Ad Rides Off in All Directions

In Stephen Leacock's nonsense novel “Gertrude the Governess,” Lord Ronald famously “flung himself upon his horse and rode madly off in all directions.”

We sometimes see this same oddity in the crafting of print ads. A recent prime example is to be found in this recent ad for Kerrygold imported Irish cheese.

We see a jumbled montage:

• A picture of cows in a pasture.

• A glimpse of what might be an Irish manor.

• Perhaps a bit of a travel brochure.

• A dish of something or other with an accompanying bowl of sauce.

• Rubber stampings of the words “pound, “gram,” “Kerrygold” and “Republic of Ireland.”

• What may be a square package of cheese.

• The Kerrygold logo.

• A slab of weathered barn-door siding, over which is printed in white letters, “Vacation pictures? CHEESE FACTORY? Cheese factory? VACATION PICTURES?” (This is not a misprint.) And a few other things I couldn't decipher.

• So what is it? A travel ad? Part of a travel poster? Someone's bulletin board of travel souvenirs?

• Or could it actually be — yes, I believe it actually is — an ad for Kerrygold cheese.

• It's a click-response ad, but only for those with extremely keen eyesight. Near the bottom, in what I would say is 3-point type, is “100% all natural cheese imported from Ireland” and “kerrygold.com/usa.”

Blarney Castle Cheese

The several directions where the ad seems to be galloping are (a) encouraging familiarity with the Kerrygold brand; (b) encouraging a vacation trip to Ireland; and (c) encouraging a visit to a cheese factory while you're there.

Vintage Cheddar

I would say it fails to reach any of these objectives. And so, in planning my makeover, I decided to choose just one. Better to achieve that much completely than fail to do justice to all three.

Dubliner Cheese

I focused on selling Kerrygold cheese and let the Web site handle the rest.

But it would take words as well as illustration to convey what's special about Irish cheese, Kerrygold cheese, and specific Kerrygold cheeses.

That wouldn't leave much room for pictures. I needed just one that would convey the purity and wholesomeness of Irish dairy products.

For this I chose from Kerrygold's site a photo of cows grazing amid a lovely Irish landscape. It didn't convey much that was distinctively Irish, but all print advertising of limited space requires a tradeoff of some kind — you give up one desirable feature to gain another. And in this case, being limited to one page meant giving up atmospheric Irish photos in exchange for persuasive copy. Of course, I could've displayed a collage of Irish scenes using the same amount of space as my cow picture, but then each image would've been too small to have much impact and wouldn't have illustrated my copy as well.

Beneath my picture, the text begins with a lead-in and headline identifying and promoting this unique product, displaying the brand name, and making a promise of satisfaction: “Love pure Irish cheese? Wait till you taste The Kerrygold Difference.”

The copy that follows might have been devoted entirely to promoting Kerrygold cheese in general. But to make this ad more memorable and credible, it seemed desirable — almost necessary — to spell out the virtues of certain Kerrygold cheeses.

Kerrygold makes a half-dozen different kinds of cheese. But I couldn't see shoppers going out of their way to find Swiss cheese imported from Ireland rather than Switzerland, so I took the liberty of omitting that one.

The copy starts with some general brand sell (lifted from the company's Web site) followed by a blurb about each particular cheese and what's special about it.

From Ireland's lushest pastures comes milk so rich in beta-carotene it can turn butter and cheese into gold. The distinctive natural color and exceptionally creamy flavor distinguishes Kerrygold imported natural cheeses from other premium brands. Kerrygold dairy products are made exclusively from the milk of grass-fed cows that are free of growth hormones.

Just outside the medieval city of Cork is the world-famous Blarney Castle, best known for its famous stone which is said to impart the gift of eloquence on those who kiss it. From Cork's lush pastures and pristine water sources comes this very special cheese.

Before Ad