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

When I was a kid, I wanted a television in my room sooooooooooooo badly. 

It wasn’t so I could watch the slightly dodgy movies on Channel 4 [come to think of it, Channel 4 wasn’t even around when I was a kid] … it was so I could feel like an adult and have independence from my parents watching Panorama or Newsnight or whatever it was they loved.

I finally got an Aunt’s castoff when I was 15 and boy, did I think I was hotshit – especially as it had a remote control.  So easily pleased.

So anyway, this weekend I was walking around and came across HANNSpree – a company who make TV’s in pretty interesting styles from animals and fire trucks, right through to football and watches.

Now putting aside the fact many parents are trying to encourage their kids to play outdoors rather than spend time infront of the gogglebox [even if it is playing games rather than watching television] … I do think this is a lovely idea.

Hell, I haven’t got any kids and I still wanted to go in and buy one – which sort of proves the importance of design in the decision-buying process!

If only some companies/categories understood, we’d probably live in a much prettier World, ha!

Singapore from my lounge window …

The office buildings seem to be looking down or standing over the houses – as if they are saying, “Don’t mess with us or we’ll crush you” – a pretty good metaphor for how the country seems to operate really, ha!

You get up at 5am …

Sure, children are generally immune from the hard realities/pressures of life we appreciate [ha!] as adults – but for the majority of us, is life that hard? 

How much of these pressures are self imposed given so many of us have a ‘keep up with the Jones’s’ mentality?  And no, the irony that an Adman has written this hasn’t been lost on me.

So what is the moral of this story?

Well it isn’t “Fuck relying on coffee … get up early and look at the sky!” [though that’s not a bad message] … it’s that values, feelings and emotions are [and will continue to be] the most powerful way for brands to differentiate, communicate and motivate their way to true consumer loyalty. 

Of course this is nothing new, some brands have been doing it for years, however major things are affecting us these days – from the product/marketing parity in almost every category right through to the wars and poverty that surround us … so if organisations only focus on [Communication] ROI, then I believe they are actually ’reducing’ their ability to cultivate true consumer loyalty because for many people today, they want more out of their brand association than just ‘retail status’.

Of course some will be more protected than others … things like the category / distribution / geographic location / competition levels will all have an influence in how they handle this changing situation … but given the internet is letting people explore beyond their shores for who they wish to associate with, we could be entering the phase of ‘Champagne Socialism‘ – probably best demonstrated by Bono and his recent ‘Red’ campaign.

Ahhhh, RED … On one hand it’s a new way to help people alot less fortunate than the masses … and on the other, it’s an opportunity [and excuse] for people obsessed with materialism to buy yet more products they don’t really need because they are lacking in self esteem and self respect. [It’s not just ‘material possession either, see this entry]

Cynical?

Of course … it’s me for God’s sake.  However, even though all help is good help, I can’t get past the fact the main supporters of RED are brands obsessed with aspirational material consumption which sort of means they TAKE huge amounts with one hand and then GIVE teensy-weensy bits back with the other.

It’s basically selling ‘Guilt Free Greed‘ … but it’ll work because as I said, people want to associate with brands that give them a sense of belonging via values, emotions and/or feelings and when the alternative is just making a corporation rich – helping the needy [however small a % goes to them] is enough to let them sleep at night.  In essence, the Body Shop and Ben & Jerry’s were before their time … what a shame they now are owned by the sort of corporation who believes charity should always begin ‘at home’.

Hmmmmn, this entry is quite a contradictory, all-over-the-place and angry isn’t it … maybe it’s because I got up at 5 bloody AM and didn’t have a coffee!

First of all, thanks for the emails of women’s bags – it’s only been 12 hours and I’ve had 64 sent in, so that’s brill. That doesn’t mean you should stop, just saying thanks.

Right, a mate of mine sent me a link to an Aussie Communication Agency ‘SEE‘ – because he felt they were a bit cynicesque in their attitude. [though not as anarchic, ha!]

Anyway, I am very happy to say they are – and bloody good luck to them because the World needs more honesty and bravery in its ad agencies, especially in Australia – where for all the talk, most are still producing bland, unimaginative, sexist, traditional communication ideas that have little or no relevance to the general public.

Anyway, the weird bit is that SEE are part of the Photon Group [a mini-WPP which will probably be bought out by a big-WPP] and that company was joint-founded by an old boss of mine who said I was his most troublesome employee EVER. 

How bloody ironic that an individual is called ‘troublesome’ but a company is called ‘a good investment’.  I’ll have to chase him up on that – because underneath it all, he was a nice guy. Anyway, check them out, especially their blog – it’s really good.

OK … so using Robots in ads goes way back [though I think the best are still the ‘SMASH Instant Potato’ ones] but there seems to be a real trend to use the bloody things in all sorts of ads at the moment …

Johnnie Walker [Though I can’t help but feel BBH have lost the plot on it]

If I could find a way to put a SONY R&D logo on all of them, then I’d be a genius, ha!