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Just for fun, the Kaleidoscope team will provide individual impressions of a current marketing campaign. We will use the following rating to assess the work. Please let us know if there is a specific campaign you would like us to rate.
The Good – something to be proud of – we couldn’t have done it better!
The Bad – not sure what the deal is here!
The Ugly – strategically lame and creatively rancid! |
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Campaign: Bombardier Commercials
Venue: National Television
Date: Throughout Winter Olympics |
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Yvette’s Critique:
Rating: Good
It’s refreshing to see a Canadian
corporation celebrating their employees and
their successes – and rare too. A little
background on Bombardier the corporation and
the man with the vision behind it:
Joseph-Armand Bombardier, a Canadian
mechanic and inventor produced his first
snow mobile in 1923, selling his first model
in 1937 with his famous Ski-Doo in 1959. A
man with strength in vision and Canadian
national pride, his company has become a
global icon as a world leader in the
manufacturing of aircraft, subway and
railway cars. In Europe it is engaged in
making special-purpose rail vehicles for the
English Channel tunnel in addition to
high-speed trains for continental use. In
Canada, the United States, and Mexico,
Bombardier Inc. manufactures the world
renowned Lear (which they also own), Global
Express and Challenger jets, not to mention
the thousands of regional aircraft, subways,
light rail, monorail, commuter, intercity
trains as well as freight-train cars. In
1942, J. Armand Bombardier went public and
the company name became Bombardier Limited.
But even as the company grew and expanded,
Mr. Bombardier never lost the desire to
drive his creations himself. Bombardier had
a simple philosophy of merchandising that
today seems strange in the era of parts
manufacturers and subcontractors. He wanted
to make everything himself! He also firmly
believed that if a product was good it would
sell without the offering of special
incentives. Mr. Bombardier passed away in
1964, however I feel that the message
remains the same. Bombardier was a unique
visionary and grew his corporation to what
it is today, aviation and transportation
engineering. No one can question his
success! His premature death in 1964 came
when he was at the very height of his
career. But the dreams he had in the 1920s
continue to be fulfilled. He would no doubt
be proud to learn that the dynamic business
establishment he founded today employs over
60,000 people worldwide and has annual sales
exceeding four billion dollars.
Bombardier went to the mass market with its
first corporate campaign during the recent
Olympics and some of our peers wonder what
the value was – no immediate value they say.
Investing in intellectual property and
talent is a company’s best asset. Mirroring
the investment many corporations made in our
Canadian Olympics, Bombardier took it one
step further – investing their national
pride into their employees and also
personifying Bombardier much like Bombardier
did himself.
Congratulations Bombardier for continuing
the vision! |
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Kate’s Critique:
Rating: Ugly
I have seen 2 of the Bombardier commercials
and I find both of them to be offensive –
portraying their employees as self absorbed
and inconsiderate. I believe that the
intention is to show how committed and
dedicated Bombardier employees are to their
organization; however, I find them to be
oblivious to the realities of life and how
their actions affect others. If this is the
case, how can they be sensitive to their
customers’ needs?
In the first commercial, a couple has asked
a young woman to take their photo in front
of a monument. Instead of taking a photo for
them to remind them of their travels, she
instead waits for the Bombardier streetcar
to cross behind them before snapping the
image. They are stressed and start to
gesture to her to take the photo. As the
streetcar crosses behind them, she snaps an
unflattering photo. This seems to
communicate to me that the young woman is
rude and not considerate of the couple’s
request or of their film (do they really
want to pay to get that photo processed?) or
of the fact that they want a nice reminder
of their holidays.
In the second commercial, an older man is on
an African safari. Totally oblivious to the
risks to himself and others in the jeep, he
gets out of the car and starts to wander
across the savannah, looking at the sky. A
lioness approaches; he doesn’t notice and
finally gets back into the truck and says,
“that’s my plane”. I am pretty sure the rest
of the passengers are thinking, “what an
idiot!”
Even though these may be memorable, I don’t
think the message is getting through…unless
their message is that they have obsessive
employees. |
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