W+K: And now for something completely ridiculous

Australia’s top two budget department chains, Kmart and Target are still slogging out using the almost identical ads, that Kmart’s agency, BWM (now BWM Dentsu) dreamed up three years ago.

Kmart’s Bom Bom Bom ad reinvented Kmart in 2013. And Kmart needed it. BWM took cheap cheap cheap items and gave them bright bright bright appeal.

Perhaps Target’s excuse is that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

In November last year, Wieden & Kennedy London beat Grey London to European budget department chain, TK Maxx’s account.

And true to its reputation, W+K has come up with a game changing campaign for the category.

Each ad is visually arresting. One opens on a woman’s legs dangling from a hole in a ceiling. Another opens on a man’s legs flying along a road.

Weird is fine, but where’s the personality…the engagement, you ask? It’s there in the narration. In each ad, the owner of the body parts tells the story of how he/she got into the predicament. The stories are wonderfully human and sit on the outside edge of credible where it meets the humour of ridiculous. Plus you noticed the word, possibilities, in the tagline? W+K isn’t just selling cheap, it’s selling the dream bought cheaply.

The woman met her dream man thanks to a trampoline she bought at TK Maxx, which threw her through her floor to the party below, but happily she was wearing a dress also purchased at TK Maxx…