To watch or not to watch....

When was the last time that you saw a good TV advert that really captured your attention, made you laugh or even altered your perception of a particular brand, product or service?

Slashed advertising budgets have led to a significant drop in creative and quality TV advertising campaigns - with companies using more targeted and efficient channels to build their brands and create exposure, most specifically via social media. And as the TV channels continue to sell the space, prime time advert breaks have become littered with low cost TV adverts that lack creativity - to the degree that I will actually switch the adverts off when they come on.

Granted in 2011 there were some rememberable campaigns -

'comparethemarket.com' (yes the one with the meerkats - which you can't help but smile at); and the advert that was voted ad of 2011 featuring the woman talking about her husband's penchant for a cup of char before declaring: "I don't like tea. I like gin" (Aldi). However, in my mind neither of these are of the quality that we used to see and enjoy - for example, the Guinness advert with the horses... if you are too young to remember this, I suggest that you Google it! This is definitely a sign of the times, but even though budgets are low, do TV adverts have to lack creativity? 

I would say a prime example is the series of recently launched recruitment television adverts by both Reed.co.uk and totaljobs.com. As an advertiser on both of these sites, it is positive to see that they are marketing themselves - however, I would say that the content, delivery and production of the adverts is poor, and not really a true reflection of these job boards. They look like they are home made, and actually remind me of some adverts that we produced as a business at a teambuilding weekend a couple of years ago in an Apprentice-style task. Both of these job boards are generalist sites - however, as a finance and legal recruitment specialist I don't think that they have considered our audience in their remit or creative brief. They actually made me cringe when watching them.

In contrast, jobsite.co.uk have continued to invest in their TV campaign with Max Beesley as the star. Their adverts promote the benefits of online recruitment, they acknowledge the thought process that you go through as a job seeker and promote themselves as a reputable job site... making it a simple yet effective advert. 

Let me know which adverts have really stood out to you... good or bad!