The cliché that is Mother’s Day.
OMG! The client forgot it’s Mother’s Day. Quick, we need an ad ASAP!!
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Photo of suburban MILF receiving product as a gift. — CHECK!
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Script headline that says “Don’t forget Mom on Mother’s Day.” — CHECK!
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Bonus points for a photo of super-cute kid presenting the MILF with the product. — CHECK!
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Approved! Run it!!
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Ugh. Creatives, we can do better than this. Let’s look at some different takes on Mother’s Day.
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The stark reality of being a mom? You’re going to become very tired of hearing the word mom. The first time I heard someone call my mom by her first name, my reaction was “Who is this Robbie person? And why is she in our house?”
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These Swiss Fleurop-Interflora ads are brilliant! They make you remember similar situations from your own childhood with a smile. They go beyond just reminding you that Mother’s Day is fast approaching. These ads make you want to do something really nice for your mom.
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While not specifically Mother’s Day, I love, love, LOVE this ad! In the end, it’s not how you became a mom, it’s that you are a mom.
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So next time you’re faced with a Mother’s Day ad, don’t just phone it in. Make it funny, make it emotional, make it worthy of all the women who do the toughest job on planet Earth. And a very happy Mother’s Day to my mom Robbie and my mom-in-law Debbie!
But before I go…
Saw movie poster or print ad for hand sanitizer? You decide.
Confession, I’ve never seen any of the Saw movies. I’m a big chicken. In my head, the line between reality and make-believe is a very thin, almost invisible, pencil line. The one and only episode of The Walking Dead I watched was viewed through my fingers with my eyes half-closed. (OMG!! Zombies ate the horse!! They. Ate. The. Horse.)
As it turns out, my priorities are askew. I shouldn’t fear zombies. What I should really be afraid of is GERMS.
If you live in the petri dish we call modern society, there’s only one thing that can save you from the germ scourge — hand sanitizer.
Industrial strength foam in little squirty containers within reach at all times, that’s how we’re gonna save the world. But how do you to convey the true horror of this present situation to the public at large? That’s easy. Use dismembered body parts. (Duh!)
I came across these print ads for Sanzer brand hand sanitizer produced by an agency in Thailand. The strategy behind the ads is solid. Use Sanzer hand sanitizer because you never know what you’re really touching. I get it. The black plague is alive and well somewhere on a Metro handrail. Protect yourself now before it’s too late.
Unfortunately, the ads are more Saw than Lysol.
I don’t care that Sanzer kills germs. Someone left two hands and multiple fingers in the bathroom, the bus and a phone booth. I know how this movie ends. I’m supposed to appreciate life more after hacking off my own right arm with a spork. Well, you can forget it. I’m not touching anything. I’m getting the hell out of there.
Oh and a final word on the coming germ apocalypse from the late, great George Carlin. (The name George Carlin alone should let you know there’s foul language in the following video.)
What’s really scary, George may be right.
