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

Coke Get Arty-Farty [Emphasis On Farty]

So I saw these pieces of ‘art’ in a cafe in Sydney and to be honest, it made me abit ill.

There’s nothing wrong with them per se [ooooh, look at me!] it’s just that I have a nasty feeling that someone, somewhere [and it better not be you Mike] sold them this concept on the basis that it could extend the ‘footprint of the brand’.

We all know this is a load of bollocks but it’s the sort of bollocks clients LOVE!

Why?

Because clients like nothing more than to feel they are oh-so-important in people’s lives – when in the ‘real World’, they are given about as much consideration as a raspy fart.

I can’t tell you the amount of times I’ve been asked to either …

1 Make a brand ‘iconic’

2 Make their [self declared] iconic packaging, the focus of their communication.

It’s ego – pure and simple – and then have the nerve to say ad agencies aren’t responsible with money.

I watched a great program on iconic imagery and this architect said that when you could pencil the outline of an object with a single line and you could immediately recognise it, then – and only then – could you say it was an icon. However, in most cases, this ‘status’ was still dependent on either having been around for a long time or for being rather innovative at the time of creation.

Now by this reckoning, the Coke Bottle IS an iconic shape – however it still begs the question whether that means they should spend copious amounts of cash on producing ‘art’ to hang up in cafes when most of the time, they charge their agencies to achieve specific sales volumes?

Yes … Yes … it probably has some ‘subliminal suggestion’ value but lets face it, the probable reason behind the agency suggesting this idea [if it was them behind it] is not because of effectiveness – but because they know it will ‘tickle the ego’ of the client and as such, build a perceived closer relationship.

The amount of money that is wasted on this sort of ‘client massaging’ is incredible.

I remember years and years ago, we were instructed to create outdoor posters for a particular client because their international MD was flying in and their intention was to buy EVERY BILLBOARD POSSIBLE so that he would feel his brand is making a big impression in the community.

Tens of thousands of dollars wasted to keep an ego in check … amazing … especially when many clients scrimp and save on doing their ‘normal’ communication which is intended to actually motivate people to buy their brand over a competitors.

Of course this whole ‘concept’ may have come from the Coke bottlers rather the ad agency – and as I said, there might be some degree of value in it from a psychological point of view … but underpinning this whole concept is an issue that I believe is fundamental in brand communication today … Corporate Ego.

The moment a brand thinks it is important to society, the moment the brand starts to lose its energy – which is why I love Tesco, because you really feel they are ‘continually fighting for the right to earn some customer loyalty’. 

Other brands should take note because a poxy annual promotion or sale doesn’t actually build [much] loyalty – just short-term sales – and with every man and his dog following a similar strategy, it’s not even doing that as well anymore.

Coke ARE an amazing brand … they just aren’t as good … as loved … as popular … as they think they are – and if you took away their money and distribution power, then you’d see alot of senior COKE board members not looking so smug anymore and certainly not sanctioning the investment into things like ‘paintings’ for cafe’s!

Market share does not always equal brand adoration … remember that next time you are looking at sales data and then go and talk to humans and find out what they really think.

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