Argos: The retail chain's Christmas ad campaign is well-branded, but lacks creative ideas

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I picked this ad because it offers an opportunity to discuss the merits of creative idea vs creative vehicle.

That, and because I have always loved aliens - 2001: A Space Odyssey. Star Wars. Argos. This should be right up my street.

In the Argos aliens' first outing last year, there was the smallest hint of a creative idea. While there was never the suggestion that they had travelled light years just for the shopping, these beings were unmistakably taken with this strange shop called Argos.

The idea hinged on them being fish out of water; new to earth, they represented the wisdom of innocents looking at people's strange behaviour with fresh and disbelieving eyes, because they saw Argos as the only sensible Earthly solution, at least when it came to shopping. Viewed this way, they were close cousins of the Smash Martians, bemused and amused by the foibles of us humans.

However, this idea played second fiddle to the aliens being a simple and flexible creative vehicle. This is particularly true in the current Christmas ad. There is not an idea, so much as a flexible branding device well-suited to delivering a range of messages.

Played this way, the aliens are in fact very un-alien. They are fish in water, behaving like a typical Argos shopper. Why are they aliens? Well, why not?

To my mind, even if an overall creative strategy and idea is viewed as being superfluous (which I would question), surely there is scope to use the family's alien-ness to greater comic and dramatic effect?

These aliens seem to have settled on Earth rather too well. In fact, if you look away from the TV, there is no hint that these are aliens at all. They have no alien quirks. No strange food requirements, shopping idiosyncrasies, funny handshakes or homesickness.

Clearly the aliens love Argos, and good on them, but I'm also dying to hear at least a little bit about their near-miss with a black hole.

Nowhere is this more evident than when the dad alien is thrilled with a nose trimmer he's bought for his wife's aunt. Now, presuming the aunt is also an alien - and I think I'm on pretty safe ground here - she will not have a nose. Not even a nostril.

In communicating Argos' excellent deal on nose trimmers, it seems even the script-writer has forgotten they are aliens.

So, this is my issue. The creative potential around this being a family of aliens seems to have been sidelined.

Will it work? Quite possibly. It is distinctive, well-branded, and can seamlessly carry several disparate messages. However, for the moment at least, it represents an opportunity missed.

Brand strategy verdict: 4 out of 10

How can a campaign featuring aliens also be slice-of-life advertising at its most ordinary? Beats me.

Adwatch (Dec 5) Top 20 recall: Argos
Latest rank	December 5	Brand	Agency/TV Buyer		Recall
1	(10=)	Argos	CHI&Partners/ Mindshare		62
2	(-)	EE	Saatchi & Saatchi/ MEC		60
3	(-)	Littlewoods	St Luke's/ Carat		50
4	(-)	Apple iPad Mini	TBWA\ Media Arts Lab		45
5=	(17=)	Tesco	Wieden & Kennedy/ Initiative		44
5=	(-)	Very.co.uk	St Luke's/ Carat		44
7	(2)	DFS	Krow/ MediaCom		43
8	(-)	eBay	TribalDDB/ Carat		42
9	(-)	Febreze	Grey Dusseldorf/ Starcom		41
10=	(1)	McDonald's	Leo Burnett/ OMD UK		37
10=	(-)	Barnes & Noble Nook e-reader	Mullen/ Initative		37
12=	(17=)	National Lottery	Abbot Mead Vickers BBDO/ OMD UK		36
12=	(-)	Asda	Saatchi & Saatchi/ Carat		36
14	(-)	Dyson Hot	In-house4/ PHD		33
15	(-)	Waitrose	Bartle Bogle Hegarty/ Manning Gottlieb OMD		32
16	(5)	Harveys	HDMG/ MediaVest		27
17	(-)	Ariel	Saatchi &Saatchi /Starcom		26
18=	(7)	Curry's/PC World	M&C Saatchi/ Walker Media		24
18=	(-)	Gillette Fusion	BBDO/New York/ Mediavest		24
20	(-)	The Co-operative	Leo Burnett/ PHD Rocket		22

This article was first published on marketingmagazine.co.uk