Fisker ad in Wall Street Journal on Friday
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Interesting timing with the Model S deliveries the same day
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As a former (award winning) advertising copywriter, my opinion is that it is an ad in search of a concept. In other words, it is weak.
Oh, the concept is there alright. You'll find it in the last line: "Building the future never is (easy)."
Okay, whatever. It isn't a ground breaking thought. It isn't clever or funny or even educational. It doesn't create mystique for the Fisker brand or lend personality to a pretty remarkable car. Nope, it just sort of lays there.
And instead of using that thought as a headline, they buried it at the end of a daunting block of copy that is delivered in a font/handwriting that I think most will find difficult to read. I think they knew they didn't have any big idea there and tried to cover it up by putting it at the very end of the copy.
The art direction could have saved the ad. With a really great shot of the Karma, a font both legible and appropriate, and a well chosen layout, it might have worked.
But the art direction is *terrible*.
The copy isn't particularly long. But it is laid out in such a way that it seems much longer than it really is.
Worse, the font looks like an apology letter. It's the sort of font you'd want to use following a corporate disaster when you wanted to make nice with the consumer. Think BP's oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, a cruise ship grounding and sinking just off the coast of Italy, or, well, a car catching on fire and burning part of a customer's home. It sets the exact opposite tone Fisker should be trying to create right now.
And finally, why on earth would anyone in their right mind choose to use an overhead shot of such a gorgeous car? It's like having a top model pose for an ad and then deciding to throw out all the shots of the face/body and just use the shot of the top of their head. If it somehow played into the concept of the ad, it would make sense. But it doesn't. And so it ends up being a wasted opportunity to seduce with the beauty of the car.
The ad is a great big, giant FAIL!!
Oh, the concept is there alright. You'll find it in the last line: "Building the future never is (easy)."
Okay, whatever. It isn't a ground breaking thought. It isn't clever or funny or even educational. It doesn't create mystique for the Fisker brand or lend personality to a pretty remarkable car. Nope, it just sort of lays there.
And instead of using that thought as a headline, they buried it at the end of a daunting block of copy that is delivered in a font/handwriting that I think most will find difficult to read. I think they knew they didn't have any big idea there and tried to cover it up by putting it at the very end of the copy.
The art direction could have saved the ad. With a really great shot of the Karma, a font both legible and appropriate, and a well chosen layout, it might have worked.
But the art direction is *terrible*.
The copy isn't particularly long. But it is laid out in such a way that it seems much longer than it really is.
Worse, the font looks like an apology letter. It's the sort of font you'd want to use following a corporate disaster when you wanted to make nice with the consumer. Think BP's oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, a cruise ship grounding and sinking just off the coast of Italy, or, well, a car catching on fire and burning part of a customer's home. It sets the exact opposite tone Fisker should be trying to create right now.
And finally, why on earth would anyone in their right mind choose to use an overhead shot of such a gorgeous car? It's like having a top model pose for an ad and then deciding to throw out all the shots of the face/body and just use the shot of the top of their head. If it somehow played into the concept of the ad, it would make sense. But it doesn't. And so it ends up being a wasted opportunity to seduce with the beauty of the car.
The ad is a great big, giant FAIL!!
Right. It just comes off as kind of melancholy and disappointed while trying to tough it out. It should just be saying look how awesome our cars are.Weird Fishes said:
From the Adage article:
So this will be the brand voice? Anyone who gets the WSJ have any photos of the full spread?
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Sorry about removing my post, doug. I sat there and thought about it and decided perhaps I've been out of the advertising business so long that I've lost touch with what is and isn't a good ad. So I texted a buddy of mine who is still in advertising (and quite successful I might add) and asked her what she thought of the ad. Her response "You're right. The ads are terrible. Everything you said is spot on. And what's really surprising is that Mono is one of the hottest agencies going right now."doug said:I agree. To me it says, "Sorry about the bugs, cars are hard."
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Edit to add: Hmmm... seems the post I was responding to disappeared.
So, to paraphrase what I said in the post that I subsequently removed:
UGH!!!!!!!
NO!NO!NO!NO!NO!NO!
These ads are not doing Fisker any favors whatsoever. They don't educate. They don't create mystique. They don't lend a personality to a fantastic, groundbreaking car. In a tangential way, they allude to the stumbles, the mis-steps, that Fisker has made along the way. These ads are the exact opposite direction of where Fisker needs to go with their image at this moment in time.
As Doug put it, these ads say "Sorry about the bugs. Cars are hard."
FAIL!
I don't think this will be the only adv that Fisker will put out. It is an adv campaign. It is not one shot and score.
The main point is the timing of the adv, being on Friday, lined up with Tesla's big day. It is a great idea to share the spot light.
A campaign can be a story. To get people to understand the details of the history of Fisker, where it came from and how it got here. To give them a better sense of appreciation. Then, the next adv can build on that.
For some, it might look bad. To me, it is clever.
The main point is the timing of the adv, being on Friday, lined up with Tesla's big day. It is a great idea to share the spot light.
A campaign can be a story. To get people to understand the details of the history of Fisker, where it came from and how it got here. To give them a better sense of appreciation. Then, the next adv can build on that.
For some, it might look bad. To me, it is clever.
Well, I'm glad Fisker is at least advertising! But, as mentioned previously, it doesn't scream like it should. It actually seems like an ad to us, the owners. We get it Fisker. Thanks for the note. Now, go and make the world feel the way we do. Dazzle them with the unbelievable elegance and technology that we enjoy daily! IMHO! Still lovin it!
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I think the challenge for Fisker is to somehow capture in an ad what we as owners experience every day:
A stunningly beautiful car...
that gets 50-100 mpg in normal everyday usage...
and attracts more attention than any car we have ever owned...
while helping the environment.
If they can somehow communicate that in an ad campaign, it should send people to the showrooms.
:heart::fisker:
A stunningly beautiful car...
that gets 50-100 mpg in normal everyday usage...
and attracts more attention than any car we have ever owned...
while helping the environment.
If they can somehow communicate that in an ad campaign, it should send people to the showrooms.
:heart::fisker:
In the age of User Generated Content, you should create the ad you think they should have run. I bet you can do way better, and I'd love to see it (and would forward it to everyone I know).Weird Fishes said:
I agree, their ad violates most every best practice is print advertising. No headline, tough to read font, too much text / not enough white space, and not a shot of a car someone outside of a helicopter would ever see (therefore no visual connection of message with real-world sighting).
A waste of Fisker's money.
I need to send Fisker a copy of my now book and point to the Fisker case study at the end of the book, because they are doing just about everything wrong. Now that Ad Age wrote a cover story on my book, and it is achieved best seller on Amazon and Barnes & Noble, maybe Fisker will give it a read and consider it.
My perspective is that just about every dollar they have in marketing should be focused on getting customers to become huge advocates of Fisker's message, and giving us content to share to promote the brand. They should have taken the six figure WSJ ad money and poured it into a party for customers and their friends to experience the car first hand in driving experiences. They are trying to spend like giants, when they should be figuring out how to run through their legs with social media and in person event marketing & pr.
I so much want to see Fisker succeed, it is a shame to see them blunder like this.
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