Monday, February 1, 2010
Applebee'sOliveGardenTGIFriday's same as it ever was.
Not, that they weren’t before. But a regular reader sent a spot in and made a comment about how sometimes, straight-forward ads with my always-requisite food porn shot is enough. As he put it:
“I think the message is pretty clear. “Applebees is the place for high-achieving, beautiful kids, and their ruggedly handsome but aged parent to connect” Now, as a 30 Y/O living (yeah, I’m 20 years that guys junior) with my significant other and her 15 Y/O daughter, let me tell you that this is “Brand-as-lifestyle crack.” Now, If I didn't already LOATH Crapplebees, it would be in mind the next time I was responsible for feeding the kid and I. Lesson, good ads can sometimes be more about rock solid execution than brilliant concept.”
Hard to argue that, even though many brands try owning the bonding thing. Still, I see the point, in that Applebee’s et al. aren’t there to push advertising envelopes and live on edges people. They just wanna move product. Then I saw a spot later that day with grandfather and grandson and thought it was part of the same series, down to the last shot. Except that it was for Olive Garden.
Not surprising given holding companies own several of these chains which approach their marketing by using the same playbook. Look at an old OG spot. Distinuguish it from Ruby Tuesday. Or Outback. All. The. Same.
Well, at least Woody from T.G.I. Friday’s had a Facebook, so there’s that at least.
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2 comments:
I guess the problem is that they do look all the same, and in my mind they're all interchangeable. So I might see an Applebee's ad, but the next time I'm driving through suburbia and I'm hungry, I won't remember if it was TGI Friday's, Olive Garden, or Ruby Tuesday's. That's why I refer to all of them as "Tchotchkes" in tribute to the restaurant in Office Space:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTnoyKgEUhc
Wow,
Praise from Caesar :)
Look Ma! The ad-man on the innernets qouted me!!!
Brice has a point, when all the ads are the same and basically so is the food, do consumers really give a shit whether they are pulling into Chili's, Fridays, Crapplebees, etc. They really are all "Tchotchkes"
30 pieces of flair Dammit!
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