Krispy Kreme invades Paris via Buzzman

Ah and what a treat this is! Buzzman aces the Krispy Kreme Paris opening... The best croissant in Paris? A munched donut. "We should have opened in Trouville" (trouville is hole-city), "Macaron Demission" takes the cake (har har) because it is a riff on "Macron demission" except targeting the popular delicacy, "Pain au chocolat ou chocolatine, end of the argument" - yes, because the French could never agree on what to call the chocolate bread... There was one which is not featured in the collage above "number of pastry chefs better than our donuts? (the answer is a donut - or zero)"... So yes, Buzzman went all out for Krispy Kreme and it did make a lot of sense.

My Ami Buggy by Citroen comes out swinging with Buzzman Agency

My Ami Buggy by Citroen comes out swinging thanks to Buzzman Agency with some exceptional copy which, wait for it, capitalizes on its "shortcomings" rather than hides them. "Your first ascent on a donkey's back", "even out of spite they can't key scratch your doors", "and if we tell you it has the autonomy of a Paris-Dakar, you'd never believe it" (that's for the sports newspaper L'Equipe), and "finally, our designer took the door" (in French "taking the door" means getting fired, obviously in the context it means differently). A beautiful campaign indeed with cheeky copy.

Pepsi Max - the campaign that tries too hard

Brand rivalries - we miss those. But then again some try too hard. So Pepsi Max (France) is trying to put down Coca-Cola. "Choose the brand that you do not think about when they say cola", "a unique taste rather than an iconic bottle", "if you want your name on the bottle, use your pen", "we haven't invented Santa Claus, just a max of taste".

On paper they work, in real life they come from a position of uncertainty. Here's a small comparison with a Smirnoff ad from the 90s: "Vodka from the time the vodka mattered not the bottle". See the difference in tone? The Smirnoff is not apologetic, or riding from behind, it is going all aggressive and for a reason. Ok now the mistake of the campaign was that the tone was a bit off, though on the whole one can understand why they chose it.