I think we’re all largely agreed that bullet points aren’t even that great an idea when used in keynote or Powerpoint slides. [If you don't agree with that, watch this video by Garr Reynolds and read the rest of the advice on the post too]
Here’s a (blurry, sorry, taken with iPhone) shot of a billboard for a Toshiba notebook.
OK, I’m a Mac fan and have been since buying my first Mac in 1994 so I’m biassed. I usually look at PC adverts critically anyway but this one struck me as singularly awful. We’ve got a product shot, with the computer upside down, because the headline is ‘Enjoy the Brilliant HD Resolution Whenever and Wherever’. For the curious, that’s 720p. hardly anything to right home about, if you own a Mac.
So we have a so-so headline, a quirky product shot, and the ‘creative’ didn’t stop there, they figured we needed some bullet points. Some aren’t even features, none of them make you think ‘wow imagine what that could do for me’.
First up, the model number, the eminently memorable Satellite A500-136, followed by details of exactly which part number of Intel® Core®2Duo Processor it comes with. Then we’re told it comes with Windows Vista Home with the option of an upgrade to Windows 7®. To conclude, we find out it has built-in Harman Kardon® speakers.
Yes, seriously, it’s peppered with registered trademark symbols. What’s up Toshiba? Your brand so boring you have to namedrop all your component suppliers? That blueish blur in the top right is an Intel Core2Duo logo as well, in case the bullet point wasn’t enough.
If you’re going to put out an ugly ad, at least have a point, like a call to action, a ‘price from’, or something. This looks like a bad trade press ad that should never have been allowed away from the intern’s PC running MS Publisher, Corel Draw or whatever blunt object crafted this.
I’m hoping this isn’t endemic in Toshiba’s advertising outside of the Czech Republic and hopefully just a localised case of bad taste and a brand manager who was on holiday at the time.
