When something is brilliant, I’ll happily praise it.
When something is an absolute dog’s dinner, I’ll say so.
With that in mind, step forward… Gordon’s Gin:
What on earth happened here?
Okay, so I understand that they’re trying to launch a new product (pink gin, infused with strawberries and raspberries), but what is this monstrosity they’ve plastered on a train station wall (and elsewhere)?
What’s with all the hashtags?
Did someone tell them that they ‘must catch millennials, through recognisable symbols, or a platform they’re used to using’… despite the fact that Twitter has been around since 2006?
It’s cringeworthy. It’s like an elderly uncle told Gordon’s; ‘I hear the young people are all using the Twitter these days… hashtags are all the rage’.
And of those hashtags:
Four are aimed at said ‘millennials’ (and sound exactly like someone who’s not young trying to communicate with someone who is):
‘yasss’, ‘gintastic’, ‘whaaaat’, and ‘partay’
One is designed to show the brand’s social conscience… and is so obvious in doing so:
‘paperstraws’
Three involve Gordon’s praising their own product, in their own ad for that product:
‘beautiful’, ‘classinaglass’ ‘wow’ (maybe let your audience decide whether you product is ‘beautiful’ and ‘class in a glass’)
One just wasn’t proofread / properly thought about:
‘lookatit’… which can read as ‘look at it’, or ‘look a tit’ (I’d imagine Gordon’s don’t want to imply the latter of those two, in respect of drinking their product).
The sad thing is, this ad would’ve worked much better if it just said ‘Gordon’s Pink’ at the top, then ‘OMG and T’ (or even just ‘Summer vibes’ – although a tad boring), with the product shot still to the right.
But it would seem that all you need these days is a shedload of hashtags and no real creative idea.