One ad break, different extremes

In one ad break just now, saw two ads which provoked very different reactions.

First off, loved the Footlocker ad – it starts mildly shocking (is it an STD awareness ad or a film about domestic violence), challenging (because of this), but it gets the humour just right.

Then the Shane Warne 888 ads came on (no video yet, but greeted with enthusiasm on gambling news sites). From a brand point of view, Warne’s endorsement is pretty full on – he’s even changed his Twitter ID to be a part of the strategy.

While in many ways I respect the Ryanair school of communications (motto: don’t give a shit what people think, consumers still want our cheap flights), I’m not sure it works for these gamblers.

Warne was part of one of the biggest gambling scandals in cricket and in an industry (and sport) which is struggling to clean itself up, so this seems like a massive own goal to me.