Ad 2: Skinny Maccas?!

Every now and then, an ad comes into your life that makes you really laugh. The subject of tonight's post is definately no exception. 

The ad has a bit of slapstick comedy, but if you look closely, and pull the ad apart, you'll see the elements that point the subject of today's post towards brand positioning. Have a look at what we find. You may want to add some thoughts of you own.

Exhibit 1: "New Frappes from $2.95 - Elevator" - 30 second TVC: McDonald's Australia.

I couldn't find the online video for this anywhere, but if you turn on your TV, you'll probably see it within 5 minutes.
Description: Ad opens with neatly-dressed, skinny, half-Asian, corparate Female in a very professional-looking foyer. She presses the elevator button, and waits - holding a perfect looking Frappe, with the distinguishable Macca's arches appearing at the front of the cup. She waits, looks down, waits, looks down, waits, looks down. Finally, she takes a sip of the frappe. Just as she does, we see the elevator doors open, and a "whoosh" of brown liquid floods the foyer, including our skinny friend.

Notice anything unusual?
Who associates fast-food, let alone Maccas, with skinny?



Hang on...I'm counting.


No one? That's right! No one does. In fact, the first thing my wife says at the start of the ad is "there is no way that girl eats at Maccas". If you saw how skinny her arms were, you'd agree. If she was put in the middle of a garbage tip, you would think you were watching a world vision ad. During the moment of suspense, just before she takes a sip, I thought it would be funny if the effect of drinking it would be that her arms would triple in diameter. Too bad, she just potentially drowns in a mixture of icy-cold water, fake coffee stuff, and preservative 202.

(By the way, I hope I am not offending any of my skinny readers. The only way I can say this stuff is because I too am a sufferer of Skinyeesity.)


Some thoughts:

What we have seen Maccas do here is attempt, once again, to reposition their brand. Within the past five years, we have seen them reposition from, "Cheap, fatty, awesomeness", to "heart ticks. Get your heart ticks here", to "Angus, that's who", to "Fancy, not Shmancy", back to "cheap, fatty, awesomeness", to "free-as-a-bird range", to "skinny people eat here, no matter what you say".

And the sad thing is, repositioning usually starts with how a product or brand is promoted (our parents saw the same thing happen with cigarrettes). So what Maccas has done, though a skinny person eating Maccas looks ridiculous at the moment, is actually really clever marketing. If they persist, chances are more and more people will see Maccas as the place to go to get a skinny snack. Doesn't matter what the product actually does to you. For instance, have a look at the ingredients for the Coffee Kick Frappe, the same drink advertised with our skinny friend (sourced from McDonalds.com.au):

COFFEE FLAVOURED FRAPPE BASE: Milk, Sugar (THE SECOND INGREDIENT), Cream, Milk Solids, Water, Coffee Powder, Emulsifier (471), Stabilisers (412, 466, 410, 407a, 407), Flavours (FAKE).

ICE: Water (ALMOST SURPRISING)WHIPPED CREAM: Cream, Propellant (Nitrous Oxide), Emulsifier (471), Flavour, Vegetable Gums (407, 401).COFFEE SAUCE: Sucrose Syrup, Thickener (1422), Flavours, Cocoa Powder, Vegetable Gum (415), Colour (150d), Coffee, Salt, Food Acid (330), Preservative (202).

The words in bold are all the fake stuff - additives. These things make you fat. But, because of brand positioning, the population will, during "a limited time", see this as a skinny snack. Mmmmmm....thickener.

But, as I said, good for them, it works. My father and I were at Maccas the other day. I felt like having something healthy, so I got a Bananaberry Bash Smoothie, and a piece of banana bread. Sounds like a health food....check out the ingredients.

Anyway, just so you know...ads by marketing geniuses like Maccas aren't designed to mearly make us laugh. It's about getting the majority of the target audience to position their brand in a certain way. In sociology, this is actually called McDonaldisation (True!). In Adland it is called Brand Positioning.

Mmm...I'm getting a bit snackie, Macca's anyone?

Tell me your thoughts

•  Have you seen the ad in question?
• Any other ads that are obvious as to their cause?
  
  

Glossary:

TVC - Short for Television Commercial

Brand Positioning - The place in a consumer's mind where a brand sits compared to the competition.

If you want to see all the ingredients in Maccas' food: Click Here