The Musings Of An Opinionated Sod [Help Me Grow!]

Hello …

Thanks for that – proving Asia’s obsession with ‘fitting in with a cultural physical look’ regardless of the ramifications, ha!

I’m actually grading all the SMU projects now – which is both fun [I can pretend I am teacher] and scary [the responsibility of being fare and encouraging]

Hope you had fun and no doubt see you at my next ‘ranting session’ at SMU.

Brilliant point Fred … the fact some clients believe advertising makes people get up and buy products immediately is astounding.

What is a ‘reason-to-believe’ anyway? Really?

I mean VW became famous with ‘RELIABLE’ but never really explained why they could say that … and NIKE are rather successful despite never talking about how their shoes can make you feel like a champion.

Of course in some cases, proving what you say is important – and it has led to some of the greatest campaigns ever [the car on the billboard for the glue company is one] … however in many cases, I believe RTB is more for internal morale than driving customers to stores – because it acts as a validation for what people in the company have been doing for the last year or so.

It’s exactly the same principal why adland has awards – because it makes us feel important … makes us feel we’re doing something of really value and depth when in reality it’s a small, small, small part of people’s lives [though often a big, big, big annoyance] and brands profitability.

Sort of … it’s still dependent on the product and the situation of the viewer – it’s doubtful someone will get off their fat arse to buy a jar of Nescafe at 1 in the morning just because an ad was on – be it TV or internet. Amazing though – the clients think it happens. Would love to meet the people that have sold them that idea.

Unfortunately some clients have mistakenly taken circumstances where people instantly buy a product because of an ad (music for example) as ‘gospel’ … which has led to disappointment, frustration and bloody bad clients, ha.

That’s the problem – they think they do!

I know … it’s a major issue for both companies and ad agencies alike. Hense the over-reliance on research findings – which can also be handled unbelievably badly by people who fail to appreciate and acknowledge that what people may say in a group, may not actually be what they do in the ‘real world’.

It’s not about being anti-research [in the right hands, it’s power is astounding] it’s about understanding it’s a guide and a validator rather than as it is often used – the torch that leads the way forward. If it was that perfect – we’d have no brands failing and no businesses going under – but clients need ‘validation of doing the right thing’, if only to protect their job to their superiors which highlights the fact that while companies talk about wanting their people to take calculated risks, in reality, they want the same old, same old.

That’s why we got Paul Britton involved with cynic [the FBI profiler] because he understood more about the thinking behind peoples actions than almost any other ad specialist.

Don’t get me wrong – research can be great and we use tons of traditional and none traditional methods – but as I said, it is very important you appreciate its strengths and weaknesses because otherwise, you could be doing more harm than good.

Knowing the difference between good and bad research is the issue too many companies and agencies don’t understand or want to understand.