I’m going to take some heat for this one. “Back to School with Publix” is a good-looking, heartwarming ad. But it’s not a good ad, despite all of the positive buzz and feedback online.
Before I say another word, here, have a look for yourself.
Below: The 30-second TV commercial, “Back to School with Publix.”
What the “Back to School with Publix” commercial gets right
No doubt the ad looks good, showing off the high production values typical of a Publix television commercial.
And as you can see, it tells a nice, heartwarming story.
Very sweet, very slice-of-life.
We even get some unusual representation here with the Muslim famil — uh, single father and daughter.
It’s too bad, then, that this good-looking, heartwarming ad fails on virtually every other measure by which good advertising is judged.
What the “Back to School with Publix” commercial gets wrong
Honestly, this “ad” is an ad only in the loosest sense of the word.
It’s really more of a sentimental vignette than anything.
Don’t get me wrong. I don’t mind sentimentality in advertising. I actually think it’s great, so long as it is employed in the service of selling — you know, the #1 job that all advertisements are supposed to do.
But truly, this ad doesn’t sell a thing. Even if you fall in love with the premise and the good feelz, it’s hard to argue that this ad does anything to make you drive past a Winn Dixie should you suddenly remember you need a gallon of milk on your way home from work.
Oh, I can hear it now: “But Mr. Cranky, you’re missing the point! The lack of selling here isn’t a problem. It’s precisely because of this sentimentality and lack of selling that the ad succeeds!”
OK. You know what? I won’t discount that entirely. Given the blaring idiocy of so many TV commercials today, I agree that many may see “Back to School with Publix” as a shining oasis in the desert of soul-sucking commercial breaks, a precious bit of human storytelling served up as an unexpected bonus alongside the TV programming we pay to see.
Could this be the future of television commercials? Short, branded mini-stories designed not to sell, but simply to leave a positive impression?
Hmm. Maybe it’s not the worst idea.
But then for God’s sake, don’t fuck up the branding.
Back to School with who?
The commercial begins — and ends — with a large letter P. Obviously this is shorthand for Publix, although “pretentious” may be more apt. At no point in the ad’s 30-second runtime is the brand name Publix ever seen, spoken, or otherwise alluded to.
Hey, Diamond View, don’t you think that a good ad from a competent advertising agency ought to include the name of the brand being advertised?
I can’t believe I have to say this (actually, I can), but a paid television advertisement is not the place for shorthand.
No — a paid television advertisement may in fact be the one place in the world where it is absolutely necessary to mention the brand, the product or service being advertised, and the benefits to the potential buyer.
Frankly, it irks me — right now as I write this, I am terribly irked — to imagine how this all came about.
I can just see it: some clad-all-in-black creative director with ostentatious eyewear and a conspicuous haircut gets the idea it would be très cool for his ad agency’s grocery store client, Publix, to drop its name from its ads in favor of a single letter P — to give the brand “mystique,” or something.
You know, like the musician Prince changing his name to that exotic, unpronounceable symbol. (Despite the fact that Prince adopted that symbol for legal reasons that had precisely zero to do with looking cool.)
Or like coffeehouse chain Starbucks when it dropped its name from its logo in favor of just showing the mermaid (actually a siren).
I’m sure the pitch to Publix went something like this:
[Haughty art director voice] “… In conclusion, Publix is not just a grocery store. No, Publix is Publix, the single largest employee-owned supermarket chain in the country! Your ads don’t need your name. Everyone already knows your name. So, ‘P.'” [Having wrapped up his magnum opus, the creative director grins a smug grin and holds his arms wide in anticipation of a shower of praise and adoration]
Yeah, crap on all of that.
That pretentious “P” logotype appears on screen for no more than three seconds (I’m being generous) inside this 30-second TV commercial.
Three. Seconds.
If a TV viewer does not see it at the very beginning or the very end of the ad — if he or she does not look up and pay attention exactly within that three-second window, this Publix ad — along with a lot of other Publix ads — is a bust.
And isn’t it just a little bit arrogant to assume that everyone knows Publix?
According to the latest stats, Florida (home to Publix headquarters and the state in which I saw this ad) is receiving an average of 845 new residents every day — and that’s been the case for a while. Does anyone really believe that all of these new residents from out of state somehow know what Publix is, or why they should shop there, or that this commercial that’s not a commercial with the P at the start and end is an ad for the top (frequently assumed by consumers to mean “best”) employee-owned grocery store chain in the country?
Furthermore, do viewers really believe this ad represents in any way, shape, or form the values and attitudes of the rank-and-file Publix employees who work at the local store — as opposed to merely being the big-budget creative stylings of corporate marketing people and the ad agency they employ?
The Publix “Back to School” commercial: The Cranky Ad Review verdict
As I said at the top, this is not a good ad.
It’s a good bit of storytelling, sure.
It’s sweet and it tugs at the heart strings.
It’s a wonderful short film, the kind that might go viral on TikTok.
But as an ad, it sucks. It’s exactly the kind of work we see again and again from advertising people who feel unfulfilled in their jobs, who wish they were working as artists or auteurs or literally at any other job in which they are tasked with doing something more meaningful than peddling produce for a grocery store.
It looks good, it sounds good, and it may even touch people deep down in a place where few television commercials ever dare to go.
But ultimately, this kind of ad serves the agency and its creatives more than the client whose money has paid to produce it — and that continues to be one of the biggest problems in the advertising industry today.
Cranky Ad Review rating: Two corporate-focus-group-tested stars out of five.
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I found it refreshing and spotted the small packaged carrots and handy meal kit right away. The P is perfect, but then I’m in Florida. Ads don’t have to smack you in the face to be successful. And I’d like to teach the world to sing….
You’ve got a great eye, Lila. Being new to Florida and not being intimate with Publix myself, I saw the vegetables but didn’t realize there was anything distinctive about them.
The thing about the classic Coke ad is everyone in the commercial is holding a bottle and singing about how they’d like to buy the world a Coke.
While I agree with your Facebook comment that good ads don’t just sell products, they sell experiences — I don’t think this Publix ad does quite as much as it could to sell the product or the brand.
But I do appreciate you reading and sharing your comments! Thanks for writing.
I took him to be a Sikh, less baggage than a Muslim, also considerably less demographic. But if you assume everyone knows what “P” stands for there is no end to your potential idiocy. Stay Cranky, but hopefully not Crankypated. Hark, the End is surely near!
You may be right, Cap’n. He may be Sikh. Good eye. I’d had no idea.
And yes, the End is surely near.
I actually don’t know what Publix is. I live in California and I’m from NY. So I had no idea what they were selling. As a single dad raising a daughter, obviously, I was very choked up by the story. But just as in life, I had no idea what I was crying about.
Me too, Myles. Thanks for writing — it’s always good to hear from you.
Love your reviews and reading these, it helps me to know I’m not alone in my perspectives on modern branding, thank you. Agree 150%. In this modern era the great irony is the brand egos that are coming into play. Everyone is so afraid of standing out and being bold, and the personal significance idea has been exchanged for group-think and belonging motif. Many logos are going for understated, minimal and subtle, with more and more lowercase letters—or none at all— as Target drops the letters on their own buildings for the large white symbol. But the irony is that they assume that they’ve been around long enough, and are so well known, that none of these brands NEED their name. It’s pure brand ego at its finest. In the name of being soft and understated, they will end up drifting into obscurity or becoming vanilla.
My father worked many years at an ad agency and now I’m in the brand consulting role. This is exactly what you said, a vignette, not a commercial. Commercial is from the word commerce, meaning business. This ad promotes nothing, sells nothing or even has a call to action. Most people walk out of the room during a commercial, (if they even still watch network TV) yet there is not even a voice over to audibly bring brand recognition. David Ogilvy once said that we are marketing to a moving parade and there will always be new eyes and ears. If brands assume they have oh-so-much salience that they can get away with these cute expressions of creativity, they may have a rude awakening when they leave gaps in the market for competitors. Someone, somewhere decided this was a good idea, but the proof will be reflected eventually in the bottom line.
A fellow brand man! I love it. Thanks for sharing your insights, Brad. I’d never heard of that Ogilvy quote before, and it’s really applicable for brands like Publix and Target and MasterCard so many others nowadays that are dropping their names from their logos. You are exactly right — these companies are opening themselves to incursions from future competitors; and it’s going to be fun to watch them scramble.
Thanks for writing!
The ad is cute and heart-warming, but I wouldn’t have guessed it was for a grocery store. It could have been for the refrigerator, or the lunch box, oooh or maybe even the post-it notes. I had no idea Publix is an employee-owned enterprise. All I know of Publix is they are way expensive – maybe to make up for having to pay for this “ad”.
Right? People might be interested in learning that Publix is the leading employee-owned grocery chain in the nation — but this commercial doesn’t even reveal the name of the company or that it’s a grocery store, much less a leading one.
As Cap’n Curmudgeon says, The End is surely near.