Sorry for getting off topic, but can you maybe explain for me why “Cheers” translates into “Mud in your eye” and “Friendly greetings from…” often into “Greetings shut one self up”?

乾杯

Sjors

Mud in your eye, that’s a good one!

Regards,

Bryan

I have seen the Jenson Button commercial for several weeks now on our television and I think it’s very nice one. I like the 5 O’Clock shadows, since I often have one too. I think I won’t either complain when you would say I look like a caveman, ha ha.

That Bud Light commercial is very funny too, I had a good laught here.

Cheers (”Mud in your eye”),

Sjors

You may have seen Seiko Japan has a Grand Seiko tag line that reads “Seiko Loves Ladies.” The phrase “he loves the ladies” often has a negative connotation in American culture. It’s often a wry put down of a man’s weakness, in a Clintonesque sense — so it seems like an odd catch phrase for Seiko to use. It’s the Japanese-English issue you raised.

To see the ad, click here.

Thanks for your comments. I’m especially pleased you mentioned Mad Men, since nobody else had. Working that into my story was a big part of the fun for me.

That’s an astute point about asking an open-ended question. I also liked your reference to the Bud Light commercials, because Anheuser-Busch is targeting the same demographic as Seiko (Gen Y), but the brewer’s Downtown Partners DDC Ad Agency is doing so, as you point out, with creativity and humor.

Thanks for your comments!

Regards,

Bryan

Mart, I think every person I’ve known who’s returned from a trip to Japan comments about the funny English phrases that they see on T Shirts, in stores and in advertising. It certainly must be a “Japanese” thing although I’ve seen it creep into US advertising lately too. Like Honda says…”The Fit is Go”

Also, any post referencing the extremely stylish but slightly worrying series Mad Men on AMC gets a bonus point.

/ mart

/ mart

I’m not a big fan of the ‘horological tradition’ approach in advertising. It’s a Swiss conceit and they’ve used it to excellent advantage but they should be left with it. Now if Seiko wanted to really be gutsy they could do a humorous approach on the whole ‘horological tradition’ thing and win big points for originality - here in the USA we love folks (and companies) who go out on the edge. Make me laugh and I’ll remember you.

Perhaps they should hire the agency that does the Bud Lite commercials…

What a shame.

That is the image Seiko’s ad agency is going for, and the thing the Geico commercials satirize. It’s more creative and fun to satirize inane trends then to perpetuate them. That’s why Geico’s commercials are innovative, and Seiko’s aren’t.

Image: © Seiko Corporation

If you look at the Seiko full-page magazine ads above, the images of the metrosexual models take up a full half of each page. Wow. They are putting 50 percent of their efforts into promoting the metrosexual image, and the other half into showcasing the actual watch.

On their website, the banner ads/buttons they use (pictured below) divide space in thirds — one-third for the name of the watch, one-third to show the watch, and one-third to show the metrosexuals.

Image: © Seiko Corporation

I like Shawn’s idea for an ad campaign. Here’s another — focus on the watches themselves. Seiko has a great product. How about featuring that? What a revolutionary idea.

Another thought is for Seiko to call on Geico’s ad agency, the Martin Agency in Richmond, Virginia. Citizen might want to consider that too.

[UDATE — Well, it seems from online research that the Martin Agency may actually BE the ad agency that designed Seiko International’s ad campaign! So, they just recycled the Geico metrosexual theme (bearded upper middle class urban male) and sold it to Seiko? Interesting! You can see how Les Perry, one of Seiko’s marketing executives, was thinking about Seiko’s ad strategy in 2004 by clicking here.]

Regards,

Bryan

Maybe it’s because I’m not a metrosexual, but I’d much prefer that my watch brand portrayed an image of tough-ness than a bunch of pretty boys. Oh well.