VitroRobertson

VitroRobertson for Newcastle Ale.

This stuff is so boring. Unfortunately, so was everything else I saw that had been done by VitroRobertson. They remind me a bit of Martin Williams because they are a big agency, that got picked up by a holding company, they manage to grab some big clients, but the work is terribly mundane. This is the clutter people complain about in advertising- VitroRobertson, you are the clutter. The outdoor advertising they created for Newcastle is an example of the epitome of a conventional VitroRobertson ad; it has cliche copy paired with a cliche visual. In the ad above with the blowfish, the visual is redundant; it does nothing to enhance the copy, it basically says the copy in a very inarticulate way. The billboard shown below is just a hot mess. Who is going to be able to read all of that copy while driving? The comparison is a bit of a stretch as well...smooth beer should never be put on the same level as a peace treaty because now they are just making a mockery of international relations (lulz). There has been a lot of beer advertising that seems to think actually being able to drink the beer without gagging is a strong product feature. The "Drinkability" campaign for Bud Light used a similar message, but I think this strategy ends up having the opposite effect. No one is going to want to drink your brand of beer after you just had to reassure them that it is, in fact, not that bad to drink. I don't see anything extraordinary about this work, and I still can't figure out how agencies like this stay in business. I was even more shocked to discover that IHOP recently switched their advertising from McCann to VitroRobertson...why? It can't be because of their history of creating great work.