Soon the nation will be bombarded with Rugby World Cup-related ads, whether from the tournament’s family of sponsors, the national sponsors, the ambushers or even the teams themselves. And MasterCard is one of the first of the bunch to get in on the act, bringing back its long-time mascot Tim for his fourth run.
In a world where attention is a currency, the sweet spot sometimes seems to be polarity. Let’s call it the Paul Henry effect, where some watch because of love, and some watch because of hate. That formula often applies to the world of advertising. And MasterCard’s recent efforts starring an over-zealous (and quite lucky) All Blacks fan called Tim are a good example of that in action. Now he’s back in his third appearance for the brand—and he’s as violating as ever.
Last year, Mastercard, McCann Sydney and Robber’s Dog walked away with the top prize at the Fair Go Ad Awards for their ‘Tight on Tour’ spot. And Tim, the over-excited All Blacks ‘super-fan’, has been brought back to celebrate the launch of its contactless payment technology PayPass.
There are some brilliant ads that bring joy to viewers and add to the pop-cultural landscape. And there are many more horrible ads that do the exact opposite. Either way, there’s no doubt humans have a love/hate relationship with advertising, as evidenced by the continuing popularity of Fair Go’s Ad Awards, which increased its audience from last year and crowned MasterCard’s All Blacks ‘Tight on Tour’ ad as the best and Lumino The Dentist’s ‘Love Your Smile’ ad as the worst.
Five of the week’s best spots, from endearing child stars to George Clooney-esque stickmen and everything in between.
There weren’t too many particularly memorable promotional efforts from the wide range of Rugby World Cup sponsors last year. But a few stood out, and one of them was MasterCard’s Priceless Moments series by McCann Sydney and Prodigy. Now the agency has followed that up with a pretty funny spot promoting a competition that’s offering one lucky—and, judging by the ad, potentially very annoying—rugby fan a trip to Europe to watch the All Blacks play Italy, Scotland, Wales and England.