There’s something refreshing and sort of comforting about bad advertising that makes it almost necessary to expose yourself to it every once in a while, and this new campaign from Trident and agency Saatchi & Saatchi New York definitely falls into that category. After launching what will probably remain the most terrible and boring TV spot of the year (and yes I do like the song, no one’s debating how good that song is), Trident is at it again with a web application and a supposedly viral video that just as desperately try to instill some fun into the brand.
Here’s how it works (it may sound familiar): the app connects with your Facebook account, scans your data and generates a short animation that pulls some of your content. I have to admit I almost fell for the retro execution but I got bored very quickly, especially when they generated my “fun audit” at the end (and recommended the gum flavor I should chew on). I’m 89% fun by the way, which is fine I guess (see below). But here’s the real problem: we’ve seen so many of those activations recently that this is just a tired trend. And it’s all the more annoying that, in this case, it doesn’t tell a story.
Also, the video that comes as an introduction to the app just feels off. You can see they took their cues from the likes of Old Spice and DollarShaveClub.com, but it just doesn’t have their genius. Now I can definitely see who they were trying to go after with this (yes, Millenials, duh), but it simply doesn’t work. Unfortunately, just because you declare people are going to have fun doesn’t mean they will. Actually, it looks like the harder you try, the harder you fail.
(Source)
