I have, today actually, as I perused my Newsday of Friday December 9th.
Page 2 is a full page ad for RBTT Bank encouraging account holders to use their RBTT credit-card for Christmas purchasing. The tag-line is 'The Rewards of Giving'.
This advertisement is a decent marketing image featuring a beautiful brown complexioned young lady. She looks late teens or early twenties and has her hair in the hair-dressed fake natural look that is now prevalent. I like the fact that this girl is not the usual red-woman/white-woman combination most advertising houses in this country opt for.
Rating: 6 blinks
Page 6 is another full-page ad. The advertiser here is TSTT for their b-mobile campaign. I have to admit, TSTT has done a very good job with their b-mobile campaign. They would have been simpletons to not run a successful campaign because b-mobile campaigns have already littered much of the Caribbean archipelago. There is a lot for TSTT to copy and learn from.
Nevertheless, this ad utilises the traditional -and safe- Christmas colours of red and green. Also commonplace is the use of local celebrities and TSTT have commissioned soca stars Machel Montano and Shurwayne Winchester, and media darling Anil Roberts.
The ad has a lot of information but does not overwhelm the viewer/reader, and importantly, the terms and conditions are clearly discernible for those with eyes to see.
I am no fan of TSTT but the blame attached to them -re inducing customers to sign unfairly- is unjustified.
Rating: 7 blinks
The venerable Pennywise Cosmetics invades page 17 with pink -lots of it- and purple. This is not a very good ad.
Pennywise is enormously popular but they are not known as a place to purchase Christmas gifts. This ad featuring photos of hair-dryers is their attempt to suck-in the gift-buying public. I doubt it will have an effect.
Unrelated to the effectiveness of the ad, I must confess to being put-off by the 'God is love' sloganeering. Pennywise already bombards you -admittedly you do not have to shop there- with Sai Baba imagery and photos; now they have this in their ads?
Odd, very odd.
Rating: 3 blinks
Page 21 is yet another, boring, marginally effective, full-page ad from Digicel. Frankly, Digicel's ads are poor.
If this is the best a global giant can muster, I am very concerned.
The one thing pleasing about this ad is the body -read hips and ass- of Nicole Phipps, Digicel Trinidad's marketing Director. The ring on her right-hand looks a bit cheap though, but it fits right in with the inexpensive look of the ad.
What's with all the writing? Maybe it was useful at the beginning, but change it already.
Which local dimwitted company is responsible for these bads, I mean ads?
Rating: 2 blinks.
Page 23 is a good page for Micles. The top left-hand corner shows a hilarious photo of former Ms World, now Angostura PRO, Gisele La Ronde being molested by a group of enthusiastic children at the Angostura Children's Christmas party. That picture will halt any reader's intention to turn the page and the resulting pause will focus attention on the outstanding Micles ad.
I can never tire of those ads because the models are outstandingly attractive, and for two of them, outrageously sexy. My two favourites are Louanna Laurie, the hot-bod in the yellow tank-top and denim skirt; and whomever that girl is in the sky-blue shirt and denim skirt.
I love the Micles ads.
Rating: 7 blinks
You should be pretty eye-weary reading this, so, in your interest I'll end this as Pt1 and if and when you are prepared to read my opinion of more ads in the Newsday you may click........the advertisement critic.
Labels: Newsday, Trinidad newspaper
