

J.