Comment by Michael B. Moore on September 11, 2010 at 12:52pm

One of the huge challenges in advertising is balancing the presentation of ‘The Big Creative Idea’ of the spot versus an appropriate celebration of The Brand. Frequently, creatives come up with such a fantastic advertising idea that it ends up actually overpowering the brand and product that it should be supporting. Viewers are left with a greater impression of the cool “idea” than the brand itself. Here’s an interesting commercial that illustrates this dilemma.

In my view, this is really much more of a Ducati ad than a Zerox one. The visuals are dominated (in time and in impact) by that brand and even though Zerox insinuates itself later - it never breaks through to actually own the spot. Even with the Zerox logo and copy at the end, I’m still left thinking more about Ducati than I am about Zerox.

Now I get the notion that Zerox is behind the scenes at many companies. I get that they are suggesting that they allow companies that do cool things to focus on those things that make them cool and not document management. I just think that Zerox could have been much more prominently featured in the spot to more powerfully tell the story about what they do and how they add value to others.

Aside from this fundamental issue, I have other questions about this commercial as well. Humor is an extremely powerful tool - when used wisely. I don’t understand the initial line in the spot. A guy in a white lab coat asks a test rider on top of a bike in a wind tunnel, “are you busy?”. Are you serious? Of course he’s busy. Perhaps the intent is to show that Zerox keeps companies focused on their core capabilities, but are we really to be believe that Ducati has no administrative help? Even excusing that logical lapse, the rider is in his full-on racing leathers in an active wind tunnel and is obviously doing something. I don’t get it.

As well, even though this is a Zerox ad, they are, ostensibly, showing a Ducati test session. Wouldn’t the guy in the lab coat, a Ducati employee, - if speaking English at all - most likely have an Italian accent? As well, why is he asking a test rider about getting some documents translated in the first place? Are we to believe that Ducati is so stretched that they are forced to have employees with that broad a job description: test rider/document translator?

I think the imagery of the rider on the bike with the plume of smoke over him is fantastic! The bike looks sexy, as one would expect. Images of the rider in his leathers are compelling. The smoke blasting over them is very cool as well. Its a great presentation of the Ducati brand which, unfortunately just overpowers any and all content about Zerox. Further, the attempts at humor feel off base. They don’t work - leaving this viewer wondering about the judgment of those writing the ad.

At the end of the day, to me, this commercial just doesn't work. As discussed, its an example of ad idea overpowering its brand. Zerox is lost in the spot and even with the effort at the end to take it back, they fail to deliver a strong and compelling message - for Zerox. To me, the over-all effort is akin to one of the logos on a NASCAR vehicle. It creates some awareness, but in the end, without major efforts to activate the sponsorship, its all about the car, the driver, and the race - and not the brand writing the check to merely be there.

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