[MORPH]

I mean, what the hell are they all about??? As if the silly turtles aren't bad enough, we have to endure Chinese cowboys talking to a giant jellyfish!! And have you seen the latest 'Dirty music' one? It's just...well.....not sure if a word has been invented to describe what it is, but whatever it is, it is one!

[3g-g]

I'm with you there Morph! I just don't get them, but perhaps you're not meant to? Perhaps they're just here to make us talk about them, not actually advertise the product? Ach, I dunno, they sit in those ad exec rooms, brainstorm, come up with some crazy idea, they manage to convice HWL that it's a "kool" and they write the cheque out... Hang on... are 3 adverts that easy to make up? Should we all not have a go at doing one?

[Hands0n]

Are they simply not for our market - but H3 are trying to do their advertising on the cheap? i.e. One set of ads globally applied?

I don't get them either - they leave me cold. As soon as one comes on I mentally switch off. They really are the worst of quite a few ads that come across from abroad but don't translate very well. I'm always quite bemused at the American ads that are dubbed into English but have very American video content!!

[getti]

My fave 3 ad still has to be the very 1st one when they were launching. The one which based around 'They thought that.....' and ended up saying 'What did they know'

Had the theme Children Of The Revolution from T-Rex. Ahh the good old days. I loved it when 3 just launched 3G because it was ALL new to people and they were the only ones. The phones although big and bad battery life were so advanced over others.

I remember taking trips from Torquay to Plymouth just to get a 3G signal so i could have a play and see what was on offer (and do shopping) and i was amazed with my first video call, Oh the joy i got when on the train when the normal yellow '2G' symbol changed to a green '3G' one.

Problem now is i dont appreciate it enough as i used too. I spent 1hr 30mins trying to get through to 3 when they announced the 'Pay In Advance' idea and that was at 10pm at night!. 4 times i tried for a contract on all saying no before the 5th time it went through and i got a NEC E606 on £25 a month plan so the phone was free.

I can still remember it now taking the phone with my dad to the hospital social club for a drink (cause my mum was gonna meet us after work cause she works for the local hospital). I opened up the box and got the phone all put together and was just amazed. Now of course there are so many better phones on the market its good and bad. Good because people have more choice, bad because people can take it for granted with what is on offer now.

[Ben]

It has been argued many times that just by talking about their adverts means that they've been a success. If the goal of the advertisements were for us to talk about them then I agree that they have been a success. However, I would greatly hope that the goal of their advertisements would be for us to buy their products. Most of us have, at some stage, so perhaps they have been a success... removing of course any possibility that a) we wanted to try something new or b) as intelligent human beings we simply pick the tariff that is the cheapest.

Three's adverts certainly aren't ordinary.

This may sound like I'm blowing a very old and well worn trumpet, but things like the Orange 60 minutes ad when they first bundled inclusive minutes with line rental, and the 'touch someone with a text message' advert were, for me, the most successful mobile phone company ads ever in this country.

I think Hands0n has a point in that most of the ads simply aren't aimed at 'us'.

[ads]

If everyone is talking about them, havent they done their job?

[Jon3G]

talking is one thing, but for the adverts to work we have to buy the product

[3g-g]

talking is one thing, but for the adverts to work we have to buy the product

Well said that man!

All well and good saying "three, we like music" that's great, I like music too, thanks for telling me. I'm off to get my iPod now that you've reminded me that I also like music.

[@NickyColman]

I find Three's image a bit confusing at the moment. They seem to be having two totally different campaigns running at the moment;


*The adverts involving a twisted take on "the east" and how we are welcome to their network

*Bizzare, even daemonic, little critters that cause havoc and tell us that they like music and they like sharing

Fair enough if they had one consistant campaign running at one time, but they are two totally different images, with two totally different messages.

I must agree with Getti, the first Three adverts were the best, i think. I liked the ones that showed you videocalling in action and the various benefits of Three. Then the campaign with the T-Rex song was also good. I was even fond of the ones with Anna Friel, i thought they were quirky but they had a point!

Since then, Three doesnt quite know what it is!

[3GScottishUser]

Yes I agree whilst they are quite amusing in a bizzare sort of way (to make them talking points I guess) the latest 3 campaign seems to be a hit and hope.

I suspect most young folk are smarter than to fall for £1.50 a time postage stamp downloads of pop tracks to phones when they can get hi-fi quality on the net from 60p (legally) to 0 on peer to peer services. Educating folks with the concepts is fair enough, even commendable but the product has to be something worthwhile and 3 content is'nt reallly great value just now. Still if it makes folks aware of the possibilities it'll be a positive thing for all the networks.

[Hands0n]

In the final analysis - shouldn't adverts actually say [or suggest] something tangible? Sometimes adverts will be "teasers" to get us interested, rather like all those mysterious 3's that kept appearing on the hoardings and bus shelters. It had me going "WTF??", that's for sure. And of course, when the cat was finally let out of the bag the subtle interest hook had been well and truly secured. It was compelling, at the time. As such, the teasers did their job wonderfuly well.

Now we are lost in a mire of vagueness so deep that it is impossible to actually fathom out what the message in the adverts is. If it has got to the point where the advertiser has to explain to the public what the advert is about then they have lost the plot completely.

Responding to 3GSU's closing comment above ..... if you hang around school playgrounds ..... errrr, perhaps you better not :D you'll get a distinct impression that the "young folk" are quite taken with all of this mobile in yer 'and access to music, videos and ringtones! They are more than happy to view their favourite pop videos on the "postage stamp" screens - even though ours have access to 32" widescreen and if I'm feeling generous 150" projection screen presentation of same videos. In this respect, I'm afraid, its not our world anymore ......... its theirs.

[3GScottishUser]

I take the point about young folks, but I spend a very substantial amount of my time with teens and I dont see them bothering with any of that stuff. They are not even talking about it even when prompted. Ask them about Kazza or SoulSeek or MSN Music and you get a very different reaction.

Music has a very limited value now amongst teens as they have grown accustomed to getting it for free either by downloading or by copying CD's. Us older folks still have the notion that we have to pay but sadly the youngsters have a very different experience and high cost downloads cuts little ice with those I come into contact with. Sadly values have changed and that's not good for the 3G networks.