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

Bollocks, forgot about that with moving jobs and stuff, go ahead, I’ll do the next one.
As far as ‘Go’ is concerned, it’s dire.
Fair enough, as a fan of Behavioural Economics, I quite like them using the fact that more people use Visa than anything else – people flock to number ones.
I like the premise of a world of opportunity out there, experiences. not stuff. But Mastercard have done this brilliantly with ‘Priceless’ – much more human and, more importantly, lives within the category – being able to get into debt and buy expensive stuff is a good thing because sometimes what you are really buying cannot be values in pounds. That makes debt acceptable and understands it’s place in the world, it has a role and a vision – don’t just buy things you can’t afford because you want them, buy what you can’t afford because a few things matter more than money.
Go pales against this. The so called Disruption is a cultural one -too many people sitting around waiting for stuff to happen, rather than making it happen for themselves (or Just Do It) -but pulling that philosphy back into the category just leads back to Go World, spend bloody money on things it will make you happy. Ib other words, the usual TBWA habit of create a philosophy and them make it relevant to the product/brand some way.
There isn’t the bit that might put it it the back of the net – don’t spend money on things that are just trinkets, spend it on things that will enrich your experience of the world. Don’t identify yourself by what you own, but by what you’ve done, and here’s some extra servioes that will help you find those things and do just that.
In other words, say something different that’s credible and relevant – and actually DO it.
And anyway, because it’s based on quite a common insight, not really a product truth, apart from the fact buried at the end, anyone can copy this. What makes Visa different?
Why not start with the fact and work from there? How can the weight of the crowd be used? How can you connect with them? What tension in people’s lives can Visa resolve? How can they unite that big community – or make a series of small ones?
I’ll stop going on, but bloody hell it makes me mad.
Another examples was a nice brief to the Europe from a dairy brand that wanted to build it’s natural credentials. Simple proposition – cloers to nature. Support, normal people can’t afford 100% natural, local stuff, we bring them the next best thing – well priced stuff as natural as it can be.
TBWA got itself tied up in endless philosphical debates about James Lovelock theories, trite worthiness… and went nowhere.
There was some lovely, simpler stuff kicking around about how nature bites you on the arse if you ignore it (and in funny non-worthy way)anf following your insticts – up to a point, with the twist being that point, but that was far too easy.
In other words, most if what TBWA does, especially the US version, is ‘Let’s do another Apple or Pedigree’. In other words, free up some hippy, creative side, or ‘We’re for (insert category here)’