by Karen Post, a.k.a. The Branding Diva®

It’s Ad Wednesday.
The hump day that shares the brilliant! and the bad (roadkill) ads from around the planet.

Does annoying work in advertising?
Company: Miralus Healthcare
Product: Head on
Agency: made in-house by HeadOn, (according to slate.com)

My recent most annoying ad (road kill all the way) has got to be: HeadOn

We see them and hear them all the time. Are they strategically annoying or the work product of some marketing team lost in space? I like to know what you think and what your most annoying commercials are?

This is the most amateurish and mind-numbing creative execution out there.

Formula: Repeat the tagline not once, but three times as a woman rubs the product on her forehead. Yet the annoying spots have jump-started sales and won the brand pop-culture credibility and some serious free airtime — including a solemn commentary from “NBC Nightly News” anchor Brian Williams, who called it “the most annoying ad on television.” Sales are up 234%. That gives me a headache.

Watch it here.

Need more annoying spots check out: www.annoying.uber.com

Have you seen any interesting born-again brands that have been around along time and suddenly and need a fresh look or maybe an obituary draft? We want to hear from you.

About the author: Karen Post, a.k.a. The Branding Diva® is an international authority on branding, marketing, and entrepreneurial matters. She is has been featured as a business expert in print publications; on TV, radio, and on Web channels. Karen authored the best-selling book Brain Tattoos, Creating Unique Brands That Stick in your Customers’ Minds and she is co-founder and CEO of Oddpodz.com, an idea engine for creative professionals and business. Her work has benefited large and small organizations in the United States and around the world.

by Karen Post, a.k.a. The Branding Diva®

It’s Ad Wednesday.
The hump day that shares the brilliant! and the bad (roadkill) ads from around the planet.

This Mug does not make you want to buy the man.
Known by many as the modern day Godfather of sales, my pal Jeffrey Gitomer has done some amazing things. His business empire had humble beginnings, he started as an entrepreneur selling t-shirts from his car. Today, he is an international best-seller, author of at least 10 books I can name and has a stable of other product and learning services. His branding and all of his marketing messaging has always been consistent. He’s an in your face, confident and funny guy with a down to earth delivery. I’ve been receiving his weekly Sales Caffeine ezine, which is full of great selling ideas and resources for years. It’s worth checking out www.gitomer.com. This week as I scroll down an ad jumps out at me. Creepy!

The image looks downright scary! Like someone who flew over two cuckoo’s nests. Can’t argue it got my attention, but did it project a brand of trust? Photos matter. I don’t think this is Gitomer’s best look.

About the author: Karen Post, a.k.a. The Branding Diva® is an international authority on branding, marketing, and entrepreneurial matters. She is has been featured as a business expert in print publications; on TV, radio, and on Web channels. Karen authored the best-selling book Brain Tattoos, Creating Unique Brands That Stick in your Customers’ Minds and she is co-founder and CEO of Oddpodz.com, an idea engine for creative professionals and business. Her work has benefited large and small organizations in the United States and around the world.

by Karen Post, a.k.a. The Branding Diva®

Everyday we’all (my stint in Texas taught me that word) experience brilliant and brutally bad advertising. In fact, the average person is touched by over 3,000 dings of this stuff each day.

Some of it is truly powerful and causes us to take action, think, get pissed off or even talk about a brand to our friends. Examples of these kinds of ads will be tagged as Brilliant! and be awarded this shining yellow icon.

Others just really suck. They are cheesy, when no dairy product is being pitched. They are annoying for a bunch of reasons. Or they completely confuse you. Makes you wonder what are the creators thinking?, Were they thinking? These will be classified by us as Road Kill, and sport this dead armadillo logo.

We love ads, especially the compelling ones. And the bad ones, well, they become entertaining stories to sound off about.

In an effort to learn from this vast collection of economic expression and marketing form, Oddpodz Idea Engine Blog is dedicating Wednesdays to “the art, creativity and relevance of advertising.” Each week we will give our three cents and invite yours, too.

So here goes. For our first Road Kill ad.

I am especially sensitive to this one, because, I’m a tennis junkie. Here you have two solid brands Ericsson and Serena Williams. Here you also have some of the worst cropping of body parts. Was everyone on the court and not paying attention to the production quality of this ad?

Moral to this story. You don’t have a good photo to work with? Do a different layout. Protecting your brand means ad policing all communications.

Have you seen any entertaining ads to throw in this gallery of chop, chop there goes a good ad category? If so, send them in.

About the author: Karen Post, a.k.a. The Branding Diva® is an international authority on branding, marketing, and entrepreneurial matters. She is has been featured as a business expert in print publications; on TV, radio, and on Web channels. Karen authored the best-selling book Brain Tattoos, Creating Unique Brands That Stick in your Customers’ Minds and she is co-founder and CEO of Oddpodz.com, an idea engine for creative professionals and business. Her work has benefited large and small organizations in the United States and around the world.