Published on
April 2, 2024
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Welcome to the Breakdown, a weekly roundup of the best real-life marketing examples, created for marketers and agency folk that want to create work that actually works.
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Ever taken a photo from your window-seat spot on a flight before? British Airways are turning the camera back at you.
The brand's latest OOH campaign, featuring 11 executions, draws on the very universal insight that people like to look out of planes when they're flying. It's not very "smart" or "nuanced" or "culturally relevant" - it's a plain and simple insight about how people behave when travelling. And we think it works a treat.
The ads themselves are deliberately simple. They cut off the brand name, but leave enough for the ad to be recognisably BA. In the words of Nils Leonard,
“Only truly iconic brands can say less. The magazine you notice most is the one with the least on the cover; the same is true of posters. We’re proud to share our latest outdoor with our partners – capturing the magic of that window view in a new place, the many different faces that board a BA plane – each and every one a British original.”
Work like this is often divisive. It's unclear what metric the brand wants to shift, and the sparsity of the ads means everyone gets invited to a mass creative review on Twitter and LinkedIn. So you're totally at the mercy of social media commenters "not getting it." Like this guy, who said "They look like prisoners seeing daylight for the first time, so no, it's not good."
This is insightful, attention-worthy work. Uncommon are on a bit of a hot streak, so we're willing to bet that this latest campaign for BA has a clear goal in mind. We wouldn't bet that that goal was the number of inflammatory LinkedIn posts, but there'll be something. Brand perceptions, maybe. Read our "fuller" breakdown here.
There's something quite Nike-y about this one.
Tracksmith have built up a bit of a reputation as an exclusive brand. Sometimes prompting a bit of backlash.
People weren't happy that their Boston singlet wasn't more widely available. The reason was because it was only available to those who ran the Boston marathon.
Tracksmith are exclusive. Not because of price like designer brands (though their products are quite expensive). But because they're for a certain group of people. And this latest ad sums that up in the best way. According to the new spot, Tracksmith is for
The ad ends with the line "In running, we are all amateurs." It's brilliant. It's inviting and inclusive, while being exclusive at the same time. Not everyone is willing to be an amateur. Not everyone wants to be in love with running. That's fine. Tracksmith isn't for you.
Being exclusionary isn't actually a bad thing, in and of itself. Most brands are "for" a certain group of people already, but some make this a key point of the brand. Like Apple being for creatives. At worst, you alienate one group while validating another. At best, like Apple, and maybe like Tracksmith, you make people want to be the kind of person who buys your brand.
A simple execution helps cancer awareness charity Prost8 explain the reality of prostate checks.
This is just funny.
I don't think there's an insight here. Or maybe it's the classic "a bent arm looks like a butt when close up".
But the work is funny and eye-catching, and very conducive to onward sharing. When your goal is to raise awareness for prostate checks, the creative lines up very nicely.
The small amount of copy that is on the ad reads: "A prostate check isn't what you think; it's just a blood test taken from your arm."
Who wouldn't like this campaign? It's funny, creative, simple, delivers a clear message and works hard to meet its objectives. 10/10, 5 stars, "a must-see" etc. etc.