Brilliance Doesn't Have to Cost a Fortune

Pringles Proves a Massive Production Budget Isn't Necessary for Success

Posted by Bart Cleveland on 07.07.09 @ 10:50 AM

Bart Cleveland

One of the chief complaints of small agencies is that we don't have budgets big enough to do great work. We look to the winners in our award shows as proof. And that is usually where we are slapped in the face for our lack of commitment to be brilliant.

Case in point: the Pringles web banner that was awarded at Cannes. You can't get any more "low budget." It looks like the agency used a couple of interns for the models and shot the photograph on a cell phone. And yet, it's brilliant. The writing is the star of the piece. Just when you think it's gone as far as it can go, it keeps going. A great job on a nothing budget.

It makes you wonder what the conversation was like when the creative team was given the job.

AE: "We need a small web banner for Pringles."
AD: "Can it be rich media?"
AE: "No."
CW: "Can it have flash?"
AE: "No."
AD: "Do we have a photo budget?"
AE: "No."
CW: "Do we have a decent deadline this time?"
AE: "No."
AD: "I noticed the brief says the objective is to sell Pringles. Is there any other insight?"
AE: "No."
CW: "OK. So we're stoked. Thanks."

I dare say that the creative team didn't skip away in exuberance. But they obviously did decide that they were not going to be denied. They took all of the lack of opportunity and turned it on its ear. Hats off to them for not giving in.

A production budget probably would have gotten in the way of greatness. That's the point of my observation. The first thing you should rely upon is between your ears. Even if you have a budget, pretend you don't. Succeed without the need of big production money, so when you have it you will be even better.

We all want better budgets because it makes the box of possibilities a little bigger. I admit that it is a frustration. Ironically, the most successful creative solutions I've been a part of were some of the least expensive to produce. Another irony is that the more money that is involved, the more layers of decision-makers are involved concerning the work. And the more people that are involved, well I don't need to continue, do I?

22 Comments

By QUINCY | ATLANTA, GA July 7, 2009 01:09:36 pm:

I'll read this after the celebration of MJ's life.

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By ronandoyle | Boston, MA July 7, 2009 03:36:46 pm:

Awesome work.

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By scottlackey | New York, NY July 7, 2009 03:51:10 pm:

Wow...just fabulous. Terrific work. The low budget, down and dirty look works for the banner, not against it. The role and importance of copy in banners is widely overlooked. As Bart mentions in the article everyone is looking for sexy technology--even though as an agency we've often found the results on expandables, across a broad range of factors, to be disappointing.

Great copy can carry a banner supplemented by a simple visual. We ran a banner last year for a videogame with the headline "You'll never forget your first beheading" as a bloody sword cut through the frame. Pulled like crazy.

This Pringles' banner is just great stuff. Congrats to the team and Pringles.

Scott Lackey
Jugular, Co-Founder & Strategic Director
http://www.jugularnyc.com/blog
http://twitter.com/JugularAds

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By shreyasghuge | Ames, IA July 7, 2009 04:29:44 pm:

Amazing creative, not just creative but also strategically, right on the point. The time spent on those clicks, not only do the clicks make the money, but most importantly the brand simply etches on the user's mind. A very clever use of human psyche and marketing effort.

Really, whats with running huge marketing budgets, when advertising originated from something so simple as shouting out to sell your wares in open markets..!!

@shreyasghuge on Twitter.

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By rachaela | Salt Lake City, UT July 7, 2009 04:35:00 pm:

What a great example of success on a shoestring budget! It doesn't always happen but its great to hear a success story. I'd like to see more of this happen with our phoenix ad agencies.

http://jv2.com

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By calebadams | VISALIA, CA July 7, 2009 06:16:01 pm:

Uh oh.

We're back to "doing more with less." JK.

Excellent insight, and that banner ad is pure genius.

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By kevin.sonoff | PORTLAND, OR July 7, 2009 07:16:04 pm:

This is great stuff. Props on taking a boring and over-done medium and making it fun and engaging.

Kevin Sonoff
Founder, Digital Marketing Buzz
http://www.digitalmarketingbuzz.com

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By MattMeszaros | Des Moines, IA July 7, 2009 07:23:14 pm:

Haaaay! How are us jr. creatives supposed to move up if everyone steals our no-budget, no-brief, no-potential projects? Knock it off!

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By jonmrich | MASON, OH July 8, 2009 09:21:11 am:

Thanks for the article and the compliments, Bart. I'm the Director of Business Development at Bridge Worldwide (http://www.bridgeworldwide.com), the creators of the Pringles banner. Your observations are good ones and we certainly agree that great work doesn't necessarily need to cost a fortune. Going from "just okay" to "great" requires one big thought and a bit of unique thinking and creativity. Fortunately, we've got that all over our agency.

At the same time, this wasn't as easy perhaps we made it look. The approval process alone was pretty daunting and quite a bit of effort went into ensuring this didn't look overly "produced."

While we work with brand with tens of millions in budget to just a few thousand, our process and philosophy is the same: "great ideas, beautifully executed in new and innovative ways." The "Can Hands" banner ad is a perfect example of this philosophy in action.

So, if you want to see a bit more of what we do, feel free to pay us a visit.

Thanks again for recognizing the work.

Best,
Jonathan Richman
Director of Business Development
Bridge Worldwide

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By UncaScrooge | Boston July 8, 2009 10:42:33 am:

Brilliantly written ad! Though it should be noted that despite the ad's simplicity, it in fact is a rich-media Flash ad with custom-shot photography.

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By QUINCY | ATLANTA, GA July 8, 2009 11:05:16 am:

This is crazy fun! This totally fits my budget today.

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By Michael | Point Pleasant, NJ July 8, 2009 11:22:56 am:

"Really, whats with running huge marketing budgets, when advertising originated from something so simple as shouting out to sell your wares in open markets..!!"

Ah, so that explains why I fit right in with these advertising/marketing types.

First job I ever had (15 years old) consisted of yelling at passerbys the following, "Step right up! Win yourself a big dog!"

Can you guess what job I held?

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By miunderpants | Lake Orion, MI July 8, 2009 12:56:10 pm:

mmmm, pringles, arrggghhhrrrgggghhhhh.....

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By Andrew | Altoona, PA July 8, 2009 02:22:23 pm:

Once you click, you can't quit.

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By marcie3 | SAN ANTONIO, TX July 8, 2009 02:46:22 pm:

Great insight. Thanks for pointing out the Pringles banner. All web banners should be this fun and engaging. Let's hear it for creativity!

@marciecasas
www.gdc-co.com/blog

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By rolfolsen | Lebanon, NH July 8, 2009 03:17:07 pm:

I'm especially grateful that a click didn't take me anywhere, except maybe to a self-reflective place. Why am I continuing to click? How long is this going to last? Is it over now? Am I nuts? And so on...

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By ianchau | Singapore July 8, 2009 09:40:59 pm:

There's a difference between winning an award and achieving marketing objectives... What were the metrics for success of the real, live banner?

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By ianchau | Singapore July 8, 2009 09:51:24 pm:

... that's not to say that it wasn't a very entertaining banner!

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By Michael | New York, NY July 9, 2009 08:50:55 am:

I'm really glad Jonathan Richman weighed in. In my experience, the ideas are the easy part for a talented, creative agency. It's navigating the approval process and the endless rounds of revision that cost us (and our clients) the big bucks. And, if the Web has proven anything, it's that content is king, regardless of how well-produced that content is.

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By mwhitehill | Tel Aviv July 9, 2009 09:08:59 am:

In Israel, Pringles are a delicacy.

Well done, guys.

@mirywhitehill

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By ronandoyle | Boston, MA July 9, 2009 09:54:20 am:

I posted earlier "awesome work" and I still think it is. But as I've been thinking about it further... there's one thing that this creative team had, that many, many people don't.

Sure... no budget. No time. No brief. No direction. No nothin' other than "do the ad."

BUT... what they did have was a client who was willing to buy something completely irreverent, that says nothing whatsoever about the product, doesn't force a price-point or a product attribute into it or in any way show that it will sell potato chips.

And that, above all other luxuries one can have in an assignment, IS the golden ticket.

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By chris | princeton, NJ July 9, 2009 04:54:49 pm:

"There's a difference between winning an award and achieving marketing objectives... What were the metrics for success of the real, live banner?"

you realize we're talking about a banner ad, right?

anytime that people are actually talking about, enjoying, spreading the word about or are actually proud of a banner ad automatically makes it successful. if you don't recognize at least 5 different ways that this could be considered a success ....

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