EXCLUSIVE: They’re out of fashion and apparently fail abysmally when put through qualitative pre-testing.
So just what was the international Cannes Press Jury thinking last week when it gave the thumbs up to a long copy ad for Arnott's Wagon Wheels?
Created by George Patterson Y&R Sydney, Wagon Wheels landed a Silver Lion and unlike the global trend in print for big pictures and tiny logos in the bottom right of an ad, the Patts Y&R Wagon Wheels work was bursting with witty words.
Is Wagon Wheels by any chance taking heed of Levi’s award-winning work last century (via BBH London) to zig when others zag? We hope so.
The chief executive of Newspaper Works, Tony Hale, is one who’s hardly surprised.
After a conversation with an automotive marketer recently who lamented he could no longer do long copy ads because they couldn’t get through qualitative pre-testing, Hale deployed one of the newspaper industry’s magic new tools using Ipsos Media CT, which shows how ads work in the print medium.
Hale crunched the numbers on long copy ads since 2009 for MLA Red Meat, Nescafe, the Transport Accident Commission and NAB’s “break-up” campaign and flicked them over to the car marketer. We got our hands on it and strangely enough, the data shows that if the copy is sharp and the message engaging, people will actually read. There’s a breakthrough idea. It’s a bit like advertising in general, really. Make an ad that people will enjoy and they just might.
Hale makes another good point too. Because long copy ads are so on the nose with creatives and advertisers these days, when one does get through it’s so rare they get attention by default.
“Everyone is so intent on using short sound-bites, long copy ads can stand out by doing the opposite,” he says.
Agreed. Get hold of the Newspaper Works 10-page long copy low-down if you’re marginally interested in a better world. And give Alex Wadelton a wrap – he’s the bloke at Patts who toiled over the Wagon Wheels copy.
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