This campaign was REALLY gut-level

The ad campaign represented above, for a Polish jazz radio station, is not new, but it is new to us and we find it fascinating.

Each ad in the campaign shows a person in a white, sterile, upper-crust environment pretending to vomit black music notes. Beside the notes, on the ground, is the line, “For not everyone.” This is a strikingly enigmatic ad.  We have no idea what is happening.  But we are infinitely intrigued.

A newsletter we subscribe to, “The Swipe,” which sends commentary on ads like this, says, “This ad leans hard into polarizing visual storytelling, and that’s what makes it brilliant. Jazz, like the image, isn’t always easy to digest—it’s complex, messy, and layered with emotion. Instead of watering it down, the ad embraces its niche appeal with unapologetic boldness. It’s confrontational, weird, and memorable—just like great jazz.”

Yeah, but another interpretation could be, “You are equating jazz to vomit.  Why would I want to listen vomit?”  And if I really like jazz, doesn’t that seem kind of offensive?

Definitely a campaign that would draw attention, which analysts like Karen Nelson Field claim is the single most important determinant of advertising success.  But is it the right kind of attention?  Am I paying attention in the right way?

We hold no opinion on whether this ad is good or bad. We don’t know if it worked for the station or not. But it does speak to the importance of using research to understand at a deep level what your ad is saying and to whom it is saying it.