One of the things that annoys-the-crap-out-of-me is when you develop a global/regional campaign and then another of the clients rostered agencies develops the local campaign.
I’ve written about this before, however the reason it pisses me off so much is that quite often, they pay zero attention to the subtleties of the idea and just go in with both feet blazing.
One of campaigns that did my head in was LOWES work for LYNX/AXE.
Whilst it won a copious amount of awards, it was a very, very poor imitation of BBH’s work … turning the brand idea from ‘turns good girls, bad’ to something akin to ‘spray on shag’.
Of course they said it was to make it culturally relevant – and whilst I am a huge believer in localised relevance – too often this is an excuse agencies fall back on to basically justify whatever they want to produce because inherently, they hate the idea of having to follow someone else’s guidelines.
Don’t get me wrong, I understand that feeling … especially when some 2-bit agency mandates a template that gives you all the creative freedom of a boil-in-the-bag dinner … but I have found that if you are willing to truly understand the subtleties of the brand idea, then you have a damn sight more opportunity than you might otherwise think, especially if the agency who developed the original concept is one of the good guys.
Of course it’s not just the agencies fault.
Let’s face it, work always has to be approved so I always find it amusing when a client slags off an agency for some work they produced when often, they had a disproportionate amount of influence in its overall creation …
The reason I write this is because recently Burger King have copped huge amounts of flack for some ads they’ve run.
The pic at the top of this post is a perfect example.
Created in Singapore, this lowest-common-denominator, juvenile, sexist shit bears no resemblance to the beautifully crafted and executed Crispin brand idea of ‘It’s Good To Be King’ …
“Ahhhhh, but it generated loads of publicity” I hear you cry.
Yeah it did … apart from the fact it’s a rip-off another crap ad … anyone can get PR with this approach and even then it doesn’t mean people will actually buy the bloody thing.
This sort of bollocks does adland a huge disservice because we get known as specialists in shock rather than in persuasion – which is probably one of the reasons why clients don’t value what we do with the level of remuneration many of us deserve and who can blame them.
Does sex sell?
Sure it does, but this isn’t sex, this is pre-pubescent bullshit and say’s more about the guys at the agency/client than it does of the society they are supposedly meant to impact.
[Though given Singapore’s myopic and patriarchal society, maybe it was very appropriate]
Anyway, to further highlight that there are a lot of people in adland/marketing that don’t deserve to have the word ‘creative’ anywhere in their job description – news has just come in of one of the most culturally insensitive pieces of work I’ve heard of in a long time.
Yes I know the ad was developed/run in Spain – not known as the most open country for accepting other cultures/nationalities [let alone other religions] – but even then, it shouldn’t take a rocket scientist to know this was a crass move and I hope the agency and the client behind this cop all the shit they deserve.
What I find funny is that Crispin’s often cop flack for creating jockvertising … and whilst some of their work has ‘room for improvement’ … they are still one of the most creative, inventive and intelligent agencies in the World and when you compare what they do for BK to what other agencies produce, I think it is only fair to call them advertising Einstein’s.
Whilst disruption is an integral component of effective advertising, just making people notice or talk about stuff is not enough – it may of been in the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s – but in a World weighed down with choice, parity and messaging, adland has to work/think/act harder to persuade and motivate and it’s just a shame too few are willing to do it because it ultimately undermines everyone – especially those who like me, believe this industry still has a lot to offer.