Comment by Michael B. Moore on January 3, 2011 at 8:12pm

The objective of advertising is to deliver sales and marketing messages to consumers; to cut through the fog of daily commercial communications to successfully deposit your marketing message into your consumers' brains.  And then, oh by the way, once you break through - to hopefully have something compelling and strategic to say that will motivate your consumer to actually buy your product.  I clearly understand the overwhelming pressure to ensure that every media dollar works its hardest for you and cuts as effectively as possible through the clutter.  That frequently gargantuan challenge pushes advertisers to take all manner of creative and strategic risks to be heard.  A great example of a brand getting way outside of the box in this effort was the Old Spice campaign.  You remember, the completely zany campaign with the enormous viral following.

 

In my opinion this ad by The Ladders is a mongrel offspring between the irreverence and insanity of the Old Spice campaign and the suggestiveness of the 'Go Daddy' Super Bowl spots of the past few years.  

 

I understand what the thinking must have been in drafting the creative brief for this spot: to be uber creative, to push sensibilities to grab eyeballs, and to create lots of buzz, etc., etc.  I applaud the folks at The Ladders for taking the chance, but unfortunately, IMO, the spot falls completely flat on its face.  It seems really off strategy, makes very little sense, and probably won't have a big impact on the business.  The 'big idea' is around making yourself "more attractive" to employers.  The spot takes a decidedly parodic approach and ostensibly shows professional people in all manner of ridiculous faux sexy poses.  

 

People will quickly understand the metaphor here, but is the message packaged in a way that presents the business in the most strategic light?  I guess the extraordinarily over-the-top manner in which the message is delivered is designed to cast a wide net to attract potential new clients, but in doing so does it demean the over-all standing of the brand such that the exclusiveness that is at its core is compromised?

 

In this economy the notion of finding a new job, particularly if you're a $100K+ earner, is probably nothing less than terrifying.  At the same time, employers have to be even more thoughtful and careful so as to minimize the financial downside of bad hiring decisions.  When looking for recruiting assistance, both job seekers and employers would seem to want to align themselves with a service that, more than anything, inspires confidence and relieves stress.  

 

I don't understand how this spot delivers against those attributes.  At all.   This ad, while perhaps wacky enough to cut through some clutter, does so with potentially such a high cost to the positioning of the brand and service as to render it counter productive.  Perhaps a silver lining is that the 'big idea' overwhelms the branding so that folks might not even connect The Ladders to it.  Oh well . . .

Comment by Gunnar Branson on February 4, 2011 at 12:14am

Excellent points - I couldn't agree more with your analysis.  

I might add one thought, though.  The metaphor of job hunters selling themselves in suggestive and a sexualized manner may run the risk of not only demeaning the brand but also those who are at their most vulnerable.  It was one of the more depressing ads of this season, and should come with a warning for those who are actually looking for work, lest they drop even further into depression and self-doubt.

I wonder who was in the focus groups for this one.  Were they all currently employed? 

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