Filed under: Advertising [Planning] School On The Web
Despite much of adland claiming to be media agnostic [or some other equally as wank phrase] the reality is that in most cases, the solution they come up with for every client problem is an ad.
Worse … the solution most agencies come up with is an ad that promotes the problem, rather than amplifies a carefully developed solution.
What frustrates me most about this approach is that we all accept there’s always more than one way to overcome a problem, and yet 99% of the time we choose the easiest option available.
Now there’s loads of reasons for this … clients closed mind, agencies incompetence to know how to charge for something other than an ad, creatives inability to think in anything other than print or film … however I think there’s someone who is more to blame, and that is the planner.
Yep, I am slagging off my own … but the thing is, if you take planning to its lowest common denominator, it’s about making a brand ‘fit in’ rather than stand out so almost from the start we’re doomed in driving new thinking forward.
And the thing is, if we want to feel we are the ignition behind great ideas, then we have to take responsibility for giving our creative partners something fresh and focused to work off plus – and this is a critical element – getting any pedantic, small-minded, conservative clients to accept this fresh strategy/creative as sound business [and common] sense.
[Note: Planners need to stop just focusing on input and start judging their abilities on output. Planners who claim brilliance even though the work produced is generic cateory bollocks need to take a long hard look at themselves. You want the glory? Well take some of the responsibility … we’re in this together and having a departmentalised mentality is one of the reasons this industry is not as powerful – or as fun – anymore]
Which leads to the point of this A[P]SOTW assignment.
Unlike many out there, I believe the fundamental goal of marketing/advertising is to sell stuff.
That doesn’t mean executing hard sell bullshit like so much of the retail category do, but it is about finding ways that will motivate the masses to want to find out more …
[After that, the clients role and responsibility in the whole process really kicks up a gear because if they can’t offer a product/service/delivery/etc that meets people’s needs/wants, then the lack of sales is their fault, not ours – though these issues should have taken place way before a single idea was thought about, though I appreciate too often adland is excluded from this vital part of the process rather than actively embraced. I remind clients we’re called ADVERTISING, not SELLVERTISING – so if they want us to take more responsibility for our role [which I agree we should] then they have to let us have more influence throughout the process rather than just the last 10%]
Anyway, back to the post …
Photo: Madh
Where was I? Oh yes – motivating the masses to find out more.
Now, contrary to popular opinion, to achieve this goal is not about carefully crafting pieces of 30” CGI … nor is it using social networks or digital as a whole … it is about getting back to what great advertising has done for decades, persuade.
The power of persuasion seems to be a dying art in adland, and yet in a World of parity products and categories, it is possibly more important than ever before.
Whilst I appreciate to create a reasoned argument [based on fact] that encourages people to follow your point of view rather than a competitors is often quite dependent on having the right material [ie: the clients brand/product] to play with, the reality is that often it’s about creating magic with what you’ve got, rather than what you wish you had.
Maybe it’s because of my families background in law – however I’ve always regarded barristers as the epitome of persuasion pitching.
Their ability to work within a fixed framework and yet craft reasoned arguments that can change juries opinions/agendas/viewpoints/appreciation of ‘facts’ is amazing and I believe adland should take a closer look at how they operate [well, how the good ones operate] because it might help them understand how they can create even more powerful communication … communication that persuades and motivates the masses rather than tries to brainwash them or beat them into submission.
OK, I accept the rules that judge ‘success’ in law are very different to the rules that determine whether a client chooses your campaign over a competitors – however persuasion is a deadly weapon and as much as it has often been used in adland to get clients to buy ‘bland’, it can also be used to get clients to buy ‘new’.
One of the things we do internally is give our planners a brand and then randomly throw words at them to which they have to create a reasoned argument linking the brand to the word.
ie: SONY and Determination … or Microsoft and Mischievous
You’d be amazed how powerful this is in helping planners look beyond the blinkered paths our brains push us into …
Anyway all this leads to the A[P]SOTW challenge.
Your goal is to create a strategic argument why your particular country should adopt this flag as its new national emblem.
Photo: Gittsy Ruthie
Remember, a flag supposedly represents the essence of a country … it’s more than just visual symbolism, it is cultural and philosophical … so your response must convey this, it’s way beyond just iconography.
Now the rules.
1/ No more than 10 slides.
2/ Your argument must be based on facts [which must be verifiable or have evidence for]
3/ It must be true to your countries core values [you all have ’em 🙂 ]as well as relevant for their current state/situation.
4/ You must encapsulate your argument with a simple positioning statement – one that can clearly be understood by a fellow citizen and stranger alike.
That’s it …
Yes I know it’s very ambiguous … yes I know it looks like the kind of stuff I’m forever slagging off Landor … but this isn’t about design per se, it’s about making people believe, moving them into new territories rather than nurturing tired, old views, it’s about encouraging creative discovery rather than creative cliché … most of all, it’s about making us worth the money clients pay us again!
Because there is no way to ultimately judge a ‘winner’, the criteria we will be using for evaluating each entry will be things like flow of presentation, imagination, clarity and logic and to help in identifying this, I have enlisted the help of a number of people … people who are experts [professional or otherwise] who can judge cultural relevance, train of thought, logic and persuasive appeal and they
are …
Me.
Jill [tip-top designer]
Andy [underneath it all, quite talented creative]
Lauren [who I haven’t been able to ask yet, but I’m hoping she’ll say yes. Lauren?]
Judy [ex-CEO of Lonely Planet]
Stephen [cynic – and Nick Leeson’s – legal counsel]
My Mum
Entries to be sent to this address by midnight GMT, April 15th
Any problems/questions/issues – drop me a line, but most of all enjoy it – take our minds on a journey of discovery and adventure but make sure your twisted logic ends up being sound because in business it only counts if they sign on the line, and that tends to only happen* if it makes business sense, not just emotional.
Oh, and whilst I said this assignment was to help planners develop and sell better work, it is not limited to them … infact I encourage anyone who wants to have a go to enter, because not only is there no ‘wrong answer’ [so you don’t have to worry about looking silly, which you wouldn’t anyway] the fact is there are many situations in life where having the ability to persuade someone to think your way would be useful – especially where debt collectors are concerned, ha!
* Pepsi obviously are the exception to this rule, ha!
Filed under: Comment
Remember a couple of weeks ago I wrote about Hakuhodo’s amazing ‘Big Colon’ brand philosophy?
I think we all came to the agreement it was a bit of turd …
Well in the ever-competitive marketplace of Japan, the dominating force of the market, DENTSU, obviously felt that if one of their competitors had spent money promoting their pointless new philosophy, they’d better do something similar pretty damn quick.
So they collared a bunch of planners, creatives, designers and managers and locked them in a room till they came out with something errrrrrrm …. that’s it … they kept them there till they came out with something.
And what ‘magic’ did these genius’ of communication come up with?
This …
GOOD INNOVATION.
To be fair, it’s a vast improvement on Hakuhodo’s but it’s hardly inspiring is it?
I mean, GOOD Innovation … GOOD … it’s abit like saying you’re pleasant.
Thing is, I can overlook that because ‘good innovation’ is – in my mind – what iPOD was and what PS3 is … technological marvels that stem from much simpler, but-no-less-impressive-for-the-time, innovations.
The problem I have with this whole thing is something entirely different.
1/ Anyone who knows DENTSU in Japan know they basically own the media. The traditional media. So in the majority of cases, they’re going to always push a traditional approach to media because it’s earns them a bloody fortune – probably more than their clients pay in fees … so the most innovative thing they’ve ever done is probably some banner ad on the internet.
2/ If ‘good innovation’ is their philosophy, why did they repeat it 4 times on their ad, making it increasingly ridiculous.
Don’t get me wrong, the graphical element is all well and good, but what the fuck is it supposed to mean?
Are they saying the symbols that replace certain letters are representative of ‘good innovation’?
Is an elephant basically dog 2.0?
What about a baby? Is that a ‘good innovation’ on sperm?
I love Japan – I love it’s madness and colour – and yet in a corporate setting, it is unbelievably conservative and more obsessed with perfection than innovation which is why I can’t help but feel this is another example of a company more focused on words rather than action and as I’ve said for years, we’re in the communication age of ‘doing’, not saying … so for all intents and purposes this is nothing more than the byproduct of a corporations ego than a genuine desire to change and move forward.
Brand philosophy is very important – however if it doesn’t manifest itself in everything you do, then it’s nothing more than a marketing slogan – and whilst some brands might fall for that, the brands that make a real difference [and want their agencies to be part of that change], don’t.
Filed under: Advertising [Planning] School On The Web
Photo: Wellstone
Be prepared … be very, very prepared … because the next A[P]SOTW assignment is here on Wednesday.
Tell your friends … or better still, your enemies.
Filed under: Comment
A new recipie?
A new favourite song?
What the fuck are they thinking?
Actually scrap that, who the fuck are they kidding?
If the end line was “More people go into debt with VISA than anyone else” I’d maybe like it, but trying to position VISA as a tool that can inspire millions of people to change their destiny every single day is a fucking joke.
VISA are not NIKE … they’re not Apple… they’re not even Oprah … they’re 29.9% APR with fees coming out their wazoo if you are so much as a second late with your payment.
Obviously TBWA’s strategy to win this account was to kiss Visa’s ass and massage their fucking huge ego, well shame on you because this ad is possibly one of the biggest piles of shite I’ve ever seen. Yes, EVER and the fact they are selling ‘credit’ as a good thing in these financially desolate times shows they and the VISA guys have about as much sense as the typical banker.
I cannot tell you how much I hate this …
Go?
No Visa, I’d prefer it if you just fucked off …
Filed under: Comment
OK … OK … so dear ol’ George Parker is bound to have slagged this off already given he is on a one-man mission to bring the ‘agency of the future’ to its knees, but I just saw this and couldn’t resist.
As you know, I have a bit of a problem when agencies/clients try and act cool or proprietary by basically just renaming an everyday tool/product/service with a large injection of their corporate ego.
Hell, I might hate McCann’s “DEMAND STRATEGY” but at least it doesn’t have the word ‘McCann’s’’ in it and I have a decent idea of what it’s all about without having to read up about it … which is a damn sight better than TBWA/VISA’s alleged “Goifesto” but that’s something I’ve already ranted about.
[Saying that, Naked win the all time bullshit process award – the Wizards Sleeve – but to be fair, they were deliberately taking the piss when they created that]
So without further ado, I would like to bring to all your attention Enfatico’s ‘Enfatylitics’.
Yes, despite sounding suspiciously like some swollen testicle disease, Enfatico are claiming this is the power behind their brand.
“A billion-dollar agency based on a 99-cent idea? To better allocate scarce marketing dollars, we’ve developed EnfatyliticsTM – our proprietary cross-channel analytics engine.
Think of it as X-ray vision to see inside customer behaviors and the forces driving performance. Enfatylitics combines technology and insight to enable strategic, media and creative decisions in real time as the market changes.
It also enables predictive modeling that helps drive smart decisions about where and how to invest.”
OK …
So apart from the fact the ‘billion dollar agency’ is now worth about $5.47 with the recession and job cuts that have been going on over there, I’d like to look at some of the other claims they’re making.
1/“See inside customer behaviors and the forces driving performance”
Errrrm, isn’t that insight? Something that has been adopted, embraced and invested in for years?
2/ “Enfatylitics combines technology and insight”
So they’re saying previous to this, insight was developed by Gypsy Rosie Lee are they? While some of the bullshit justification I’ve heard for campaigns recently would back up that view, I still know there’s a lot of campaigns that are developed and crafted using multiple methodologies … including technology.
3/“Enable strategic, media and creative decisions in real time as the market changes”
Well given all they’ve done for DELL is print, television and digital communication, I would say either their model needs some work or the entire media industry might as well pack up and go home.
4/“Enables predictive modeling that helps drive smart decisions about where and how to invest”
See 3 … and if it was that good, why aren’t Enfatico selling this info to all and sundry rather than sitting in their increasingly empty offices, servicing their increasingly unhappy despondent single client?
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
Technology has changed the rules … people can see/learn and experience brands without ever having to directly interact with them and if you continually pedal this shit without having any undeniable proof to back it up, you’re going to end up as much as a joke as the people behind ENFATICO are.
It’s probably not all their fault – as in many cases, they may have a client who said they wanted change but did their level best to keep things as they were, despite the fact it wasn’t working – but if that’s the case, then I don’t think Enfatico should of launched with all their big talk, though with the way this economy is affecting adland, maybe their impending demise truly is demonstrating what the future of agencies is like.
🙂