Attention to detail…

I’m a sucker for ads in magazines. Not because I’m looking for the newest, bestest product, but because I’m curious what went through the minds of the folks who thought up the ads for their clients. I’ve always thought it odd, as well, that companies spend huge dollars retaining the services of an ad agency to create, not only advertisements, but the image of the company they represent. I mean, c’mon, do you, as a company, need to hire an outside source to tell the world who you are? Who better to do this that the actual company. Hopefully you know who you are and don’t need to pay someone to tell your story for you. I can understand that an outside perspective is sometimes warranted, but on the whole it seems excessive to not only have your own marketing department, but an outside agency as well to handle marketing. Lots of money being dropped there.

Okay, so back to “attention to detail.” When I look at these ads, I pay particular close attention to the ads featuring bicycles. In the recent VeloNews, there is an ad by Gore that seems to be about their Xenon collection. First, I couldn’t find anything about “Xenon” on Gore-Tex’ website. Second, “Victory is simply a matter of the correct position.” Wow, I’ve gotten it wrong all these years. I thought it was a matter of training and eating properly and then being the fastest. All I need is the correct position and all those others on the start line are simply there to find out who’s second best.

As a bike detail kind of guy, I’m also a little confused by the ad and who it’s directed towards. Racer types or the recreational cyclist? Victory implies racing. The triple and long cage derailleur implies recreational cyclist. But the most glaring omission is that the rider is not wearing what seems to be the highlighted product – the Xenon bib tight. That’s tight as in covering your legs down to the ankles. I guess, then, we wouldn’t be able to see the rider’s chiseled legs if he was wearing tights. Oh well.