Does sex sell pasta in new Barilla ad?
'Sisters' ad, set in Italy, is almost done in by its romantic overlay, nearly making viewer forget it's supposed to be about Barilla
It can't be said too often: Sex sells. That truism was apparently uppermost in the mind of Blake Ebel, Euro RSCG/Chicago's executive creative director, when he traveled to the rolling hills of Tuscany in Italy to shoot a new Barilla pasta commercial called "Sisters" that breaks today in Chicago and other select American markets.
The sunny spot introduces us to two sisters. The unmarried one has come to visit the married one at her charming Italian villa. After the two sisters warmly hug one another, the unmarried one immediately inquires about the darkly handsome gentleman we see frolicking with the kids. She finds out he's the neighbor, and the married sister's kids apparently adore him. After this bit of info has been imparted, we see the two sisters happily preparing a Barilla pasta dinner in a gorgeous kitchen setting. Then we suddenly see everyone at the dinner table, where we sense a definite connection between the unmarried sister and the sexy neighbor with the magnetic smile.
By the time "Sisters" comes to an end, we've almost forgotten this is intended to be a pasta commercial. But the inevitable final product shot and the rather awkward theme line -- "it's a meal and it's Barilla" -- quickly dispel the commercial's not-inconsiderable romantic aura.
Some viewers may find the romantic overlay a little heavy-handed. And perhaps it is. But this is Italy after all, where grand operatic gestures are the norm. So we're willing to cut Ebel and his creative team a little slack for pushing the romance to the max along with the Barilla.
Lew's view: B
THE MAIL BAG:
I haven't read the book Powerlines (April 24), but it's always amusing to me that if you pick just about any topic, things were better 20 years ago. That said, here are some thoughts. First, words have become less of a focus in communication. That doesn't mean they're not important, it just means that copywriting doesn't have the importance it once did. For the most part, advertising "language" and mainstream cultural language have gone their separate ways. In the good old days of "Come to Marlboro Country," advertising was the source of a lot of creativity in language. Now, if you want to hear truly creative use of language, listen to hip-hop.
Second, time is a factor. When I started out in advertising, we worked on projects for months. We had a chance to live with ideas and refine them. Now agencies are expected to deliver on Tuesday what was asked for on Monday.
Third, there is the disappearance of the 15 percent commission. That money paid for a lot of minds who could be put on a project. Today, agencies may talk about "depth" of resources. But who's paying for the bench? I still like toying with taglines. But the brutal truth is this: In today's TiVo world, it's not the last sentence that's the most important, it's the first.
Bob Welke
Thank you for an excellent observation on the weakness of current taglines. I am not a professionally trained ad man, but I learned the value of a tag during my radio days and voiceover training. My favorite tags are "Beef. It's What's for Dinner" (National Beef Council), "Got Milk?" (Milk Council), "How Good Are You in Bread (Gonnella bread) and "Sweet Home Chicago."
Sandi Cogan
It was all meant as a big joke. But as we've all too often noted, jokes too often have a way of backfiring. That seems to have been partly what happened when management at Leo Burnett recently decided to give the rank and file a little jolt by sending out a memo about a new business casual dress code the agency intended to implement in June. Men would be required to wear collared shirts, cotton pants and dress shoes, while women could get away with capri pants, provided they were made of dress pant material. The memo went on to suggest the sartorial code would reflect the agency's "new professional attitude."
Something about that "new professional attitude" line struck us as especially bizarre. So we inquired of Burnett spokeswoman Abby Lovett about the memo. She said it was intended as a management prank to get the agency staff's attention and encourage them to engage in open communication with their bosses about ways to improve Burnett. Indeed, in very tiny type at the bottom of the memo, the question was posed: "Got a better idea about how we do our work?" An e-mail address was provided for inspired Burnett staffers to send in their suggestions.
Bloggers immediately responded to the memo with bemused outrage -- suggesting the stunt was glaring proof of misplaced priorities at Burnett. In other words, they didn't quite get the joke. But Lovett insisted the whole thing was a clever example of the wacky creative culture Burnett tries to sustain within the agency. "If I was responding to the dress code memo, I'd tell management we should do a lot more stuff like this," Lovett said.
