Ads Review - Tony Bolognavich, Big Pizza, And The Devil Himself (Or How Villains Can Bring Your Ads To Life)
I’ve got four ads for you this week in the Ads Review. All of them feature villains. We’ve seen villains spruce up ad campaigns for years, most notably with Allstate’s Mayhem character. Recently, the villain-based ad campaign has been pretty popular, with Jimmy John’s, Little Caesars, and Mint Mobile introducing their own villains. Take a look at these ads, and then I’ll explain why they work so well.
People Love Villains
Every great story needs a villain. They bring conflict and stakes to the storyline that the hero has to overcome. Since villains are often the most compelling characters in their stories, people are endeared to them. Darth Vader, The Joker, and Cruella De Vil–these are the most memorable and popular characters in their franchises.
Memorable. Popular.
Those are two words every advertiser wants to hear. So why not use a villain? Next, I’ll explain how villains make perfect sense in advertising.
Villains Personify Fear
There’s a reason that Allstate’s Mayhem character has been around for so long. He’s much easier to grasp than an abstract concept of risk. Through a series of campaigns, he demonstrates all the things you should be afraid of and should have insurance to protect yourself from.
If Mint Mobile half-assed their description of why big wireless companies are bad, you wouldn’t remember it and I wouldn’t be writing about it. Instead, they showed the devil himself working for a big wireless company. “This place is hell on earth,” Satan says. It doesn’t get any clearer than that.
Meanwhile, Tony Bolognavich and Big Pizza ironically explain all the best parts of the foods they so despise. Consumers have seen hundreds of slow motion food montages with over the top descriptions of why they’re tasty. Those aren’t memorable anymore. But when those descriptions are said with a spiteful tone, they cut through the noise. They’re funny. People listen.
In his StoryBrand marketing framework, Donald Miller pushes brands to introduce a problem, and personify that problem with a villain. He explains how people gravitate toward villains in stories, and use them as a frame of reference for what the hero has to overcome. Villain characters make consumers’ problems and fears feel more real, increasing the effectiveness of the campaign.
Ad Characters Work
I explained my love for characters in ad campaigns a few months ago, when I reviewed Jake from State Farm and Sam Adam’s Cousin From Boston. You’d be hard pressed to find an ad campaign that has worked its way into the cultural conversation that doesn’t have a strong character. Think of the characters who have been with us for years: Geico’s Gecko, Dos Equis’ most interesting man in the world, and Old Spice’s man your man could smell like.
These characters have become useful as cultural reference points in a similar way as movie characters, albums, and books. And everyone knows: The holy grail of marketing is getting people to talk about it after the ad is over. Ad characters, and specifically villains, can do just that.
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