What We’re Following: Week of November 9th

A Little Girl Shows Her Managing Editor Skills in Eason’s Holiday Spot

Eason is a major bookstore in Ireland that has always managed to feel cozy and local. It has the kind of warmth Barnes & Noble has been trying too hard to create for years.

At the heart of their new spot is a straightforward premise: a little girl who wants her grandfather to read to her. Cue the plea, the old man being busy, then a shared trip to Eason. The result is a delightfully clever and heartwarming turnaround at the end of it.

I don’t want to give too much away. It’s only 60 seconds, and it’s an ad worth watching.

Do you think Grandpa was trying to get her out his hair with buying that book?

San Francisco Bay Coffee Wants to Pick a Brawl With All of Big Coffee

“One Small Sip for a Better Tomorrow” by San Francisco Bay Coffee is a quick-paced ad that leans into that Home Depot “hustle” vibe with its music and forward momentum narration. It’s a straight-up positioning ad, and I love that about it.The showdown is simple: Small Coffee vs. Big Coffee.
The goal is just as clear: capture market share from Big Coffee.

The differentiation points are strong and centered on small coffee knowing their farmers and treating them well. That means a better supply chain and better beans. And of course, it’s implied that Big Coffee is the opposite.

By not naming their target, the market capture strategy feels like something thought up by a PGA golfer. While most companies aim to steal share from number one, San Francisco Bay Coffee is trying to take it from the rest of the field.

That’s fascinating because in golf, if you’re given the choice between betting on one golfer or the entire field, statistically you always take the field.

I’ll be keeping an eye on how Cutwater executes this strategy. I’m rooting for it to work. I love when a marketing play twists convention and lands somewhere unexpected.

Would you be audacious enough to take on an entire industry instead of the number-one company in it?

See’s Candies Dares You to Conquer a Mountainous Kitchen Island of Chocolates

See’s Candies “Break Out the Good Stuff” is a campaign featuring several very well-produced and creative ads. I want to focus on the one that’s the jewel of the bunch. It’s called “Island of See’s.”

The other ads in the campaign center around common situations as a starting premise, such as a bad kid at Christmas, what wine to bring to a party, or what you want when you aren’t feeling well. This ad flips that.

It’s an uncommon situation entirely, walking into a kitchen where the whole island is loaded with a mountain of See’s Candies. From there the creativity opens up completely. The copy reframes the situation into one that adopts much of the experience marketing one encounters from a luxury vacation.

The deadpan, slightly sardonic, straight-faced narrator pairs perfectly with the setup, elevating an absurd and unexpected situation to another level.

Adjusting the lens of a common product made well into a luxury user experience is a brilliant creative move. Even better is how well directed this commercial is. As the viewer, you vicariously live the experience through the eyes of a couple encountering a kitchen island of chocolates. That’s not easy to do.

This ad is amusing, clever, and a delight to watch.

Xfinity Replaces Santa Claus with Santa Oz

Once November 1st hits, ads get formula-level magical. Santa appears. Kids wish for impossible things. It looks like it might not happen. Then it does, and everyone gets what they want for Christmas. That never changes.

Xfinity is doing the same thing, only they’re trading Santa’s magic for movie magic. On the surface, it seems simple, but replacing the Big Jolly Guy and Christmas completely is a tough task.

You need something with classic movie magic that’s also been revived in pop culture. Wicked, check. After that, casting is everything. The original Oz is no Santa. But Jeff Goldblum’s quirkiness and sense of wonder in the most inexplicable things make him perfect for it. Also, if Goldblum is in an ad, you’ll watch because you don’t know where it’s going to go. So Goldblum, check.

Now the part that makes the magic possible:
Every kid knows that Santa is Santa because Santa believes in Santa.
Luckily for us, this ad works because Goldblum plays Oz the same way. Oz is Oz because Oz believes in Oz. The original Oz didn’t.

The result is a surprisingly effective Christmas ad that isn’t a Christmas ad. It’s an ad for a five-year wireless plan with a “Wicked For Good” promotional tie-in. But luckily, that doesn’t get thrown in your face until the very end.

Makes you wonder what a Wizard of Claus ad would be like, doesn't it?

Aldi Wants to Take Your Pants Off This Christmas

You have to hand it to Aldi. They believe in advertising and aren’t afraid to take risks with creative. This Aldi ad from Australia proves it. They’re also smart enough to know it’s an ad that works there and not here.

In America, being skinny is treated like a moral virtue. Casual fat-shaming passes as “constructive criticism.” There will never be an ad in the U.S. that says, “It’s okay, it’s the holidays, live a little.”

The only culturally approved “eat more” ads in America feature a mother feeding her son from baby to grown-ass man a hearty meal meant to make him “big and strong.” And those ads will never have a daughter in them. Think Campbell’s Chunky Soup.

It’s a shame, really. Because this Aldi spot is pure fun, full of playful chaos and self-aware indulgence.