From Devon Pastorius, our Creative Director.
They say that game recognizes game, so today I wanted to dive into a few different ads or campaigns that I’ve seen locally, which I had no hand in, and think they’re pretty neat.
#1 – RFG Plumbers
Purely for the name alone. Absolutely fantastic. I always love it when a brand leans into its core message, especially if they take it to the extreme end of good taste like RFG. These guys’ core message is that they’re really fucking good plumbers. 10/10 no notes, straight to the point. Memorable, gets the point across, and that’s like 90% of marketing right there.
#2 – FREEDS
This is a really interesting case study because they have convinced their clients to pay for their advertising. It’s brilliant. By featuring local business personalities, they’ve managed to take advantage of both the name and brand recognition of those featured in their ads, and pair it with their own. It gives their clients an ego boost and a cool advertising opportunity, it shows the public that high profile people shop at Freeds, and they actually monetize their advertising efforts by charging people for the opportunity. Awesome campaign.
#3 – Jump Realty
I’ve always been a fan of Jump’s logo and signage. Simple, one word, breaks the mold of most real estate branding, and most importantly, it stays consistent. It doesn’t rely on a person’s name, it’s bright red, and it’s instantly recognizable. There are a lot of other real estate brands that incorporate red into their design, but none of them rely as heavily on it as Jump, and by extension, don’t take advantage of it as successfully.
#4 – Greg Monforton and Partners
I remember being like 6 years old, watching either A channel news or the TV guide channel, and every single day I’d be hit with a Greg Monforton ad. You know how I mentioned Jump was consistent? Greg Monforton’s ads define advertising consistency. I STILL get Monforton ads on YouTube, and they’re still as stoic, to the point, and simple as they have always been, and because of it, I’d argue that there isn’t a name in our region that’s more synonymous with personal injury law than Greg Monforton.
#5 – Goran Todorovic and RE/MAX Cares.
I know that this is another real estate company, but they’re spending on a whole different level compared to most local businesses. Between the billboards and bus ads alone, they’re probably outspending the rest of the brokerages in our region combined. It’s a carpet bombing strategy, but it works because it essentially takes up all the oxygen in the room. I saw people making jokes during the postal strike that it meant Goran wouldn’t be in their mailboxes for a few weeks. It might be polarizing, but the efficacy cannot be denied. If you shout your message loud enough and often enough, people are going to hear it.
And finally, I’ve got one more honorable mention. It didn’t make the top 5 list because they haven’t been quite as active in recent years, but I have to talk about Racicot Chrysler. If there ever was a hall of fame for advertising in our area, Leo Racicot should be its inaugural inductee. I can honestly attribute a fair amount of my interest in advertising to seeing those ads on TV as a kid. The acting was bad, the concepts were goofy as hell, but they had a charm and genuineness that made them impossible to ignore. Their message was clear, you felt like you knew the people who’d be selling you a car long before you walked through their doors, and they obviously had a lot of fun making the ads. And even to this day, I can still see Leo on the ice in the net, taking a puck off the head.
That’s it, those are my favourite ads locally. If you have your own list, let us know. And better yet, if you’re a business looking to punch your ticket into the local advertising hall of fame, give Narwhal Creative a call.
