If you’re a copywriter or have any experience of direct response marketing, then I’m pretty sure you’re familiar with the important concept of “Message-to-market-match”.  That is to say, when advertising you choose an avenue that will reach your desired audience.

So imagine my surprise as I was reading this week’s edition of “The Economist” when I came across an ad from the Australian bank NAB.  The same ad, in fact, that I commented on in a previous post (“Someone Didn’t Get The ‘Reason Why Copywriting’ Memo”).

This is the ad aimed at Australian businesses with the amazing headline “Changing Times…”. In fact, it’s not quite the same ad as the outdoor display ad.  They’ve added some extra body copy with some typical big corporate fluff.

Now, I’ll accept that I’ve got the Australian (or at least Asia) edition of the magazine so there is some targetting here.  However, I suspect that the NAB are not going to reach too many prospects through this avenue.  And I’d be pretty sure that a full page colour ad in “The Economist” doesn’t come cheap.

So, you’ve got a mediocre to poor ad in the wrong media.  What are these people thinking?

And NAB isn’t alone in wasting money.  “The Economist” contains a wealth of ridiculous ads from big financial institutions.  I may review an issue in a future post to compile a “Rogue’s Gallery” of poor advertising.