Just needed to be heard for a little while

Pyxis

Aaah! Me want an Oleg!

Pyxis

Just seen you can get Oleg earring! I might get those!

Waves_and_Smiles

Ooooh, yes do! I haven't even activated the two credit cards I got. It was purely to get hold of Oleg both of which happen to live opposite me in the living room. They have birth certificates too!

Pyxis

Haha! what are we like! :rotfl:

Have you got a cabbage patch doll?

System

Pyxis wrote: »

Haha! what are we like! :rotfl:

Have you got a cabbage patch doll?

i used to have loads of cabbage patch dolls! One was one of the original 80's ones

Waves_and_Smiles

I have two original cabbage patch dolls with birth certificates! (and outfits because I am really sad).

whitewing

littlewing cried when Oleg said goodbye and when the tear ran down Sergi's face, she was in so much emotional pain that she was bent double on the carpet with her head touching the floor sobbing. Sensitive lil soul. She was okay after some big cuddles.

Waves_and_Smiles

Awwww! Poor littlewing, she has a big heart! I admit I am avoiding watching the goodbye video.

seven-day-weekend

I must be the only person in the world who couldn't see the point of those meerkats. Market-meerkat, yes it's a play on words but I just thought it was silly.

However they have become stars in their own right, haven't they, and have a whole history and story around them now. They'll be as famous as the Nescafe Gold Blend story used to be, with people waiting to see what happens next.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold_Blend_couple

Pyxis

When the meerkat thing first started, I admit I found it ridiculous and refused to watch it as it was so stupid.
Then I had a grudging respect for the advertisers, because it was one of the few ads that not only did I remember, but I could remember what it was advertising.
Then one day I found myself saying 'simples!' and making that noise, at a pertinent moment, and after that I was hooked!
And as you say, there's now a whole saga wrapped around them!

It's been an absolute master of an ad campaign, even without all the marketing (meerkating?) opportunities that they've taken advantage of.

It's interesting that, with very few exceptions, the really good (ie, clever/cerebral) ads don't bring to mind what they are advertising. One of my favourite ads of all time was that scene where a ball bearing drops onto something and starts a chain reaction of car parts. I know it was advertising a car, but I never remembered which!

Another really good campaign was the Benson and Hedges hidden pictures campaign in the 70s and 80s. Or was it John Player Special? Anyway, I kept all the magazine pictures and even sent off for the posters, none of which I have any more, worse luck. The ads made you search for the hidden logo/cigarette packet in the rather surreal picture, which in itself was brilliant artwork.

However, the few ads now, where I can remember what they're advertising, tend to be the silly ones, and particularly the ones with annoying, silly jingles!
"Do the shake'n' vac, and put the freshness back!' is a case in point!

When you think that the whole point of an ad campaign is to enable the brand name to etch itself indelibly onto the mind of the consumer, and create a comfortable familiarity with the product, the Meerkat campaign has been highly successful!
Ask anyone to name a comparison site, and I bet the first one they say will be Compare The Meerkat oops I mean Market. In fact, I can't really think of another one. There's that ghastly opera singer, but I can't remember the site he's advertising offhand.*
Q.E.D!



Edit..*I remembered it later! but it didn't have the instant recall of Compare the Market.
(Sorry this turned out so long! )