Autumn has really arrived and that means spending more time indoors. People probably watch more television at this time, which in turn means extra attention is paid to TV commercials.

There was no shortage of creativity in the month of September: at least 80 new commercials were released. In this column we discuss a number of striking commercials.

(Image: Lidl commercial.)

We start with Lidl's new autumn commercial designed by Joe Public Take-Away Advertising. This commercial introduces two new regular characters that we will see again and again in Lidl commercials: Teun and Kevin, played by Thomas Acda and Sergio IJssel. The commercial introduces a “Lidl flat”: downstairs in the flat there is a Lidl branch where apartment residents regularly go. To get there, they have to cross different floors, so they encounter fellow apartment residents and can occasionally speak and help each other. That is the story concept of this commercial and this will also be discussed in future Lidl commercials. Lidl is introducing regular characters into their marketing communications, something that many brands and certainly supermarkets already do. The commercial scores a good pass and is generally positively assessed. The “normal” characters are mainly rated well because that is what suits Lidl. However, the characters and the apartment seem to need more introduction and explanation to be fully understood by the viewers. You now seem to fall into the middle of an existing story, which has not been introduced. We therefore advise Lidl to provide more context and story in subsequent commercials to get viewers involved in this story.

The next commercial is from Aldi, which published the first TV commercial ever this month. This commercial was developed by Indie Amsterdam and makes it clear why Aldi can be so cheap without sacrificing quality. “Of course” is the theme of this commercial, which indicates that quality for such a price is certainly possible. Aldi avoids unnecessary costs and time as much as possible by, for example, keeping items in boxes. Unpacking costs time and therefore money, which is why Aldi saves on this in order to be able to offer the products cheaper to customers. This very first commercial ever has a simple but clear approach and is therefore well received by our panel. “Exactly reflects what Aldi stands for.” is the most telling summary from one of our panel members. It is also nice to see in the responses that the majority of reviewers think both quality and benefit fit Aldi and therefore the commercial apparently reflects the correct image. We are curious about more commercials from Aldi and to see how they continue to position themselves in the supermarket landscape in the Netherlands.

Commercial three is from McDonald's, designed by TBWANeboko, introducing variants of the well-known chicken nuggets. The new varieties are a 'spicy' and a 'veggie' variant in addition to the well-known nuggets. The title is “unbox the fun” and the offer is explained with a rap and cheerful images. Many viewers appreciate the cheerfulness of the commercial and are curious to try the variants. It is regularly said that it is appreciated that McDonald's now also has a vegetarian offering. Many viewers are curious about the new varieties and want to try them. However, there are a number of times that the rap music comes across as a bit exaggerated and is not necessarily necessary, for example in this response: “I didn't need the rap. Makes it unnecessarily hippy as far as I'm concerned.” Many people have the feeling that the commercial is mainly for young people and therefore appeals less to older people. This is of course important to take into account: the atmosphere, music and images must match the target group you want to appeal to with the commercial

The last commercial we discuss this month is from ABN Amro, designed by N=5. This commercial focuses on image banking, the bank's solution that allows “everything to continue as normal” in these strange times. As an entrepreneur you can simply get advice through image banking with knowledgeable employees.

The commercial is well rated, as just a clear story, not striking, not exaggerated but solid. This response, among others, illustrates this well: “ABN AMRO provides an excellent representation of what image banking entails, and this commercial is also topical. They show that they can think along with the entrepreneur as a customer, where there is a need.” Many viewers find the commercial credible, the 'image banking' offer appropriate for these times and a good alternative to regular contact with employees, which is more difficult these days.

Read the column on MarketingTribune here