Episode 60 - Diesel Ad Reviewed by Virgin Red and Reckitt
This week’s Advertisers Watching Ads episode is about transitions: the bold new ad from Diesel looks at a trans person’s story in detail and with an unexpected twist. It’s a fascinating video chosen by our partners Contagious, but does it hit the mark or does it risk losing the audience’s interest?
Is this topic too sensitive or does it come at the right time and for an audience that’s ready for different stories? And how does the ad fit in with Diesel’s brand values and general persona?
Watch the video to see what our guests Euan Brown (Head of Digital & Content at Virgin Red) and Ayeza Sumsam (Category Lead, Dettol Personal Care at Reckitt Pakistan) had to say about it.
Transcription
The following is an automated transcript of the file, which is not 100% accurate but will give you a good idea of what was discussed.
Tom Ollerton 0:09
Hello, and welcome to Advertisers Watching Ads. My name is Tom Ollerton and the founder of Automated Creative, and this is a weekly show where brands watch other brands' ads and discuss what's good and bad about them. Our ad was chosen this week by the team at Contagious, so please go and check those guys out after the show. But before we get to this week's ad, let's meet this week's guests.
Euan Brown 0:31
Hi, my name is Euan. I'm the Head of dDigital and Content at Virgin Red.
Ayeza Sumsam Mohiuddin 0:36
Hi, my name is Ayeza Sumsam, and I look after Dettol Personal Wash as a Category Lead. And I work for Reckitt - Pakistan.
Tom Ollerton 0:43
Thank you so much for joining us. Right, so let's get to this week's ad.
So, Ayeza, what was your reaction when you saw that ad?
Ayeza Sumsam Mohiuddin 2:47
The ad was very, very true to its brand personality. What we spoke about in terms of you know, the Diesel style, or the Diesel values that we talk about. In terms of pride, in terms of freedom, in terms of having that, you know, letting go of the fear of prejudice. So, this is exactly what the brand stood for. This is exactly what was communicated and reflected in the ad as well, which is exactly what the brand owners also feel. So, I think all in all, it was a very, very powerful ad. Yes, the first few, you know, first few seconds or the first minute was a little confusing, but there at the end who see such a colorful, surprising twist where it's very refreshing,
Euan Brown 3:20
Definitely, from a brand point of view, sort of shows how I think, I guess forward thinking that Diesel is as a brand in terms of supporting Trans people and sort of trying to tell their story in an authentic way. It wasn't negative in any way. There wasn't any, everything was positive about everyone just accepting this person for who they are, which I thought was incredibly bold. And I think Diesel is part of that brand as well. The twist at the end, I originally, really, really liked it. Now I'm not quite sure what I think about it, almost feels a little bit like... You, do you have to transition? Like, did the character want to be a nun? And so this whole thing, like it was almost like I didn't know if it made it, like to sit like, should was it just, I don't know. This person wanted to transition from male to female, but they also want to be a nun. And I think it is peppered. There are sort of religious motifs peppered throughout the, the ad. So you do get the impression that it's something that so they actually have two things that they want to achieve. Now, I don't know, if they were subtly implying that if you want to be a nun, and you're male, that you have to transition in order to be a nun. Like, why, so... It was like, which does, is it just, you want two things or like, it was just that weird thing, but I might be overthinking it. I don't know.
Ayeza Sumsam Mohiuddin 4:32
I get you, Euan, because, you know, that was initially my reaction as well. Because when she was transitioning from like a, from being a male to a female, I thought, you know, that was for some other reason or she had like a love interest. But then at the end when you see her knocking on the nunnery and you know, you see that cross at the background. That's like, the where, the actual shock kind of comes in that, "Oh, you know what, this is not what we were expecting." So I think this was a very shocking twist but a very impactful and then a very relevant one.
Tom Ollerton 4:59
Ayeza, would you havee... Was it so good that you had to watch it all the way through? Or do you think there might be millions of millions of impressions that have showed, like, essentially a guy taking some pills and having a good time?
Ayeza Sumsam Mohiuddin 5:10
Okay, so from a marketing point of view, yes, I would watch the ad again, just to, you know, absorb what exactly is the story about and what exactly is the strategy, but from like a pure consumers point of view, Tom... I think, you know, when they're missing the mark, because you know, when she signs, if you look at it, when she signs that female, or when she takes that female, that mark is like, one minute, 27 seconds, that's 80% of the entire film. And it's a two minute film, you can just call it like a short film instead of an ad. So I just feel that, you know, purely from like a consumers point of view, when the exact hit is coming after like 80% of the entire story, we might be missing out on a lot of consumers. Have that story, or have the clarity come in a bit earlier, that would have served as a very effective hook and bait for the consumers. So I just feel that you know, right now, this is like a huge opportunity area, for the marketers, or for the creatives to make sure that you know, when the story is there, it needs to be simple. It needs to be concise. And I think most importantly, consumers need to understand it. From marketers' lens, it's a completely different story, but from like pure consumers end, you need to make it much more simpler to comprehend.
Euan Brown 6:15
In terms of the length, I wasn't worried about the length, because I believe if it's good content, you will, you'll stick around for it. Because if you, if you think about what we all tune into, at the end of the night, you know, we're watching TV shows and movies, and we're bingeing. So I don't think people have a problem with attention span. I think the problem is where ads like this are created in a way that they're not compelling. And you don't want to carry on watching. But I thought the story was told in such a way that I did want to know, what was what's gonna happen next. And so, for me, it didn't feel too long. This is probably going to live on YouTube. And I bet there's a 10, I bet there's a bunch of 10-second ads, that they're out there that they'll probably be trying to do. And there'll be a social cut down and all of that. So I'm not too worried about this being, because we're only seeing the longer version. I'd be interested to see how they do convey that story in a 10-second, or a five-second format.
Tom Ollerton 7:00
Euan, what can brands learn from this ad?
Euan Brown 7:03
There are lots of ad campaigns that focus on sort of Trans people, you know, as as people and telling their stories. So, whether rightly or wrongly, I imagine a lot of brands think it's maybe a bit too brave to talk about these stories. As we were saying, I don't think it is that shocking, and I don't, I think people are ready for stories like this. Tell more stories about Trans people, tell more stories about people who are underrepresented in the, in the media, because I think... I think you'll agree, especially if your audiences, is that receptive audience, I think you're probably going to do quite well from it. And if you get a few headlines from it in the long run, you know, I think, I think we'll probably be, they'll be proved rights. So, in the long run, in 10 years time we'll be, this'll, this will even be, this will be so normal, I think.
Ayeza Sumsam Mohiuddin 7:46
So, from my point of view, Tom, I think one of the things apart from what Euan said was, which I completely agree with, shows the importance of having like the right insight and the right research that goes behind the ads, okay. It's, it's very relevant, it's very relatable to a lot of people not only in like Italy, or you know, Western Europe, but across the world, as well as you know, having that subject matter expert, because it is a very, very sensitive topic. But as you know, gender identity with faith identity, these are super sensitive topics that can completely, you know, you can blow them out of the water. So, I think that's one point which I have taken. And I think should all marketeers and brand owners should do that, you know, have the right research, have the right relevant stakeholders give their input, to make sure that what you're actually putting out there is relevant to the consumers. What you think might be right might not be right, from the consumers point of view. The other thing, which I would, I think, tell everybody is to make sure that you stay true to the classics of the brand. So, I think this is like one of the most successful factors, you have the right research, you have the right actionable insights, and then you back it up, and you make sure that the core of the brand is there in the creative or in the piece. And I think that's like a recipe for success. And another thing, you know, which is very interesting is that the protagonist, Francesca, she, herself is an LGBT activist. So, I think that also, people, a lot of people could relate well to it. That, "Okay, you know what, this is something which she also believes in." So I think that was also a very, very interesting factor when it came to this ad.
Euan Brown 9:12
Yeah, sounds like... It sounds like they've done, they've tried to be as authentic as possible. And they've tried to work with the right people to get the right voices involved, which is, I think, exactly the right approach.
Ayeza Sumsam Mohiuddin 9:24
Exactly. Right message, right time. Right audience, and that's like the hitting strategy.
Tom Ollerton 9:30
So, we're at the end of the show now. So, what I'm going to do is get you to vote for how good this ad was using the fingers on your hands. So, for votes out of five. Three, two, one, go... A four and a four. That is a high-scoring ad for Advertisers Watching Ads. Ayeza, Euan, thank you so much.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Listen to our ‘Shiny New Object’ Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube and Soundcloud.