Homer Simpson's beer-of-choice was no craft beer with a distinctive name and special brewing recipe. Indeed, Duff was an undistinguished everyman beer, a sort of composite of blue-collar beer brands through the ages. Like Homer himself, ordinary and not-special was its reason for being. Duff ads pretty much applied to--and lampooned--any beer back then. Here's an example, awash in the sexism prevalent in beer advertising at the time.
But that was a cartoon, right? Nobody'd seriously market a beer with feature-free generic ads.
Or would they?
Not long ago, we hammered craft-beer brands for their flawed attempts at advertising. Many were employing an identical strategy, one that suited any--and every--craft brand. As a result, none of them registered anything distinctive about their craft brand. Generic advertising like that is the stuff of Duff. Selling the entire category is a waste of the advertiser's money, and we noted that craft brewers, without the lottery-like ad budgets of BigBeer, could ill-afford to throw money away.
Now comes Busch beer wasting more money on generic advertising than all the craft beers put together. A lottery loser for sure.
"Our beer is for hard-working men (and a token woman)" may be the least differentiating, most generic of beer-brand strategies. Take a look...
Or would they?
Not long ago, we hammered craft-beer brands for their flawed attempts at advertising. Many were employing an identical strategy, one that suited any--and every--craft brand. As a result, none of them registered anything distinctive about their craft brand. Generic advertising like that is the stuff of Duff. Selling the entire category is a waste of the advertiser's money, and we noted that craft brewers, without the lottery-like ad budgets of BigBeer, could ill-afford to throw money away.
Now comes Busch beer wasting more money on generic advertising than all the craft beers put together. A lottery loser for sure.
"Our beer is for hard-working men (and a token woman)" may be the least differentiating, most generic of beer-brand strategies. Take a look...
At best, the ad prompts viewers to want a beer... any beer. Not only does the ad's creative notion--saluting hard-working folks working hard--lack distinctiveness, there is absolutely no fact included to convince viewers Busch beer is a particularly good choice for the working class.
Generic it is: Any other BigBeer brand could substitute its cans and bottles and run this ad. But for the different logos, it's as much a Miller High Life or an Old Milwaukee message as it is a Busch message.
Generic it is: Any other BigBeer brand could substitute its cans and bottles and run this ad. But for the different logos, it's as much a Miller High Life or an Old Milwaukee message as it is a Busch message.
Why not add a sticker to the label, too?
The antidote to generic ads
Who's responsible for these generic ads?
Generic advertising is the consequence of lazy creative people being lazy.
In place of thoughtful strategic thinking, the ad guys make empty promises like "We'll look like a leader!" Or, "We can own the target!" Perhaps intimidated, no voice is raised with reasonable responses like, "How is this distinctive?" Or: "Won't we look just like any other brand?" Choosing to proceed without analysis or accountability, insecure clients green-light ineffective generic ads.
Effective advertising, on the other hand--the kind that captures viewer interest and registers a carefully vetted, provocative difference in the beer itself--takes work, intellect, and discipline. Sadly, those are three traits always in desperately short supply among the laziest of ad guys, the Homer Simpsons of marketing.
Generic advertising is the consequence of lazy creative people being lazy.
In place of thoughtful strategic thinking, the ad guys make empty promises like "We'll look like a leader!" Or, "We can own the target!" Perhaps intimidated, no voice is raised with reasonable responses like, "How is this distinctive?" Or: "Won't we look just like any other brand?" Choosing to proceed without analysis or accountability, insecure clients green-light ineffective generic ads.
Effective advertising, on the other hand--the kind that captures viewer interest and registers a carefully vetted, provocative difference in the beer itself--takes work, intellect, and discipline. Sadly, those are three traits always in desperately short supply among the laziest of ad guys, the Homer Simpsons of marketing.
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