On Monday I noticed this really bad DStv ad in a newspaper and thought: Why on earth is MultiChoice paying a lot of money for mistakes and a bad ad where there's clearly not just a lack of attention to detail but a waste of space and a lack of actually promoting and marketing what DStv offers?
If you click on the ad you can see it bigger - and stare at the shoddiness and mistakes.
Somebody can maybe tell the ad agency that billed DStv and the "creatives" and the person or people who signed off on this rectangle of bad that The Disney Channel actually changed its channel logo ... mmm ... more than two months ago.
If I were The Walt Disney Company in South Africa I would be very upset.
If I were The Walt Disney Company in South Africa I would actually be even more upset that a DStv ad says Star Wars Rebels is on The Disney Channel on channel 303.
Anybody at an ad agency or DStv or Disney who actually cares about the brand would know its on Disney XD on channel 304.
If you really wanted to promote the Disney Channel, then why not rather go with the hot new show Girl Meets World?
Same for Ben 10 on Cartoon Network. Ben isn't 10 and has grown up a bit in the uhm ... years since the original Ben 10. What is actually showing is Ben 10: Omniverse, the fourth series in the franchise.
If the bad DStv ad actually said Ben 10: Omniverse, a lot of parents and kids would know it means "latest" and best new Ben 10 - not stale, old, rerun Ben 10 from 2005.
And why building blocks? If you're a visual brand like a broadcaster or pay-TV provider show the friggin programming. Nothing beats a visual show-and-tell of hot programming images.
And who knows: An actual kid might see the pretty images and pester the parent to please get DStv or the channel.
When a kid sees this bad DStv ad they will probably ask their parent to buy them Lego because they see blocks.
Why do you use a fear appeal to negatively detract from another product (play blocks) which isn't even your own thing, instead of using the available space to be positive and to promote the benefits and attributes of your own product and service?
If I were an ad director I would never have signed off on a total lazy mess like this doing a disservice to my client. And if that is what the brief was from MultiChoice as the client, I would go: Uhm, you know, this could actually be done better.
UPDATE 20:00 - MultiChoice tells me that the ad was "unfortunately due to human error where a draft slipped through for insertion instead of the final approved, and correct version."
"This is certainly not the norm, as we constantly strive to ensure that our brands are represented in the highest creative stature publicly."
