Grab your wallet and pick up the phone!

One of my favorites is the Geico ad: The Geico gecko was named the top advertising icon in 2005 at Advertising Week in New York. The animated creature, Gecko, had an English accent (Jake Wood, an English actor and comedian was the man behind the voice) and Americans love listening to British accents. The commercial featuring the animated gecko was a success because I think everyone found it refreshing and humorous to watch. If I had not been using a rental car in the states, I might have been tempted to pick up the phone and buy their car insurance. The ad was focused on consumers who appreciate humor. The new ad has a different format but it’s still popular. The tagline is “Real service. Real savings,” and is used along with a real customer’s experience and a celebrity’s version to pitch car insurance. Personally I missed the gecko. When I was home in the summer he didn’t make an appearance in the new spot.

I noticed the other night when I was watching some television that THY had an ad on a Turkish channel. Later I changed over to CNN for news and saw a very different ad by THY. The ad on the Turkish channel was targeted toward Turks. The whole message of the advert was that THY will take you to be with your loved ones. Your family and friends may be abroad, or the other end of Turkey, but a THY flight will bring you closer. A little boy is looking at a photo of an aunt as he is sitting in his plane seat. A grandmother is stroking bracelets on her arm that she is going to give to a bride when she lands. The plane takes you to a special family occasion -- great advertising for a culture where family values are so strong.

The ad on CNN was geared toward foreigners who would like to visit famous cities and popular tourist spots. The THY plane is taxiing around Parliament Square in London, across a busy Hong Kong intersection and past an impressive building in Dubai. Finally it passes Sultanahmet Square where a bunch of foreign tourists are taking snapshots of the plane and the Aya Sofya. Message: THY is closer to you than you think and takes you where you dream of going. It is right on with what it is communicating and to whom.

Also the billboards around town are very clever; a runway with “111” and then “Euro” written under it. You understand immediately that you can fly to some European destinations for a cheap price.

It had disturbed me that I had trouble enjoying most Turkish ads. I am so glad I really like the THY ads. And the THY ads have shown that it is not surprising Turkish ads don’t scratch me where I itch -- they are aimed at a different audience.

THY has done a good job of capturing the foreigner’s taste and getting our attention with its commercials. Depending on who they want to attract, they have made an appealing, effective and entertaining series of ads.

Whenever I go to the cinema here I am always amazed at the length of the bank ads shown before the trailers begin. Sometimes the bank ads are like a mini-movie in themselves. It must cost a fortune. As I watch them I wonder why they are so long and if they are really effective. I can’t be the only person to have thought like this, because a Turkish bank has now launched an ad that is plain in saying, “Banks aren’t places like discos or variety halls, so why do we portray them as such?”

Since I have dual citizenship the THY ad affected me twice as much. First I wanted to buy a ticket to visit relatives, and then I wanted to buy a ticket to go somewhere with some friends I have been dreaming of going to but haven’t yet. The ads made me want to grab my wallet and pick up the phone.

That’s effective!