Contrary to popular belief, I genuinely love the ad industry.
When it’s good, it is very, very good indeed.
However when it’s bad – and I have seen a lot of it recently at Cannes – it’s deceitful, shameful and a load of indulgent bollocks.
There has been a lot written about how Cannes may be ruining the ad industry but I would say the ad industry is doing a very good job of that themselves. Thank god there are a few agencies – of which I am very fortunate to be in one – that don’t subscribe to the scam strategy for success, though I wish the ones who did were named and shamed a bit more regularly because ultimately they are making our lives far more difficult than they should be.
Mind you, if a client chooses an agency on the awards they won through scam, then they deserve all they get.
But that’s not what I want to write about, I want to write about this:
Yes, it’s an old ad.
An old product ad.
An old product, print ad.
But look at it …
Look at the writing – not just the headline, which is British charm at it’s best – but the copy.
How they openly admit how expensive their product is [and don’t forget when this ad came out, 3 grand was probably a years wages for many] … but not because they want to claim it gives you ‘status’, but because it costs a lot to make – and own – some of the best sound products in the World.
It all combines to make an ad that communicates brilliant sound quality, production innovation and brand swagger without once spelling out – or should I say spoon feeding – sound quality, product innovation or brand swagger.
Better yet, they manage to do all that simply and succinctly and in a way that demands to be read, rather than ignored.
Yes, I know it’s from a past time, but when I compare it to many of the print ads – actually, scrap that, ads in general – that get put out today, I can’t help but feel we should be looking to the past for our standards rather than continue to run manically towards the edge of obsolescence. Or idiocy.
Though – to be honest – that statement could also apply to SONY as a company and marketing managers as a whole.