Welcome to ‘The Sauce’ – your weekly dollop of marketing news.
By Ashleigh Morris, our Content and Comms Lead.
Welcome to ‘The Sauce’ – your dollop of marketing news from the past week.
This week we’re looking at ads centred around this year’s Euros, Just Vote’s bold new OOH ad, and discussing Instagram’s new ad feature.
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Ready for the Euros?
Ahead of the Euros kicking off (sorry!) this weekend, brands have been battling it out with the latest football-related ads. Here’s a few of our faves:
‘Mannschaft’ – by Irn Bru
As a proud Scot, I had to pick this one out.
With Scotland playing the tournament’s opening match against host Germany, this ad centres around the word ‘Mannschaft’ – German for football team. It sees a Scottish football fan (and wearer of an Irn Bru coloured kilt) warn Germany that the Scottish mannschaft is coming.
It’s full of puns based on Scottish and German stereotypes “You may take our sun loungers, but you’ll never take our fountains”. It’s one of several humorous ads in a campaign, based around the lines ‘Optimism is back in Scotland’ and ‘We can!’
With puns, Scottishness and a dose of positivity, it’s typical Irn Bru – humorous and almost pushing the boundaries of what’s acceptable. We loved it!
Regardless of the result on Friday, Scotland are winning in the ad stakes. Go on, give it a Google.
‘You Got This – by Adidas
Next up is ‘You Got This’ by Adidas, featuring a cast of footballing greats: Lionel Messi, Ousmane Dembélé, Pedri, Jude Bellingham and David Beckham to name a few.
The video focuses on the pressure faced by football stars when playing for their national team, and builds to a crescendo accompanied by a soundtrack of ‘Under Pressure’ by Queen and David Bowie. Visually it’s well executed, starting in black and white then switching to colour as the music kicks in. It ends with the line ‘You Got This’.
We love the emotion behind this ad, with the focus not just on the players but also on the reactions of the commentators and fans which builds greater emotion and tension and helps the viewer to relate to the video.
Nike… over to you.
‘Europe’s Favourites’ – by Paddy Power
Online betting site Paddy Power has launched their Euros ad, ‘Europe’s favourites’ featuring actor Danny Dyer.
The Irish company are no stranger to controversy in their marketing and this one’s no different, taking aim at the behaviour of the English, from their etiquette abroad to their dress sense and Brexit.
The takeout? England actually are the favourites for this year’s Euros.
And our thoughts on the ad? Humorous but fairly inoffensive by Paddy Power’s standards. So don’t take it personally… time to place your bets.
With puns, Scottishness and a dose of positivity, it’s typical Irn Bru – humorous and almost pushing the boundaries of what’s acceptable. We loved it!