Cool story or what?!

Just a forewarning…potentially this could be an incredibly boring post (if you aren't wowed by the impressive approaches designers/advertisers have taken to make an incredibly mundane consumer product interesting to increase sales figures)...

It is always impressive to see how creatives go about selling the generic to the individual. In this particular case the product in question is cling film, a household necessity (until plastic is placed on the endangered species list), but one somewhat lacking in the personality department.

Unlike the more charismatic characters in a kitchen environment (slightly dry tone here); the corkscrew, the cleaver, maybe the potato masher (?!), effectively utensils with life-span and more weight on their functional shoulders, cling film is much more disposable (one of its core features). With each unravelled roll, the product faces the stern tests of value for money, quantity over quality, and brand loyalty from the consumer looking to replenish their stock.

So how would you promote this product to the consumer, build an engaging consumer relationship, bring life to a single use product with a quite sterile complexion?

Completely focused on core purpose, the following print advertisements for different brand names are incredibly similar in their approach (I suspect some notes may have been taken), but all offer up some interesting concepts, powerful imagery, and for any vegetarians unfortunate enough to read, some take it to a certain excess…

Ziploc Cling Wrap

Be fresh for a long time - Strange Idea Ad, Beijing

Glad Cling Wrap

Let it taste the way it should - DDB

But my personal favourite, through sheer need to go the extra mile to evoke a reaction, be it one of reeling in terror, or respect at the impressive candidness and seeming lack of fuss (without considering the amount of work put into visualising the idea)...

M-Wrap Cling Wrap

Chicken, Fish, Pork - Creative Juice\g1

While I have only just come across these creative gems, they arguably (and in the case above, quite controversially) highlight the importance in being true to the product you are working with. We can be convoluted in the messages we seek to convey, but in the end Sigmund Freud said it best when discussing dream analysis (a stretch from design, but the sentiment is there)...

"Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar!"