Ordinary Advertising

An advertising campaign on steroids has been unleashed upon those of us who take the train into Chicago thanks to the marketers of Tropicana orange juice. Maybe someone will write and tell me if this is going on in any other cities around the country.

What makes this effort so interesting is the astonishing mix of ordinary and extraordinary communication going on simultaneously, which tends to support my belief that a lot of well-intentioned clients and agencies just don’t know the difference. So let me see if I can help.

On the plus side, this is a media full-court press. Within the confines of the old Madison Street/Northwestern station commuters now find themselves confronted with no fewer than four backlit, 4′x5′ signs along each platform, about six 12′x12′ signs suspended from the ceiling where the platforms begin, enormous, billboard-sized signs inside the building the train station is attached to, and various and sundry other manifestations in all sizes, shapes and states of motion clear until he or she is safely outside. Suffice it to say, the only people who could miss this effort are being led to their offices by dogs.

Also on the plus side is the stylishly cheery art direction. These posters all have a stylized, sunrisey-looking, bright orange background with either a shot of a glass of orange juice or an orange with a straw coming out of it and a simple headline.

Which is where the trouble begins. Because with a couple of exceptions, these headlines are about as ordinary as they come. Like: “Have a Tropicana morning”, “Has your coffee become a grind?”, “Drinking water leave you empty?” and “Taste buds, rejoice!” (Easy rule of thumb: If a headline requires an exclamation point to work, it never will.)

But then there are these puzzling exceptions: “Feel like a morning person”, “Don’t just rise. Shine.” and just barely making the cut: “Taste’s main squeeze”, all of which are pretty cute. Unfortunately, the people behind this extravaganza don’t seem to know the difference, so we’re treated to the whole array. And I’m tempted to wonder if the bad doesn’t undo the good. Or if Tropicana couldn’t have achieved the same results with half the expenditure.

And what are the results? I have no idea. But since the product is available in abundance all over the station, I would think this should be easy to measure and I’ll be on the lookout for any reports.