Radvertising

There was a day in the not-too-distant past when ad hacks like me would sit around with Nerf balls or Slinkies pretending to be clever while clients paid good money to watch us dream up quirky headlines and provocative visuals that said everything (and nothing!) about the performance of their products and the image of their brands. That job was called being a "Creative," and it came with cool perks, not least among them a sense of accomplishment, peer validation and self-respect. With the advent of blogs, social media, and other cyber silliness, the cushiest gigs for hot shit Creatives are being washed away in the online jetstream. When advertisers can cram 30 blogs and 300 tweets between every other 2-minute viral video that floods from their in-house marketing department's collective brainstem, who has time or money to waste on "The Big Idea?"

The Big Idea in this campaign for a European contraceptive is breathtakingly obtuse yet drop-dead obvious:

Hansaplast rubbers are tough enough to let you fuck all day

When your brand character, selling proposition and product benefits are this unique, no tweets, blogs or collateral support is necessary. Just drop in the logo and count your money…

Radvertising