The Big Fat Greek Ad Campaign from Athenos
April 26, 2011 by Nate Winter
Greek food brand Athenos has just launched a sharp new campaign around critical Greek grandmothers nicknamed Yiayia. Have a look at the spot below (the most popular in the campaign). All three ads from the campaign are posted on the Athenos YouTube channel.
I applaud the work. They took hummus and Greek yogurt-- unexciting foods-- and made ads for them that are funny, memorable and maybe even viral. And they did it while staying real, rather than resorting to Adult Swim-caliber absurdist humor.
Staying real is important. The creative in these spots looked within the brand and found a relatable nugget of truth-- an out-of-touch, hard-to-please Greek grandma. And they made her discriminating taste both an indication of brand quality and a point of humor.
You could argue the humor is a bit too biting. Words like "prostitute" and "hell" are strong. And telling a stay-at-home dad, "you are wife" is politically incorrect to say the least. But these barbs give the video its shock value and make it memorable. And as insensitive as they are, Yiayia's biting criticisms still reinforce the primary brand message: Yiayia doesn't approve of anything in your life, except the Athenos food you eat.
As a more subtle point, I like that the spots don't over-romance the product. Each character slips in just a few words of praise before the announcer interjects to ask for Yiayia's opinion. And there's just a few seconds at the end to mention it's made "the Greek way" with a romance shot of the product. It doesn't beat you over the head with product quality. The confidence and message strength of the ads carry the day.
Like I said, I'm a fan of this campaign. I like it so much, I'm actually willing to give Athenos a try. My household is very loyal to Trader Joe's brand greek yogurt, but after seeing these ads, Athenos gets a chance to win us over. I'll keep you posted on the results.
