Lorena's Epiphany

Bring Your Woman Along

June 5, 2010 at 12:16 pm 7 comments

Walking down the streets of Beirut, there’s an over-abundance of international flags for the World Cup. Brazil and Germany are clearly the most popular teams.

The same over-abundance is making its way onto billboards and advertisements. What’s different about this year’s campaigns is the target audience. It’s all about getting women to come watch the games.

This one, created for Le Mall shopping center, had the most interesting visuals:

Photo reference: Beirut NTSC Blog

Looking past the design and “catchy” wordplay, what type of woman is this ad really targeting? True, most women don’t know (nor care) much about football, but we’re not all clueless. And we’re not all obsessed with the Italian team just because they’re Italian. Most of us are also familiar with who “Kaka” is (we’re not toddlers being potty-trained here).

The target here is clearly your typical ditzy (probably in high school) girl who’ll come to Le Mall initially to watch the game, but end up shopping instead. Or maybe it’s the other way around. She was planning to go to Le Mall for the shopping, but now she has an excuse to bring her boyfriend along. “Bring your man along and spare him the hours of watching you try on shoes!” Another ad campaign perhaps?

The other campaign I noticed, by Crepaway, is also targeting women, or the WAG. (Wife and Girlfriend)

The theme of different types of football fans ranges from the WAG and the Noveau-Fan, to the Fanatic. What category do single girls fit in here? There’s a definite weakness in not targeting that group with this campaign.

This campaign, however, displays more insight into the female psyche than the Le Mall one. A more sensitive one, I’d say. For example, the description of the WAG is one that most of us girls can certainly relate to: “She watches the game with her boyfriend thinking he’ll watch Sex and the City DVDs with her later”.

Who hasn’t been in a similar situation with their boyfriend? “Sure honey, I’ll watch “Fast and the Furious” with you if you watch “Love Actually” with me next weekend.” Both of us can be happy, and miserable, together.

Where one campaign is excelling on the visual level, the other is struggling. Crepaway’s ad is poorly designed, bordering on generic.

Ladies, I want to hear from you. How effective do you find these ads?

Be sure to check out this BRILLIANT Heineken ad for a football game a while back. Simple, on-target and hilarious:

(a little long, but worth it – trust me)

Entry filed under: Pop Culture. Tags: Ad Agencies, ads, advertising, billboards, campaigns, Crepaway, foosball, Kaka, Le Mall, Lebanon, target audience, women, World Cup.