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

Can you?

I’m pissed because an agency have launched an ‘intelligent peg’ to help people know the best time to do their washing … based on a bunch of weather indicators.

And then, they’ve gone one step further, by saying this is so families can free up more time for the “moments that matter”.

You don’t believe me do you … well watch this.

WHAT. THE. FUCK.

Have they – and their client – gone completely and utterly insane?

This is not a problem that needs solving … or at least not via a fucking peg.

And remember, I am an idiot that paid money for robot pets, balls and a bloody wi-fi suitcase!

Just think of the time, effort and money that went into making this piece of madness when weather apps and simply USING YOUR EYES TO LOOK OUT THE WINDOW have served people well for years and years.

And then there’s the fact I could argue it doesn’t actually save people any time at all.

Not really.

So it doesn’t even do what it was supposedly ‘invented’ for.

This is just another tragic and desperate attempt by an agency – and client, a client who has actually done really good work in the past – to look interesting.

Well guess what, they don’t. They look desperate.

Oh I’m sure they can make it sound great in their agency credentials …

“And we developed a peg that empowered people to maximise their day through weather aggregation technology”

… but anyone with half a brain will just snort in derision, that is if it ever sees the light of day because I have a sneaky suspicion this is more for award shows than anything the mass market will ever encounter.

And that’s a good thing because it’s a pile of embarrassing rubbish.

However what devastates me is that adland will probably bestow countless awards on it to delude itself that we can help business and do technology in creative ways when really all it will do is show how utterly far away we are from actually understanding how to change our perception and value to commerce and culture.

Seriously, I thought the stuff this agency did for tampons in China was bad but this beats it and I didn’t think that was possible.

Oh hang on it is.

They – and let’s call them out now – JWT, also created a tattoo they say is designed to help Westerners travelling in Japan find out if they have a Soba noodle allergy.

Yes, because that is a massive thing isn’t it.

So massive, that in a bid to show THIS WASN’T A MASSIVE PILE OF SCAM, they gave out 200 of these tattoo’s to one restaurant.

Two hundred tattoos.

For one restaurant.

Apparently Japan receives over EIGHT MILLION tourists a year so JWT can feel really proud that those 200 tattoos … available in 1 restaurant … for an allergy that few people have and that those who have it, probably know about it … will make a huge difference.

You think I’m joking don’t you?

No … here you go.

And given we’re coming up to the Cannes entry deadline, I’m scared this sort of shit is just the beginning of what we’ll be seeing peddled by certain agency networks all over the place.

Thank God not everyone follows this view.

Thank God there’s some agencies and clients who will be recognised for what they really did.

And so they should, because anything is easy when you don’t have anyone – or anything – to answer to … which makes the fact these scam ideas are so utterly rubbish, even worse.

But let’s end this by returning to Peggy Peg.

Given it has been done with such an obvious nod to creative awards, let’s give them what they want. I know … but that’s the kind of guy I am.