Adwatch review: Brantano

by Simon Learman, Marketing 07-May-08, 14:00

LONDON - Simon Learman, executive creative director of McCann Erickson, reviews Brantano's 'Cortex of justification', which had the third highest ad recall in the 7 May weekly Adwatch poll.

Brave people, those Brantano guys. They claim to have unravelled the workings of the female mind. That's no mean feat, particularly when it comes to shoes.

The film shows a clich?d scientist-type poking gentle fun at the female cognitive process. She highlights an area inside the female brain called the 'cortex of justification', where rather obscure reasons to buy shoes are conceived.

The 'expert' goes on to explain that once the decision to purchase has been made, the customer needs to complete the sale without delay. This is where the Brantano offering comes into play. The company arranges shoes in-store by size, and in a way that facilitates immediate purchase. (No sales assistants, I'm guessing.)

I must admit that Ifind this marketing position interesting because it's a clear point of difference. After all, how many endless hours have you spent watching your partner picking out shoes only to find the store doesn't stock her size? Trouble is, this spot is really back to front. The end benefit of stress-free shoe shopping is what should be dramatised, but instead it's almost thrown away.

I know it's all supposed to be a joke, but if you're going to use empathy to soften up the consumer, then you must hit the right tone. For me, this spot lacks the wit and finesse of the wonderfully bonkers Boots ads, or even the Clarks campaigns for that matter. The net result is something that distracts from the core benefit, and comes across as a little patronising and cheesy.

But the biggest crime here is that the shoes are not beautified. You don't need to be a Sex and the City addict to know that footwear is of vital aesthetic importance, so we don't need some bogus expert trying to explain the arcane principles of femininity. Shoes are serious stuff. Just ask my wife, or my bank manager.