Adelaide and the Television Commercial Style Named Annoyance

If you have ever lived or visited my home town of Adelaide South Australia you would have turned on the TV and noticed that the style of commercials made here by local stores are all based on the same concept. Annoyance.

In the 80’s commercials had a bit of flair, maybe a jingle and a voice over telling you about the store and what they did, but the 90’s decided that yelling at people would bring in the buyers.

The premise of Adelaide ads is to shout at you really loudly about all the sales they are having and in a really annoying way. This style of advertising began in the mid 90s with Mr Bankrupt ads where the guy would yell “$2 $2 CRRAAAAZZZZYYY PRICES” in a really annoying squeaky voice. The other company that claimed control was Cunninghams Warehouse again with a man yelling “$2 just $2”.

I read in the newspaper some time ago that the original Cunninghams Warehouse guy started a production company and signed up other Adelaidian businesses and made their ads in the same way… hello Designer Direct! “Designer Towels, Sheet sets just $15, that’s right $15”. I think FABADS is his production company… I’m not sure it belongs to him but it is certainly the one churning out so many of these Adelaide Annoyance style ads.

Pretty much if you own a business in Adelaide and you want to advertise on TV, the owner of the company is going to be the poster boy/ girl for the business (Eg; Haggle co, Designer Direct) or they will hire someone to be the face of the company (Original Bed E Buys boy “Pig Of A Location”), McLeays Carpet (Bob Francis).

Adelaide companies in possession of the annoyance space of Adelaide’s television advertising:
-Designer Direct
-Bed e Buys
-MaxiPlas
-Gotta Getta
-The Light Factory
– Air Conditioning Warehouse Sales
-Cunninghams Warehouse
-Adelaide Furniture and Electrical
-Taste Furniture
-Profix
-Haggle Co.

This is a good subsection of the Adelaide Annoyance

Steps to creating an Adelaide Annoyance ad:

1. Find a really cheesy catch phrase (eg: Haggle co’s “you’ve got to haggle haggle” or possibly the worst being Taste Furnitures “Taste Life, Taste Furniture”… no thanks I don’t want to taste a chair)

2. Be really over the top about how amazing your sale is  and shout really loud the savings and prices… and have a new sale every single week

3. Be the face of the store and wave your hands around lots.

4. Play your ad on prime time television a lot

5. Annoy the heck out of everyone to the point that when they drive past your store they sing your theme song or say your phrase… while they think about planting a bomb in your shop so it all will end.

6. Say that you are going out of business and have lots of closing down sales where you promise that you are bankrupt and will never open again because you kept your prices so low. 6 months later when everything is peaceful and everyone in the city is glad to not hear your annoying voice, open your shop all over again and start the ads. Repeat this practice every few years.

I actually think that this Adelaide Furniture and Electrical Ad is one of the more innovative ones. I like that it has a song that’s kind of catchy and Joe never yells specials at you he just sings his song.

Haggle Co. Has some annoying ad’s but at least they are sometimes creative and the Haggle Boy dresses up and makes cheesy jokes occasionally.

Sadly I can’t find any of the Mr Bankrupt ads or any of the original Cunno’s guy ads to show just how bad it can get.

So from a marketing perspective what do I think?

Well, people like to know they can get a bargain in places and these ads are cheaply made and their sole purpose is to let everyone know, albeit savagely, that there is a bargain to be had. They let everyone know that the company exists and where to find them and give a form of branding in the way of a recognisable face, song and catch phrase. So I suppose they work for the companies that employ these ads. If I wanted cheap furniture and rugs I know i’d need to go to Haggle Co. But I would kind of resent it due to the advertising driving me nuts for so many years.

Note To Self: If I ever want to have a garage sale I’m going to stand on a street corner yelling my bargains at the top of my voice. “1996 Celene Dion Falling Into You Album with Bonus Atlanta Olympics Power Of The Dream disc just TWO DOLLARS, TWO DOLLARS”