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Gruen - Season 18 - Episode 04
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00:18G'day, I'm Will Anderson. Welcome to Gruen. Let's start with a story about a small business
00:22that needs our help.
00:23Please, just take 10 seconds to save my failing wooden monta business.
00:28Oh, my God. I don't have 10 seconds, but I could do nine.
00:33Can someone please stay nine seconds to tell my dad his wooden art isn't ugly?
00:37I mean, sounds ugly, but okay. Show us, Grandpa.
00:45That's actually beautiful. Surely people love it. Read me a review.
00:50Nobody wants to buy your f***ing wooden mantas. Just quit, old man.
00:55Oh, I can't believe you sent that, Todd.
00:58But everyone's mean online. In person, they must love it.
01:05Oh! You broke the manta ray and my heart.
01:09But this story gets sadder. All over the internet, hundreds of old men are facing abuse.
01:14Why? Because they're all selling identical wooden manta rays.
01:19And I get it. Everyone loves manta rays. Me included. I'm a manta maniac. I'm a ray lord. I'm gay
01:26for ray.
01:27But now, the market is flooded with millions of manta rays and sad old manta ray makers, including a manta
01:35ray minion,
01:37wool manta rays, and this sad story.
01:40I am praying for a miracle. My husband lost his job just two weeks after our baby was born.
01:46Instead of giving up, he used all of his life savings to start a small business doing what he truly
01:51loves.
01:53Oh my God. That reminds me of this sad story.
01:56I don't get to be the mom I want to be.
02:03What a coincidence. That reminds me of the sad stories of these two women and their poor husband.
02:11With all those families, I'm surprised he had time to make manta rays.
02:15You've got kids to raise.
02:18So what is going on here? A scam.
02:21All of these people are fake. This is AI.
02:25These are AI. None of them are real videos.
02:28This is all an AI scam to sell mass-produced manta rays.
02:32It's manta ray-eye.
02:34They stole a real old man's face to do it, which I wish someone had explained to me before I,
02:40uh...
02:43..brought one.
02:46Oh my God.
02:49Every single one of these sad, not-real people.
02:54They scammed me.
02:58So now, I get to do this.
03:00This is for Steve.
03:05Time to welcome our panel, Todd Sensen, Jessica Sotanto, Dee Madigan and Russell Houndroff.
03:16This week, Coles was caught red-handed.
03:19The only thing going down-down at Coles tonight is its reputation after the federal court found it lied to
03:26shoppers about phantom savings.
03:27Oh, even worse, they're selling these manta rays.
03:32Actually, that looks cool. I've got to buy one.
03:34It also might be why lately Coles' ads have felt low-budget.
03:38Have char-grilled chicken every day.
03:42Coles' RSPCA-approved chicken thigh fillets last pack are just $14.50 per kilo every day.
03:48Mmm, winner-winner, never-ending chicken dinner.
03:50And they offer this treat for the bean counters.
03:54Summer greens? Add some beans.
03:57Coles' seed beans for 20 grams are just $1 each every day.
04:02At Coles.
04:03Wow, this is going to be the best summer of our lives.
04:06But winter is coming. What shall we eat?
04:09Value-packed, full of beans.
04:12Oh, more beans. By the way, this doesn't rhyme.
04:15A better slogan would be, can't afford meat, beans you eat.
04:20Or given up on your dreams, have more beans.
04:22Or wife and kids gone, beans all day long.
04:25Actually, it is harder than it looks.
04:28Dee, why base your ad on beans?
04:31Coles' normal marketing strategy is to sell their specials.
04:34They can't do that with any credibility at the moment.
04:36So they're doing this strategy of everyday low-pricing.
04:39And for that to work, you have to anchor it on a couple of products.
04:43You don't have to, like, prove that 10,000 products in your store are cheap.
04:46And they do it by choosing products that are high-frequency, high-anxiety.
04:52And chicken and beans are those.
04:54So chicken's the most eaten meat in Australia,
04:56and it's also one of the cheapest proteins.
04:59And in times of cost-of-living anxiety,
05:01people buy more chicken, not less.
05:03And beans are weird in that everyone knows
05:05that a can of beans is roughly $1 something.
05:09And it's the frequency that's the real driver of this.
05:12Like, say, if your olive oil went up 50 cents.
05:14You only buy it every couple of months.
05:15You wouldn't notice.
05:16But if you're buying chicken every week
05:18and it's $2 more than you think it is,
05:20that sort of frequency amplifies the anxiety.
05:24So if Coles can nail cheap chicken and cheap beans,
05:29they can introduce a value proposition for the whole store.
05:33Yeah.
05:33Like, supermarket pricing is quite fascinating
05:36because it exists between, well,
05:39it really exists between actual value and perceived value.
05:42So it's not quite outright lying
05:44as it is sort of psychological reframing of what that price is.
05:47And they use everyday low prices,
05:49but that's really expensive because once you lock down,
05:52they have to recuperate their margins somewhere else.
05:54So they use this was-now pricing,
05:56which is, you know, it was this price and now it's this price.
05:59And we do not know the past prices of the was.
06:03And that's where the controversies come from.
06:05So what they'll do is they'll put up the discount,
06:08they'll put up that price and then discount it back down.
06:11Yeah, well, the problem with down-down was it was firstly up-up
06:14and then only slightly down-down.
06:15Down-down, yes.
06:16Yeah, they put the price up deliberately before.
06:20Originally, down-down was, you know,
06:21there was integrity in the pricing
06:22because it was just high-low pricing.
06:23Originally, originally.
06:25Yeah, and so down-down became an amazing advertising asset.
06:29This is the tragedy.
06:29The tragedy being that they, like,
06:31down-down becomes, you know,
06:32the headline for the pricing strategy.
06:34It's the pricing strategy's fault, not down-down's fault.
06:37Yeah.
06:38Right?
06:38Why won't someone think of down-down?
06:41It's just got the saddest picture of you
06:43just going to a Coles, wandering the aisles like,
06:47down-down, down-down.
06:50I know.
06:51It wasn't your fault, down-down.
06:54The tragedy is that we've had a...
06:56We had a wonderful advertising supermarket war
06:59that went on for, you know, let's call it a decade.
07:01Yeah.
07:01Where we had down-down and then we had the...
07:03Then Woolworths came out with their green gloves
07:05and they were spending an absolute fortune.
07:07We even had status quo singing
07:09down-down, prices are down.
07:11So they were spending a fortune
07:12in the production of their advertising
07:14and in their...in the media.
07:16Yeah, but they were screwing farmers
07:18and...and deceiving us in price.
07:19Yeah, I'm talking about the...
07:20I'm just talking about the ads.
07:23I think now that...
07:24I think that ad is a tragedy, honestly.
07:27Like, and now they're screwing consumers.
07:28Like, that feels really, really, like, painful to watch.
07:32I feel like I'm being punished.
07:33It's the same as the idea of eating beans
07:35and chicken thighs every single day of the week.
07:38That feels like a punishment to me.
07:40It's like they're trying to cue value
07:41through the execution alone.
07:43They're like, the food is not cheap,
07:45so what are we going to make you feel...
07:47We're going to make you feel like the ads are cheap.
07:48At least we haven't spent money on that.
07:51Yeah, so the strategic decision now
07:53is to make boring advertising.
07:54Yeah.
07:54And it's advertising that...
07:56I mean, Red Spot Specials, you know,
07:57that was 40 years ago, 50 years ago.
07:59We're just getting back to that territory
08:01where, in effect, the ad is like a brochure.
08:03So there's no...
08:04There is no attempt to build brand.
08:06There's no attempt to build perceived value.
08:08There's just an attempt to just drive price,
08:09which I suppose is the right thing to do
08:12if you just, you know, found yourself in trouble
08:14as a result of, you know, your pricing strategy.
08:16Not your advertising.
08:17You're not in trouble for the advertising.
08:19You're in trouble for the pricing strategy.
08:20Yes, please no one blame advertising.
08:23What's unique about this...
08:25But they can't help themselves, right?
08:26Because what's slightly deceptive about this ad
08:29is they're only using Cole's own products.
08:33Because what they know is that
08:35we don't see that when we watch this ad
08:37because it's flashed on, flashed off.
08:38So we see beans, we see chicken,
08:40we see whatever that is.
08:41But they know that when we go through those doors,
08:43we will often upsell ourselves to a brand's name
08:46and not get the Kohl's.
08:48So even that is somewhat deceiving
08:50because they only have a couple of price levers.
08:52Everyday low pricing, discount pricing,
08:56this sort of shrinkflation, which is very popular now,
08:58which is you pay the same price for less product,
09:00and own brand is a very good manipulative strategy
09:05that they have.
09:05I think that this is representative of a brand
09:08that has lost its brand.
09:09Woolworths actually hasn't gone really dirty deals at the moment.
09:13They're trying to be really charming.
09:14They've got this my kind of Woolworths.
09:16And it's like slice of life
09:18and trying to be part of, like, everyday Australian life.
09:21Kohl's only had Down Down,
09:23and there was no charm to that.
09:25There was this weird sting that they lost.
09:27And now that they have no, you know, credibility
09:30in that with the manipulation of pricing,
09:32they've got nothing.
09:33They've got no well of brand
09:34to make any of their work interesting.
09:36Do you know what they have?
09:37They have 80% of the market.
09:38And I think they don't give a shit.
09:41I think what happens is when you have a dualopoly,
09:43both sort of behave...
09:45They don't talk about it, but they don't really compete.
09:47But they sort of behave good towards each other.
09:49And they know they have the market cornered.
09:51Yeah.
09:52So that's why they didn't even put good products on sale.
09:55I do like the idea of dirty...
09:56What did you say? Dirty deals.
09:58Dirty deals.
09:59Dirty deals, done dirt cheap.
10:01Wouldn't that be grouse for the new Kohl's campaign?
10:03Dirty deals, done dirt cheap.
10:09After an ACCC ruling, dirty deals should be...
10:13No, that's OK.
10:14You're leaning into it, is that what you're saying?
10:17Only if you've got done dirt cheap afterwards, yeah.
10:20I feel like people will get distracted by the first bit.
10:24Ever wanted to call an Uber that wasn't an Uber,
10:26but worked like an Uber, looked like an Uber,
10:28and smelled just like an Uber?
10:30Well, good news.
10:31There is an Uber that is an Uber.
10:33Hey guys, should we have one of our massive big nights out?
10:40How you going?
11:04Can anyone else see him?
11:08That ad plays constantly during the footy,
11:11with the flute man appearing out of nowhere
11:13as my team's best forward was injured,
11:16and I blame him.
11:19There's even a three-minute version of that ad
11:21that's actually more painful than doing your ACL.
11:24Todd, how did D.D. do-do?
11:28I mean, I have to admit,
11:29I kind of like the freaky lo-fi leprechaun with the flute.
11:34Like, they're doing what they're meant to do.
11:37They're a challenger brand,
11:38so they need to own something.
11:39They're not going to own the mainstream.
11:41Uber is default.
11:42So what they're focusing on is two areas.
11:44One is pricing, and the other is targeting.
11:46And they're not for everyone.
11:48This is not for corporate executives
11:50jumping in to go to a boardroom.
11:52This is for 20-something broke people
11:54standing at 3 in the morning out in front of a pub
11:56wondering where they are.
11:57And price is important,
11:59because they are a little bit cheaper.
12:01And that's important to someone
12:02who's standing in front of a pub
12:03questioning their life decisions.
12:06Five or ten more dollars off
12:08might be enough to switch them.
12:09They're not going for everyone.
12:10They're not trying to mainstream it.
12:12They're not competing head-to-head.
12:14They're doing something that will be flipped on social media
12:17that people will laugh about and remember.
12:19And the bloody flute is annoying.
12:20It reminds me of the whistle from Telstra.
12:24Do you know, like, we...
12:25No idea what you're talking about.
12:27You do know what I'm talking about.
12:28Because audio cues that we hate
12:30are often the most effective,
12:31and that's one of those.
12:32I think they'll get quite a lot of frequency
12:33for this, actually.
12:34I think it's more than the 20-something-year-olds.
12:36Maybe the 30-something-year-olds
12:37also are waiting outside,
12:39questioning their life choices.
12:41But, um...
12:42But I think, actually, it keeps the momentum going.
12:44I love that they're like,
12:45you can do more and go further with Didi,
12:47because we know that people are going out less now.
12:49They're saving, they're socialising,
12:51and they're drinking credits.
12:52They don't go out as frequently.
12:53They don't go out midweek.
12:54But when they do go out, they want to blow out.
12:56So they don't want to be looking at surge price
12:58and go, oh, maybe I should go home.
13:00They're going, yeah, why not?
13:01Let's just keep going.
13:03Yeah, this is advertising at its absolute best, Will.
13:06The...
13:06It is...
13:07I mean, I just...
13:08Oh, I want to be in the room
13:10when they've just...
13:11When they've worked out,
13:12OK, we're going to have a, you know,
13:12very small, silly orange man
13:14who is actually a party animal.
13:18That's attractive to the people
13:19that we want to be attracted to
13:20because they want to be party animals.
13:22They want to spend as least as possible on their travel.
13:25So they've got more money to spend on partying.
13:29And...
13:29And they've said...
13:30The way you say partying makes it feel so uncool.
13:34Partying.
13:36And the fact that the DD executives have said,
13:39we're on, we're doing that,
13:41we're having the short man who plays a flute,
13:43even his little groin thrust is just...
13:46You know?
13:47And even there's that scene when it's...
13:50It's the toy.
13:51You know, the toy car pulls up outside the party.
13:53Just that.
13:54It is...
13:55There's nuances to the ad.
13:57I don't know.
13:58I want to be in the boardroom.
13:59I want to be in the boardroom
14:00to sell that idea or buy that idea
14:02because whoever sold it and whoever bought it,
14:04put good on them
14:05because most would reject that idea
14:07for fear of it just being completely so crazy
14:10and yet that's why it's so good
14:11because it is completely crazy.
14:12But you do get the brand name from it nice and clearly.
14:15And I reckon it also breaks down really nicely
14:17into six-second little chapters.
14:19And I wonder with AI,
14:20like, as it becomes easier to do really weird shit,
14:24will sort of surreal stuff cut through less?
14:28But at the moment,
14:29I have watched this, like, probably 30, 40 times.
14:31I love it.
14:32The risk of this, of course,
14:33is that it may trade off trust for recall.
14:36And because if you are three in the morning
14:39outside a pub,
14:41perhaps you get a little bit nervous
14:43thinking that a stoned leprechaun with a flute
14:46is guiding you home at night.
14:49That would be the...
14:50Maybe it's the absolute opposite.
14:52You're like,
14:53the leprechaun's already here.
14:55He can make the decisions for me.
14:57And I can use that flute as a bong.
15:01You might be surprised to learn
15:03that when we're doing an ad
15:04in which someone puts tomato sauce on a meat pie,
15:07it is our researcher's job
15:08to write a briefing document
15:10that includes the headline
15:11Origin of Tomato Sauce on Pies,
15:13which gives a detailed multi-paragraph history
15:16on exactly when tomato sauce was first added to pies.
15:21But I spent my week
15:22watching sad old men sell manta rays,
15:24so I'll just take a guess.
15:26Tomato sauce on pies
15:27was invented by Adolf Hitler
15:28as a way to add edible swash stickers to his dinner.
15:31Here's the ad.
15:37You're kidding.
15:44It will blow my mind
15:47it was
15:48oh, oh, oh
15:51in love at first time
15:55Oh, oh, oh
15:57in love at first time
16:02Oh, I've seen this before.
16:03He was at a Coldplay concert.
16:06Cheating with a sausage roll.
16:08Oh, and don't worry, cold shoppers,
16:10we have a version for you too.
16:20Russell, will this earn a crust?
16:22This ad... I just love this ad.
16:25You know, in that, if you're a client,
16:28you say, listen, can we have the target?
16:29Can we have the target audience in the ad, please?
16:31The person who's going to be eating it.
16:33Can we actually have an eating shot throughout the ad, please?
16:35Can we actually have a pack shot throughout the ad, please?
16:38Can the product be eaten and the product's eaten with pleasure?
16:42Can we have that as well, please?
16:43And then can we have some way at the end
16:45to make it a delight at the end?
16:47You know, like, maybe a love heart even.
16:49And so what would happen in an advertising agency,
16:52they would say, oh, my God, this client is a nightmare.
16:54There's got to be an eating shot,
16:55there's got to be the target audience,
16:56we've got to have the pack shot throughout,
16:57and yet there it is.
16:58There is a piece of advertising there that goes for 30 seconds
17:01that is going to sell a lot of tomato sauce or ketchup.
17:05And sometimes it's that easy.
17:07It's a very simple puzzle, just a jigsaw puzzle.
17:11You just arrange the pieces in the right place,
17:13and you get that, and that will work.
17:15When was the last time you saw a kiss cam
17:17at an Australian football game?
17:21Does that make any difference?
17:22Yeah, it sort of does, because what they've done
17:24is taken a global strategy and stuck a meat pie into it.
17:27And I reckon that is a huge problem
17:29with global brands in Australian advertising.
17:31It's just, you know, the pie looks great, yes, love that.
17:35The rest of it is not Australian.
17:37I mean, don't start me on ketchup.
17:38On a positive note with this ad,
17:40I do like the sort of sensorial part of it.
17:42Like, the idea that they left a bit on the face,
17:45and the crunching sound, and the biting into it,
17:48and you hear the squirt.
17:49And we know that when we kind of engage the census
17:52in advertising when you can in some way, shape, or form,
17:55it retains things much longer.
17:56I like that part of it.
17:57I think that that pie thing, like, the ASMR of that, though,
18:00it makes me just want a pie.
18:02Like, I don't really feel like I'm in love with the sauce.
18:05But I do think that's the trick, right?
18:07So the trick is they're not trying to sell that tomato sauce.
18:10They're selling the ritual of eating a pie with tomato sauce.
18:13Which actually just shows the strength of their brand.
18:16It's like they don't have to sell the sauce,
18:18they sell the occasion.
18:19If they make you want to buy a pie,
18:21they know that you're going to put Heinz on it.
18:23And I like that bit.
18:23It's just...
18:24I reckon more people are using master foods.
18:26Like, I think that this is a really subtle, good dig at master foods
18:30at the generosity of how much tomato sauce he puts on that.
18:32Because you'd need, like, four of those little squeezy packs
18:35to do the top and then do the inside, right?
18:37You wouldn't be doing that if you just had one.
18:39It is a bit of a power move at the football or whatever he's at
18:43to pull out a giant.
18:46Like, I feel like they search bags at the entry of...
18:49Like, if somebody's going into a sporting event,
18:52like, there's no way you're getting that in.
19:00Oh, that's good.
19:02Most of us are horrified to learn that every week
19:05we eat enough plastic to make a credit card.
19:08I'm using mine to tap and go with my tum-tum.
19:11So this week we asked our agencies to convince us
19:13to embrace our inner microplastics.
19:16Here's the first pitch.
19:17Aussies are already consuming microplastics every single day,
19:20whether they know it or not.
19:21It's probably time we recognise and embrace them
19:24for what they truly are,
19:25a foundation for a modern lifestyle.
19:27Quietly integrated into everyday routines
19:29and impossible to avoid.
19:31For generations, we've looked to the food pyramid
19:34as a trusted source of nutritional guidance.
19:36But as our understanding of real-world diets evolve,
19:40so must our strategic objectives.
19:42microplastics.
19:43Introducing the new foundation, microplastics.
19:46Present in every meal, every drink, every body.
19:50A forever foundation seamlessly integrating into your body.
19:54From lungs, to liver, to places we're still discovering.
19:59Microplastics.
20:00Now officially part of a balanced diet.
20:04Big Plastic.
20:05Certified unavoidable.
20:06For healthy eating habits, go to bigplastic.com.au.
20:10A message from the Australian Big Plastic Lobby, Canberra.
20:13Wow, you've convinced me.
20:14Here's our next pitch.
20:16Hello, we're Bounce.
20:17It's hard to embrace microplastics
20:19when the whole world has already made up its mind.
20:22Things may seem grim,
20:23but the science is a little less conclusive.
20:29Now, it's just a little bit of plastic.
20:35Plastic.
20:36Plastic.
20:45Microplastics is a major issue.
20:47It's hard to do millions of pieces of microplastics.
20:59Jeez, that grinding could do you some damage.
21:02I'm not too worried about anything else, though.
21:11Well, you've convinced me.
21:12But what will our panel think, Russell?
21:14Which one did you prefer?
21:15I think they're both excellent.
21:16I'm going to go with number two.
21:18It just made me feel a little better, that's all.
21:20Dee, what about you?
21:21Definitely number two.
21:22I, you know, the idea that you can't control it,
21:26worrying about it's not going to change anything,
21:27is actually really sound advice.
21:29Jess?
21:30Yeah, two for me, too.
21:31Oh, gee, have I gone to a plastic planet?
21:35Uh, I, I'm going with the simplicity of one.
21:38Congratulations.
21:38Bounce will have your trophy arrive like this.
21:47If you ate a pie during the pitch
21:49and now you're worried about microplastics,
21:51you might be wondering how to get it back out.
21:54Good news, Swiss has a solution.
22:11Oh, my medication also comes in gummy form.
22:15Swiss is so desperate for us to buy supplements as treats,
22:19they've made an ice cream.
22:20Hot ice cream.
22:22No, no, not this time, Tyra.
22:25We are at the Swiss Sweet Treat Club.
22:28We are here trying gelato and Swiss gummies
22:30fired by the apple cider vinegar and fibre gummies.
22:33Oh, yum, vinegar.
22:36For those who'd like to know,
22:38that guy's name is Bangin' Sangers,
22:40which I'm going to guess is something he was caught
22:43doing at a Coldplay concert.
22:45Who would buy that?
22:46Not us, we shop at Kohl's.
22:56You're having a good time, Will.
22:58Hang on, prepare,
22:59because I'm literally about to do my favourite joke
23:02I've ever done on the show
23:03and I don't want it to be ruined by the lack of...
23:06Here it comes.
23:08I'm scared.
23:10Jelly beans.
23:20Jess, can they treat us like this?
23:22Look, they absolutely can.
23:24There is something to me about taking fibre supplements
23:27that makes me feel like I'm staring at my own mortality.
23:30Like, protein is somehow sexy,
23:32but fibre, there is a long road between where I feel like I am
23:36and the cylinder of Metamucil that sits on my parents' countertop.
23:40Like, I just feel like there is a really big road
23:43at which I can somehow consume fibre that's not in that form.
23:47And I feel like this is a really fun way to do it.
23:49You know, it seems like it's, you know, targeted really young.
23:52It's got that K-pop meets iPod meets ASMR kind of vibe to it.
23:57But there's a lot of people between, you know,
24:00the kids who can't take pills
24:02and the adults who are using the sachets.
24:04Um, so... Sorry.
24:07It's OK. It's OK.
24:16I did, honestly, I was getting nervous about all that Metamucil talk
24:19because, like, this is the ABC, mate.
24:21I don't know where you think you are,
24:23but our audience are 90% Metamucil.
24:28Look, yeah, I realised that halfway through.
24:30But I just...
24:31Look, I think that the line, functional fun,
24:34is really hard-working for them as well, right?
24:36It borrows from a little bit of the gamification of wellbeing,
24:38but it's also borrowing from functional food.
24:41We talked about yoghurt before.
24:42Everyone knows that yoghurt has now protein and probiotics,
24:46like kombucha, probiotics for your gut.
24:48People understand that there's food
24:49that is also doing good for you.
24:51It has added benefits.
24:53So Swiss playing in this space
24:55makes it feel like they've turned vitamins
24:57into, like, a functional food.
24:59It's just, like, a really fun little treat
25:01that happens to be good for you.
25:02And I feel like that's quite smart
25:04because it also means that you question
25:05the efficacy a little bit less.
25:07Yeah, and that's why they make it feel like a reward.
25:09Yeah.
25:10Instead of sort of something you have to do.
25:11But it's also why they layer the products in there.
25:13So you've got fibre.
25:15Everyone goes, yeah, fibre's good.
25:16Apple, cider, vinegar.
25:17Very little scientific evidence on that.
25:20No added sugar.
25:21It's like, yeah, but 60% of it
25:22is a carbohydrate derived from sugar.
25:24Like, doesn't do you a lot of good, this.
25:27But, you know, if that floats people's boats.
25:29And I think the whole gummy thing
25:30is something that we associate
25:32with something nice from childhood
25:34instead of sort of taking a pill.
25:36Yeah, I find the gummy thing interesting.
25:38Like, the rise of sort of gummies.
25:41Because what they figured out
25:42is it's very difficult to scale discipline,
25:44but it's much easier to scale sugar.
25:47And so they can make this nutritional thing
25:50feel like an indulgence.
25:52They're sort of flipping the script.
25:53In the past, medicine or medicinal things
25:55like vitamins, they didn't taste good.
25:57I mean, the bitterness signalled
25:58that it was a serious product.
25:59And now they flip that script.
26:02And they've gone, oh,
26:02it can actually taste really good.
26:04Because they know they can drive habit
26:06and definitely drive volume and usage
26:08by having something that's kind of sugary
26:10and tasty and chewy.
26:12What an amazing evolution of a brand and advertising.
26:16It's only, what, 10 years ago,
26:17Ricky Ponting for Swiss
26:19is trying to get us to take a vitamin C.
26:20And then all of a sudden, seemingly overnight,
26:24we're looking at this advertising.
26:26We're looking at this product formulation.
26:27We're looking at it in a format
26:30which we've never seen before.
26:31You know, like in a, not never seen before,
26:32but you know what I mean,
26:33like recent format, gummies.
26:36With advertising that looks like that,
26:38it's an incredible transformation.
26:40Obviously it's modern.
26:41Obviously it's young.
26:42And it's got nothing to do
26:44with what vitamins were for a generation ago.
26:46It's carved out a really interesting space
26:49and a very distinct space for Swiss,
26:51especially if you're thinking about, like,
26:52when you're walking through Chemist Warehouse.
26:53You know, you have very clinical space with vitamins,
26:56which is those really big vitamin pills
26:58that no-one wanted to take.
26:59And then you had sort of very naturopath,
27:02alternative medicine, botanical-led stuff.
27:05And then you also have, like, Jimbro supplements.
27:07Like, this is a very different space
27:08that is also lifestyle-led, but not as niche.
27:11So it's quite easy to buy into them.
27:13And, honestly, the people who are buying these
27:15aren't doing a scientific study
27:17where this is the only thing they're taking.
27:18They're probably popping every gummy out there
27:20and going, something's working.
27:22See, now that you're talking about Jimbros, I get you.
27:26I don't know about these old men on their medicine,
27:29but I personally am a Jimbro.
27:32Last week, a car brand told us to build our dreams.
27:35This week, Honda has built a nightmare.
28:11This week, Honda has built a nightmare.
28:16Somewhere along the way, we've all had to park a dream or two.
28:25Good thing is, it's never too late to pick them up again.
28:35Honda, the power of dreams.
28:39BYD, buddy, your dreams are depressing.
28:44They really captured every dad's dream.
28:47Endless sheds.
28:49Like my two favourite towers,
28:50the Honda Prelude was discontinued in 2001.
28:53Now it's back with an ad that was directed by the guy
28:56who made Snowtown, which I guess explains this garage.
29:01Actually, here's a dream for Coles, shoppers.
29:06And here's my dream.
29:10Dee, how's this roll up?
29:13Bleakly.
29:14Like, most car ads sell aspiration or freedom.
29:18This car ad is saying, by the time you're middle-aged,
29:21you've got all these unrealised dreams,
29:23and, jeez, isn't that depressing?
29:24And, you know, you get one dream back.
29:27And I like the line, you know, the dream is back.
29:29And it leverages off Honda's, you know, corporate line.
29:32But I feel like if you really liked Honda Preludes
29:36in the 90s or whatever,
29:38you're 40 to 60 years old and you love that car
29:40because it was sporty, innovative, it was a driver's car.
29:44You're going to see this.
29:45It's a hybrid.
29:46It's a coupe.
29:48You know, it's pretty boring.
29:49So you're going to make your target market mad
29:51and everyone else is just going to be really sad.
29:54And I think if you're trying to get people
29:56to spend 50 grand on a car,
29:58making them sad's not the way to do it.
30:00Oh.
30:00It's classic nostalgic marketing, though, right?
30:03So they're sort of selling you a car
30:06that you wanted when you were young
30:07at a time when you can now afford it
30:09when you're most vulnerable middle-aged.
30:13But the thing that I find, like, so brutal about it
30:18is it's basically just saying, if you pare it down,
30:21it's basically saying,
30:21these losers have given up on their dreams.
30:25But if you drive this car, you haven't given up on yours.
30:28I mean, that is incredibly brutal when you think...
30:31I'm surprised that they would do this.
30:33And the problem, I think, with the nostalgia angle of this
30:36is that's 25 years ago.
30:37So I would want some sort of evidence
30:40that my dream has become something good 25 years later
30:44rather than just, oh, we jump in this car and off we go.
30:47It feels more like a kind of midlife crisis with wheels
30:51than a car ad.
30:53I don't know whether it's going to sell any cars.
30:55What this does...
30:56What this does for me, it just makes me ponder
30:59how difficult sustained advertising excellence actually is.
31:04So if we go back to when this was being sold,
31:06the Predator was being sold 20, 25 years ago,
31:09Honda was peaking.
31:10They were amongst the best advertisers in the world, really.
31:13And then, of course, they fade away.
31:14And if this is the way to say we're back,
31:19you know, it's not quite where they were, you know, 20 years ago.
31:22And it just shows.
31:24It's so difficult.
31:25Global brand, global money, global capability,
31:28and yet where is the great advertising?
31:31And they should be saying to themselves,
31:33all of these brands, all of these businesses,
31:35gosh, we're in such a privileged position.
31:37We're so privileged.
31:38We've got millions of dollars to spend
31:40on creating great advertising that the world gets to see.
31:42Well, do it, right? Just do it.
31:45It seems like they pulled the door down on good advertising.
31:47Yeah.
31:49And it's almost like they don't think it matters.
31:52So they were on a role, on an advertising role,
31:55an incredible advertising role where...
31:57Greatest role you can be on.
31:58It was a great... It is.
32:00It is the greatest role.
32:01I was making a joke, but you've leaned into that.
32:05You had a sense memory.
32:06You were like, it is the greatest role, the advertising role.
32:09That's your garage, isn't it?
32:11Yeah.
32:12It's just you in there making great advertising.
32:15Day after day after day.
32:17Yeah.
32:19And bringing, you know, not just joy to the advertising world,
32:22joy to all of us.
32:23Because, you know, we've just had to sit through that.
32:26We've had to sit through that.
32:27Good advertising costs the same amount as bad advertising.
32:29Right?
32:29It's still the same amount of money.
32:31And it works better.
32:32Yeah.
32:32I actually don't mind this ad.
32:34I think it's weirdly sexy for the garage that they've got there,
32:37but it's very different to normal car advertising.
32:40You're right, there's usually a playbook.
32:42You see the car.
32:43It's on a really nice drive.
32:45You see someone that's really rich and fancy.
32:47This doesn't do that.
32:48It's really confident in that it shows the car right at the end.
32:51You don't get much of a drive.
32:53But I think maybe because my dreams haven't all died yet,
32:57but I think it's kind of...
33:00Don't look at me.
33:02I am so grateful that you did not look at me.
33:07But I also feel like I'm being patronised.
33:10Because you know it, on this desk,
33:12it is definitely me whose dreams have died.
33:14No.
33:14I don't know.
33:15I'm a bit optimistic about it
33:16because I think I don't usually love car advertising.
33:19I think that jamming you over the head with specs is overwhelming.
33:23And how many of them do you actually need for a joyride, right?
33:26Like, this isn't...
33:26You don't need heaps of, like, safety features.
33:28This is the second car.
33:30This is the one that you just go when you want to go for yourself.
33:32That freedom you felt driving that
33:34is just as important as these other things.
33:36It's just as valuable.
33:37So you should value it.
33:39You should value having, like, an open road
33:41and the freedom to not have to do
33:43all of your kind of responsibilities.
33:45So I think it's kind of nice.
33:46And I think the nostalgia in that is, you know,
33:49it's more about the freedom
33:50before you had a whole lot of responsibilities,
33:53just being able to jump in a car and go on a nice drive.
33:55All that money,
33:56you could have created a feeling that made you feel good
34:00instead of sad.
34:01Like, I feel it's kind of basic like that.
34:03At least with Coles, they didn't spend a lot of money on this.
34:05This cost a fortune.
34:07I don't know if we've mentioned it,
34:09but Coles is selling beans.
34:11With the nation's lentil health going down,
34:14we are concerned that this is the start of a troubling trend.
34:18In a recession?
34:20Taste our depression.
34:21Stale bread.
34:22Splash a bit of water on it and it's almost good.
34:26Mouldy veg.
34:27Just eat around it.
34:28Prepare for rambling with our brilliant bindles.
34:31Warm those cold apocalyptic nights
34:33with fingerless gloves and a fire in a metal bin.
34:36A baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire
34:38to fight off the marauders coming for your water.
34:42Society is going down, down at Coles.
34:50Please take our panel, Russell, Dee, Jess and Todd.
34:56Be sure to stick around for a sneak peek of a new show
34:58that is a dream come true.
35:00I'm Carson Chode and this is Dream Garage Storage Wars.
35:04Each week we roll up the garage and cop a squiz at the dreams of everyday Aussies.
35:09Like this mum.
35:11What's she want?
35:12A good night's sleep.
35:13Keep dreaming, mama.
35:15And this young man?
35:17Wow!
35:18A scientist!
35:20We'll even show you what's inside the ABC's Dream Garage.
35:25Let's pretend we didn't see that.
35:27Coming to your ABC.
35:29Where dreams go to die.
35:31What's she going to say when the tw teep is missing?
35:31What's inside of thequa?
35:31What are you doing?
35:33Boy, what's inside of the new Japanese America?
35:33Another trend that matters but why?
35:34Although there's so far where I'm going because
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