STAML Carnival Baby AD, And Pharmacy Decor Beyond's Use Of The DJ Bravo Paid My Tuition Trend

Illustration courtesy TheBrandTUB

Marketing and advertising in Trinidad and Tobago IS very much a fitting in game—no one wants to be judged. So everything you read or see is very sanitized. The downside is that we're cheated of truly knowing the businesses we give our money to. 

Since they’re all marketing and doing advertising, the assumption here is they’re interested in getting to know us. But the relationship feels very one-sided when it comes to what they let us know about them.

What exactly do you know about SuperPharm?

Enterprise businesses are now being accused of being generic and safe: creating marketing for the boardroom instead of creating marketing that moves people.

Well, speaking as a designer who has seen the inside of some boardrooms, I agree.

But the irony here is that when companies like St Augustine Medical and Pharmacy Decor Beyond attempted not to play it safe, and authentically connect with their audience, they were dragged. STAML Carnival Baby ad got publicly shamed for prioritizing likes and reach, and Pharmacy Decor Beyond's use of the “DJ” Bravo trend was called hacking pop culture.

It's been years, a lot has been said. Now here's my...

Design critique: What the Carnival Baby AD, and Pharmacy Decor Beyond's commercial missed—and where I’d come from in terms of fixing it.

This ad and this commercial were created to clearly build awareness.

Awareness campaigns are used to boost public visibility for your business and brand, hence why likes and shares are among some of what's prioritized with this form of advertising.

Never mind the implication of disrespect behind building awareness through others when you add something of note to the conversation. It doesn’t mean it's off the table for you to create for your business if the stars are aligned for you to do so.

I've successfully designed a few awareness campaigns in my time at The DocuCentre Ltd, and the aim is to always send the message in a way that is:

• Clear: Get to the point about what you do.

• Memorable: Your message needs to land.

• Compelling: Give them the reason to care.

That said, what was STAML trying to generate awareness about?

STAML AD

Let’s break this down:

1. The headline:

   “Having a carnival baby and not sure who is the father?” Culturally relevant? Yes. But is the goal to shine light on a seasonal issue, or the value proposition of STAML:

   
   

   • What problem does STAML solve?

   • Who is STAML?

   • STAML assumes people already know these things.

Albeit, the timing (being after carnival time) together with the message (pregnant nine months later. If you know, you know) is a consuming fire in the presence of getting to know who STAML is, and what they do. But the basis for connection is authentic—they do deal with issues like these.

Let's take a look at Pharmacy Decor Beyond's commercial.

Pharmacy Decor Beyond commercial

Let’s break this down:

1. The trend:

   The "DJ Bravo paid my tuition" controversy. First of all, points for taking a bold approach if this personality is authentic. 

   
   

In one sense, wrapping yourself in this trend could have been sold as authentic storytelling. Even focusing on community instead of the products sold would have been an angle if it wasn’t apparent you were trying to do too much. 

But in the end, you were memorable for the wrong reason. Many people, including myself, felt like asking:

• Who are you?

• Why do people choose you over the next pharmacy down the street?

Many enterprise businesses in Trinidad and Tobago default to shock value. I don’t believe the aforementioned type of campaign was wrong; I believe these specific companies don’t know themselves as a brand. But many businesses become a monopoly and eventually either stop offering the product, change the story, or new businesses neglect to gain clarity on what’s valuable about what they do, and end up defaulting to shock value. 

Now, don’t get me wrong, I like a little shock. It’s only when the kitten is stroked in the opposite direction that it reacts, and the experience becomes interesting. But interesting can be laughing at Carlsberg saying, “probably not the best beer in the world.” The driver here is the brand, and that's the purpose of this blog—to shine light on where everything comes from. Not to speculate or shame. I think that's where the fear of being yourself comes from, when wisdom on how to critique something without destroying what's naturally beautiful about the effort is lacking.

As a designer, I'm trying to get clients to be more of themselves, not delete it.

So if I leave you, dear reader, with anything, it's this: think deeper about what you want people to know about your services, and then get creative about it.

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I am the Founder and Visual Brand Strategist at The BrandTUB **Schedule a call with me if you need help with your visual branding. Let's see if you're a good fit! **Figure out what you're trying to say with The One-Page Workbook™ **Sign up to receive these weekly articles in your inbox if you’re not quite ready to work with me yet.