Filed under: Comment
I am incredibly fortunate that my job requires me to travel … however as the last time I wrote about that, I was accused of being Mother Nature’s nemesis, so in the interests of peace and tranquillity, I will move swiftly on.
So recently I had the pleasure of staying in the delightful Grand Hyatt hotel.
Without doubt I am not the sort of person that belongs in places like that – but they were incredibly kind and gracious and even upgraded me to a bloody suite that just about guaranteed my positive view of them for years to come.
Well it did till I went into the bathroom.
Can you see my problem?
I doubt it because ‘size’ is the very issue I’m about to rant about.
OK, I’ll help you …
Can you see the plug socket?
It’s just below that shaving mirror thing that’s attached to the bloody huge mirror which is reflecting the bathrobe.
See it?
Got it?
OK … now look a bit above that.
You can’t see anything can you?
Well that’s what I’m ranting about because what actually is there is this:
Yep … it’s the world’s smallest bloody clock … a clock so small that even mice would need to put their glasses on to read it.
WHY??? WHY??? WHY????
To make it even more stupid, not only is it small, it’s bloody low down so there is a real chance someone could spend ages in there and never notice the clock at all!
At what point did someone think this was a good idea … and has this person ever interacted with real people and real hotel guests?
To me, this is like one of those ads that people need to have explained to them because the only people who ‘get it’, are the clients who have been talking about it intensely for 4000 years and the creative teams who feel it is a chance to show off their David Lynchesque brilliance, regardless of the fact the thing is supposed to have an actual commercial purpose such as making people notice it and – at the very least – want to find out more.
Doddsy recently wrote a great post called ‘Glanceable Marketing’ … and whilst his focus was on a slightly different issue, the underlying idea is very relevant to this post both interms of ill-placed and ill-sized bathroom components and overly-complex or complicated communication because if someone can’t work out the purpose and meaning of something in an instant, then the chance of them spending more time getting more deeply connected is unlikely.
That doesn’t mean you have to smash people over the head with the obvious, blatant, rational and lowest-common-denominator shit, but it does mean you should understand the needs, fears, wants and desires of your ‘user’ – not to mention the place your message/appliance has in their lives so you can craft/develop it to have maximum impact or heightened importance – because if you only do stuff that appeals to you, then you’re forgetting the reason why people are paying you a shitload of cash and ultimately contributing to the level of scepticism and scrutiny that this industry experiences from business each and every day.
Don’t get me wrong, maintaining high standards is massively important – and should always do things that make you feel good/proud/happy – but if you forget the needs and views of the client and the public in your creation, then you’d better be prepared to either answer a hell of a lot of questions or get some new clients. Quick.
Filed under: Comment
Hong Kong is a busy place.
It’s even busier than Lindsay Lohan’s bedroom – and as per this consumerist society – companies are going to greater and greater lengths to try and find ways to invade the populations consciousness and [hopefully] get them to ‘acquire’.
With so much competition of the wallet and purse, it is fortunate that companies like Mindshare exist – using their proprietary tools to identify ways that carefully engage the right audience at the right time.
Who cares if it the media channels they recommend tend to be very similar to the media channels that have been recommended for 50 years, they’re the experts with their polished, fancy-sounding tools and techniques and so if anyone should know, it’s them and their like.
But what about the poor little businesses … the one who can’t afford to engage a specialist to tell them that after careful market analysis and use of their purpose-built machines, they recommend a television, print, and a little outdoor with – at a push – some internet stuff thrown in, but no more than 7% because that’s just mad, especially when Youtube is free … what about them?
Well, maybe they could take some lessons from the people behind a campaign I saw recently … a campaign that I doubt cost much … a campaign that definitely didn’t require the use of any propriety tools … a campaign that ensured the medium didn’t take people’s attention from the message [you’ll see what I mean in a second] … a campaign that stood out to a much greater degree than any of the communication carefully placed by media agencies in an attempt to carefully interrupt my consciousness on the journey between my house and the shops.
Ladies and gentleman … boys and girls … media planners and buyers … let me introduce you to the future of media impression …
More [sort-of] proof that what you say and how you say it, is as important as where you say it. Media people please take note.
Filed under: Comment
Hello … how are you?
Did you miss me?
No of course you didn’t … you didn’t even realise I’d gone did you … pah, I don’t know why I bother.
Anyway moving swiftly on, I want to talk about a new campaign from Olympus cameras.
Now before I start, I have to say there’s a lot about the campaign I like …
Even though it’s been said and done before [Kodak for example] I like how they are trying to move photography away from ‘snapshots of momentary interest’ or ‘photographic chops’ to something more about capturing an individual’s feelings and emotions.
What [I think] they’re saying is that photography shouldn’t be about filling an album, it should be about filling your heart, mind and soul with images of emotional importance – a journal of significance so to speak – which is why they’re using headlines like “It’s not a photograph, it’s a memory that hurts every time you see it – Don’t Be A Tourist”.
As I said, it’s nothing too new – but the idea behind it is good and really captures [excuse the pun] what a meaningful photograph can make you feel and think when you see it again – be it after a week or decades.
Of course it is quite similar to that wonderful scene in Mad Men, but I’m willing to overlook that because I think they are onto something because without doubt, digital technology [and mobile phone cameras] has resulted in too many people approaching photography like tourists – simply snapping away without giving [or letting] any emotional connection to the subject they’re capturing.
However there’s a couple of things I hate about this campaign and the is this …
Apart from the fact Kevin Spacey comes across as a bit of a prat [Camera chow, picture wow???] … the ad doesn’t capture any of the emotions that I think the core idea is really about … however the thing I really, really, really hate is the campaign line [which isn’t “Don’t Be A Tourist”, that is a new descriptor in advertising copywriting, known as the headline endline … cough cough] which is this …
NOT AN SLR
NOT A COMPACT
IT’S A PEN
Excuse me? A pen? A fucking pen?
Now I know what they’re trying to say – it’s the ’emotional significance journal’ I mentioned earlier – however I think they’ve completely fucked up the idea using that line because apart from it being utterly and completely wanky [and not directly related to the idea given pens also write fucking cheques, sick notes and death threats], the first thing I thought of when I saw it – and saw it in association with a camera brand – was PENtax, yep one of their key competitors.
OK … OK … I appreciate I am sounding like a literal, rational client here, but surely they could have come up with a better word to represent the overall idea as an endline than ‘pen’, because as it stands my first reaction is to say ‘it’s not a pen, it’s a fucking camera you arty-farty, delusional ad wankers’.
Nice idea, bad expression.
Filed under: Comment
A while back I wrote a post called ‘Should Ink Stink’ which basically questioned Mont Blanc’s strategy to diversify into aftershave.
Despite my slightly pessimistic view of their new product, I have to say I am a huge believer in brand diversification and certainly don’t subscribe to the view you should only develop products that are linked to your core area of expertise and/or awareness.
For me, it’s always about entering areas that you find interesting, that you know you can make a real impression in and that links to your companies values and philosophy … which is possibly why Yamaha can happily make products as diverse as motorbikes and concert piano’s and still be highly credible and desirable in both.
Can you imagine if LG made a car?
Hell, can you imagine if LG made a bloody mobile phone that worked for longer than 4 months and had a bit of substance about it rather than their over-reliance on style.
Korean style.
Anyway I digress …
So recently I was in Tokyo and I came across something a bit weird.
Of course Japan is the home of the weird … but this was seriously strange and I mean more in a Mont Blanc aftershave kinda way, rather than a Yamaha musical instrument kinda way …
Yep, Chuppa Chups bath ‘powder’.
Chuppa Chups GRAPE bath powder.
GRAPE???
Who the fuck wants to bathe in grape flavoured water?
Actually scrub that, who the fuck wants to bathe in purple coloured water?
People with lots of bruises who find the sight of them disturbing?
WTF!
I should point out I wasn’t in a kids shop [though I accept it could be for children] however it just confuses the hell out of me.
Even if this is a licensed product, what were Chuppa Chups thinking by agreeing to it?
Maybe I’m missing something but I really find this mental so if you can see the benefit of this as a product line, please let me know because at this point it just smacks of another moment of marketing/licensing madness and by god, we have enough of that shit with Ferrari and Ducati.