–James Mahoney, Razor’s Edge Communications

Recent travel on Aer Lingus and a perusal of The Boston Sunday Globe brought two very good ads to my attention.

The first, which ran in the Aer Lingus on-board magazine, is a terrific marriage of great concept and excellent execution plus situational relevance: you’re on a plane on your way to Ireland.

As a writer, I love the spot-on call to action in the headline. As a visual communicator, I love the clever blending of the windows (how do people come up with these ideas?!). As a creative director, I love the combination of a smart team working in tandem and hitting the target dead-center.

Bottom line on this one: Even if it’s not the first thing you do, a visit to EPIC, The Irish Emigration Museum gets on your radar and likely becomes a new-found option.

Moving on. So, nobody reads long-copy anymore, eh?

This ad for Needham Bank caught my eye for its sheer flaunting of convention. It’s got lots going for it: A headline that doesn’t look like a headline (the Goliath graphic), opening copy that quickly establishes the premise, sequential subheads that tell the story, and well thought-out, well-written copy that fleshes out the story the subheads outline.

This combination led me to read the darn thing, despite not living close enough to Needham to be a prospect even if I were in the market for a new bank.

The only quibble I have is there’s no contact information. A website address and a phone number would have put the cherry on top. As it is, interested people have to be motivated enough to seek that information out themselves.

One final point, and it’s an important one, is to pass along atta-boys not just to the creative team, but also to whomever in the bank had the courage to approve the concept and the ad. Often we hear that clients want to do something different, to stand out from the crowd. And nearly as often, they get cold feet when we give them an option like that.

But this ad proves that when you have the goods, and you have the guts, you get the glory. Needham Bank reports that the ad response is exceeding their expectations.