They say a fool and his money are easily parted and so it must be with marketers responsible for smaller, niche brands. Today's advertising crime (perhaps this will become a regular feature) is a full page advertisement for Hasselblad in the FT's 'How to spend it'. Hasselblad is one of those brands where time has sadly passed it by. It's seen Leica ride the wave of rising prosperity and it has failed to keep up.

It's a fantastic product with a very proud heritage. I also suspect it has small marketing budgets.

All the more reason for questioning why it's running magazine advertising. Usually this comes down to confidence or, more accurately, lack of confidence in those who are running the brand. They want the reassurance of seeing their wares in the same company as bigger players even if they are on page 27 and Chanel is page 2 & 3, Zegna page 4 & 5 and Vuitton page 6 - you get my point.

Small brands should exploit other, more efficient, channels.

Then there is the ad itself. The camera drowns in a see of dark leathers (not forgetting a ubiquitous Louboutin shoe - because that communicates luxury right ?). The 'strapline' works well but everything else fails. It's as if they spent all their time and energy on the strategic thought and then limped over the creative finish line.

If I have time I will look online and see if they bring the campaign alive digitally. I hope so but I fear the worst. Shame. Great brand, superb products, fantastic heritage.