Awful TV commercial

[EDB45]

Sky Mobile TV advertising, the advert with the dead Christmas tree, is possibly the worst TV advert in recent years. I had to watch it several times before I could even identify the advertiser. Whoever agreed to put this on air is of questionable marketing competence. 

[ozsat]

I guess that would be the advertiser.

I don't watch live tv except live sport - so skip over ads.

[Mark39]

---

@EDB45 wrote:

Sky Mobile TV advertising, the advert with the dead Christmas tree, is possibly the worst TV advert in recent years. I had to watch it several times before I could even identify the advertiser. Whoever agreed to put this on air is of questionable marketing competence. 

---

Sounds like a very successful commercial. You were compelled to watch it several times, you've remembered who the advertiser was, and you even felt the need to post about it in a public forum. Job done from the advertiser's perspective. 

You don't have to enjoy an ad for it to be a successful marketing message.

[EDB45]

Yes, that awful dead Christmas treeTV advert is the advertiser -- who happens to be Sky Mobile themselves. Their content and creative people really need help. I have written to them directly in the past (several months ago) offering free pointers -- from someone with as strong a track reord as exists in the industry. One would think they would at least phone just to hear what I would advise, like it or not -- but they do not do so. The Sky media and marketing people handle a good bit of the advertidising on GBNews -- which has the same effectiveness problems. The Sky marketing/media/creative people should be working hard to improve what their advertiers put on the air -- would, over time, make their media use a lot more desireable.

[EDB45]

A TV advert is effective only if it actually "sells." This advert doses the opposite. In fact, it is a turnoff. I watched it several times and commented because I have 60 years of global experience managing the creation, airing and effectiveness measurement of TV advertising.

About 80% of today's TV adertissing is a waste of money -- hopelessly ineffective in terms of "selling." Much of the most effective advertising on TV today is from Procter & Gamble. They really know what they are doing. And, even P&G drift off course at times, such as the recent mountain goat Head & Shoulders advertising. Look at the P&G TV advertising for FLASH products -- brilliantly done. 

One of the trests of good TV advertising is to ask someone to watch the commercial and then tell you what it said. With good advertising, the viewer cannot tell you what they watched without 1) naming the product, and 2) telling a story that makes the product the hero of the story. Flash advertising does this in spades. The Sky Mobile advert, on the other hand, is so bad viewers cannot name the advertiser. I have now shown the Sky Mobile advert to 12 people. Eleven had no idea as to who is the advertiser. The twelth could not answer the follow up question "what is the benefit of Sky Mobile, i.e.,  why should you consider Sky Mobile."

[GD1]

@EDB45  So the question is what exactly are you wanting us, fellow customers to do about the ad?

[Mark39]

---

@EDB45 wrote:

About 80% of today's TV adertissing is a waste of money -- hopelessly ineffective in terms of "selling." Much of the most effective advertising on TV today is from Procter & Gamble. They really know what they are doing. And, even P&G drift off course at times, such as the recent mountain goat Head & Shoulders advertising. Look at the P&G TV advertising for FLASH products -- brilliantly done. 

---

All ads are equally detestable in my opinion. I never watch them.

[EDB45]

Sky executives do care about user opinions. It would be great if users could get them to focus a bit more in this area. It will also be helpful for these messages to reach advertisers themselves. The number of advertisers who waste money on poor advertising has got to, eventually, cost consumers real money.

Another example: Vitality and Stanley the Dachshund. This advertising has been on-air (mostly on Sky) for several years. What is their product? This is another one where I have asked people to look at the commercials. 80% of people say they do not know what they sell. 10% say gym memberships. 10% say life insurance.

[GD1]

@EDB45  This is a customer helps customer community, it's unlikley Sky executives will see this.

[EDB45]

You may well be correct, that Sky execs will not see this -- but, they should be receiving periodic summaries of what users say amongst themselves. If they do not do this, they are missiing an opportunity. One worrying thing is that, while Sky have many venues for help and complaints, they have none for more general comments. Maybe Rachel is to blame -- too expensive to employ people.

[GD1]

@EDB45  They do it's View Relations ViewerR@sky.uk

[nolte]

Is this the one with Roy Keane?

I quite like it, (and the longer version with the carollers who just play music), for me it works on roy keane's reputation of not tolerating fools and people who are not making an effort.

Anyway just my opinion.

[oj01]

---

@nolte wrote:

Is this the one with Roy Keane?

I quite like it, (and the longer version with the carollers who just play music), for me it works on roy keane's reputation of not tolerating fools and people who are not making an effort.

Anyway just my opinion.

---

Completely agree. It's one of a few ads that I remember (and know what it's advertising) so I'd say it's done exactly what it's supposed to do. 

[Marlu-Nyu]

---

@EDB45 wrote:

Sky Mobile TV advertising, the advert with the dead Christmas tree, is possibly the worst TV advert in recent years. I had to watch it several times before I could even identify the advertiser. Whoever agreed to put this on air is of questionable marketing competence. 

---

You've only said how you feel about the advert, but you've not given a "why". So this seems more of a passing comment more than anything else. For clarity, I'm assuming it's this ad here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3i26RzzrNPU.

The as shows Roy Keane Christmas tree shopping, and the salesman takes out a brown, "dead" tree claiming it's "vintage" and it was "very popular last year". The voiceover then says "While some might give you less this Christmas [...]". I saw this advert as Sky saying that you might not get good deals with other sellers or in-store while Christmas shopping, but Sky will give you a better deal. 

Additionally, I was with Sky Mobile for about 4 months, I wouldn't advise it. In Ireland, mobile numbers start with 083, 085, 086, 087 or 089, and if one's number is e.g. 083 xxxxxxx and one can put a 5 after the prefix like 083 5 xxxxxxx, this is a direct way to call one's voicemail, and how call forwarding redirects a call to voicemail when busy or unreachable.

Sky tried to charge me for this call forwarding to my own voicemail and claimed it was non-geographical. I then tried to contact Sky via WhatsApp (one can do this in Ireland), and someone not from the UK or Ireland got the brunt of my frustration when they had no clue that the 083 5 was a thing. I got so frustrated that they didn't know this common knowledge (especially for a mobile phone network in Ireland) and I just switched back to Three.

The only good thing is that the introductory offer was €15/month and that Sky uses the Vodafone network which has better 5G coverage than Three. The customer care and how it was handled for me just put me to the edge. But honestly, I'd rather pay €20/month to Three (pre-pay) for better customer service.

[Marlu-Nyu]

---

@Mark39 wrote:

---

@EDB45 wrote:

About 80% of today's TV [advertising] is a waste of money -- hopelessly ineffective in terms of "selling." Much of the most effective advertising on TV today is from Procter & Gamble. They really know what they are doing. And, even P&G drift off course at times, such as the recent mountain goat Head & Shoulders advertising. Look at the P&G TV advertising for FLASH products -- brilliantly done. 

---

All ads are equally detestable in my opinion. I never watch them.

---

That's one main reason why I won't switch to Sky Glass/Stream, the ads are not skippable unless one pays extra. At least with Sky Q, I can record programmes, and fast forward the ads. So, like if a show is on at 9pm, I record it as watch it at 9:30.