Yes, he's back! After a hiatus of almost 18 months Gio Campario, played by Welsh actor Wynne Evans, has returned to grace our TV screens once more.
The return of the star of Britain's most annoying TV advert was precipitated by a 24-hour series of on-screen teasers, before the full length ad was aired during ITV's Surprise Surprise.
Personally, I thought that upon his return I would be running for the hills, but there is something about the opera singer that is soo infectious! He is officially Britain's marmite, but the only problem is we can't decide whether we love him or hate him!
Why is that? Well, the advertisers behind the campaign knew what they are doing. But after you read how they did it, they might need to go into witness protection!
Personally, I thought that upon his return I would be running for the hills, but there is something about the opera singer that is soo infectious! He is officially Britain's marmite, but the only problem is we can't decide whether we love him or hate him!
Why is that? Well, the advertisers behind the campaign knew what they are doing. But after you read how they did it, they might need to go into witness protection!
Put simply, they wanted to annoy you. These guys sat down and conceived of the best way to disrupt your TV watching experience. They saw it as the only way they were going to get your attention in age of social media.
Nowadays, we seldom find ourselves with the need to sit and watch the ads on TV because there is such much going on in cyberspace. During the ad breaks we all reach into our pockets and pull our smart phones to find out what new excuses our "friends" have come up with to take yet another selfie.
So how are advertisers going to compete with our smart phones, tablets, and laptops....by playing dirty! The sound of Gio bellowing out his infamous line "Go compare, Go compare" is enough to raise the head of any digital native! The song is annoying enough to get stuck in our heads and for us to share our annoyance with friends.
Therefore, from the advertisers' perspective they have done their job. They have got our attention. We are able to recall the ad and the company. And most importantly, we are sharing this information with others. You have to admit its pretty clever! But that still doesn't explain how after they have got our attention they were able to keep it?
Nowadays, we seldom find ourselves with the need to sit and watch the ads on TV because there is such much going on in cyberspace. During the ad breaks we all reach into our pockets and pull our smart phones to find out what new excuses our "friends" have come up with to take yet another selfie.
So how are advertisers going to compete with our smart phones, tablets, and laptops....by playing dirty! The sound of Gio bellowing out his infamous line "Go compare, Go compare" is enough to raise the head of any digital native! The song is annoying enough to get stuck in our heads and for us to share our annoyance with friends.
Therefore, from the advertisers' perspective they have done their job. They have got our attention. We are able to recall the ad and the company. And most importantly, we are sharing this information with others. You have to admit its pretty clever! But that still doesn't explain how after they have got our attention they were able to keep it?
Throwing some humour into the mix is always a good start. The clever thing about this campaign was that the advertisers embraced the fact that they had potentially created the world's most annoying TV ad. Watching people who are equally annoyed by the singer attempting to get rid of him in the most elaborate and funny ways, keeps us involved in the campaign and we find ourselves actually enjoying the ads.
But this was not enough for these advertisers, they wanted to use our own feeling against us. Watching Gio repeatedly being down trodden, leaves one feeling, dare I say it, sorry for him. Yes, without us knowing it the villain we all loved to hate managed to find his way into our hearts. Even though you think Simon Cowell can be a right *bleep* sometimes, you know that X factor was never the same without him. And I think the small screen has felt the void left by the big welshman.
So, begrudgingly, one says "Welcome Back Gio!"
So, begrudgingly, one says "Welcome Back Gio!"
No comments:
Post a Comment