Panadol is giving me a Headache!

I hate stupidity in advertising. Especially when it comes from the big brands. I’m tired of seeing Panadol ads abruptly disturbing my television programme just to remind me of the time, in the middle of a movie – sometimes even in the middle of a sentence. These senseless and inappropriate time-checks are giving me a headache, and I’ll have to look for something else for relief! If I needed a time-check a few times every hour, I would stare at a clock, not at the television. I watch television to wind-down and chill-out, not to get pissed-off at some marketer’s stupidity.

Television break-ins and break-outs are great, if only the idea is well executed in a smart manner. Smart, meaning – Simple, Meaningful, Appropriate, Relevant and Timely.

Here’s a good example of a break-in/break-out that most of us see often on Al Jazeera:

“Tonight
we see some strong Arabica Coffee
brewing
over the Middle East.”

“The Weather
Sponsored by Qatar Airways”

Very Nice, very smart. And there’s more of them. Not only they linked an airline-business to weather, they cleverly managed to get the consumers like you and I, to actually like their advertising.

I know the people pushing buttons at the television stations aren’t that clever to fade-out to a commercial break before butting-in with a time-check; but I’m sure there must be some brains behind the Panadol brand team. The creatives, the client servicing, the brand managers, the marketing manager... the whole line-up can’t be stupid, can they?

Munchee can break-in anytime with a “snack” angle, or Horlicks could “at the end of a tiring day.” Lipton too could, anytime, because anytime is teatime in the Paradise isle.

I would hate to hate one of my favourite brands. Panadol must master the “art” of advertising – find a relevant angle, be simple and meaningful, pick the appropriate way and the right time – be clever, and my headache shall be over.