Placing of Aldi and Kellogg's red dress ads was 'coincidence'

It looked like a piece of inspired media buying by the team at McCann Manchester, but apparently the placing of a humorous Aldi TV ad that gently mocked the Special K promo that preceded it was a complete coincidence.

Viewers of Channel 4 on January 12 would have seen Kellogg's Special K ad which concludes with a weight-conscious woman who "dares to wear" her tight red dress.

This was then followed by Aldi's riposte which shows a portly man in red sitting down between a box of Special K and a rival called Benefit.

He says: "I like low fat cereal. I like this low fat cereal too. Mind you this dress is still a bit tight." He then goes on to shovel a spoonful of cereal into his mouth.

A spokesman for McCann, which made the advert and handles Aldi's media buying, said this juxtaposition was completely unintentional.

"We do the media buying for Aldi but that was a complete coincidence and nothing to do with us," he said, before admitting, "I would love to be able to claim credit for it."

Paul Wheeler, Kellogg's Trafford Park-based head of external communications, was magnanimous.

He said: "They say imitation is the best form of flattery so we’re actually quite pleased that Aldi has decided to effectively double our brand presence in this slot by running their advert about low fat cereals next to ours. 

"The fact they’ve chosen to put the Special K red dress (or a take on it) at the heart of their ad shows you much our advertising has become famous."

To view the ads follow this link: http://www.dirtyfeed.org/2012/01/best-ad-placement-ever/

Something to add? Then leave a comment below or email us now.