Episode 66 - HP Ad Reviewed by Scott Grenz, ex-Global Head of Media at GSK
This week's ad is entertaining, fun and engaging, and even a little bit controversial. Are HP going too far utilising a recognisable brand asset from Apple? And how effective was this comedic take on "moving on"?
Our guest this week is Scott Grenz, ex-Global Head of Media at GSK. Find out how he rated the ad and if there was any room for improvement.
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 0:07
Hello and welcome to Advertisers Watching Ads.
My name is Tom Ollerton, I'm 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.
We are brought to you, as usual, by Contagious,
who have helped us choose the ad this week. 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 very special guests.
Scott Grenz 0:33
Hi, Tom. I'm Scott Grenz. Up until June, I was the Global Head of Media for GSK based in the U.S..
Tom Ollerton 0:40
Well, Scott, thank you so much for joining us today. Let's watch this week's ad.
Unknown Speaker 0:53
Feel like she doesn't want me to touch her? Of course I do. And why didn't you respond last night? I wasn't in the mood. Why don't we try something now? I can't feel anything. You're doing it wrong.
Tom Ollerton 1:55
So, Scott, what was your initial reaction to that ad when you saw it?
Scott Grenz 1:59
It was brilliant. It was very entertaining, funny. I love the casting.
Both of the characters in there, I think were really kind of spot on.
You know, I always love the use of, you know, humor in in advertising.
Obviously, there's a bit of risk in there, but I think this was used quite effectively.
Tom Ollerton 2:21
Maybe I'm missing something here, but they used Siri as a kind of protagonist within the ad.
I'm sure that wasn't Siri's voice, but they got it pretty close.
And they certainly had the the wobble, the wobbly lines.
And that, for me is a distinctive brand asset.
How have they managed to get away with that?
Scott Grenz 2:38
Yeah, actually, Tom, I did a little bit of research.
I knew we were going to be looking at this ad.
It is the actual voice of Siri. Her name is Susan Bennett.
How they were able to pull that off?
I guess, is a question for the agency, but it is, in fact, the original voice of Siri.
You know, I kind of did a little bit of research on, on this campaign
and this ad was that it was, you know, pretty successful.
In fact, I mentioned it won a PR Week Gold Award in in 2020.
It, actually, when it aired, HP's growth went up eight points,
while Apple's at the same time went down, two and a half points.
Three hundred purchase intent, plus 25 percent in consideration.
Plus 44 percent consider switching to HP from, from Apple.
And to kind of reinforce the the effect of the comedy in this one as well.
Plus, fifty nine points in HP's perception as cool and trendsetting.
So, the effectiveness, you know, kind of measure really ticks the box for me.
And I know it's easy to kind of, in retrospect, say, "Yeah, this ad was effective
versus this thing is going on the air and how do I feel about it?"
Two different things.
But in retrospect, this this ad was, did, did its job.
It looks like.
Tom Ollerton 4:03
If I've got a thumb swiping option to, you know, see all kinds of exciting...
Scott Grenz 4:09
Yeah, for sure.
Tom Ollerton 4:09
Content.
Is this ad going to cut it on contemporary channels?
You know, if this was something that, you know, I was called in and asked to,
you know, give a media perspective on,
it's like what is the you know, what's the TikTok version of this?
What's the, you know, skip ad version of this?
Where's the branding within the first couple of seconds kind of thing?
And this really, you know, doesn't pay off until the end.
You don't even see the product until the end.
I mean, you're looking at basically, you know, an Apple right up until the last few seconds of the ad.
You know, you have to hang in there for the payoff and it might not play.
What can brands be learning from their side?
Scott Grenz 4:48
You know, I still kind of believe is that,
you know, when done when it's done the right way, I think humor...
I mean, for me, anyway, I mean, as a just as a human being,
I think, you know, humor is something that really kind of hooks me in and grabs me personally.
I'm not the guy that likes to be moved emotionally.
I'd rather be, I'd rather have a laugh when I'm watching TV and,
you know, kind of balance of entertainment, engagement
and making sure that you have the right points landing
about the product with, with consumers.
I think that's to me, I think is one one big learning.
And I think when you look at, you know, kind of some of the numbers that I quoted earlier,
you know, can be can be effective.
It can, it can work if it, if it's done correctly.
But, but I do think as well,
I think that you take a risk when you're, you know, kind of
you were warming one joke through, you know, over 30 seconds of time
and don't get to, you know, the product that you're selling
until the very end of the spot.
You know, the subject matter,
your humor might not resonate with everybody.
And you do always run the risk of,
of turning somebody off,
especially in this day and age.
Tom Ollerton 5:55
So, Scott, unfortunately, at the end of the episode.
I'm going to count to three and I'm going to get you to vote on a scale of one to five.
One being not very good, five being very good.
How good you think this ad is.
With your fingers.
Scott Grenz 6:07
Okay, great.
Tom Ollerton 6:08
One, two, three.
That's a five out of five.
Scott Grenz 6:12
Five out of five.
Tom Ollerton 6:13
Five out of five ad from Scott Grenz. Thank you so much for your time.
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