The Office.
No, not the American rubbish, the original British classic.
God, what a show … hysterical, cringeworthy and with something that anyone who has ever worked in an office, would relate to.
Then there was David Brent.
Good natured but utterly delusional.
A terrible manager who thinks he’s a brilliant manager.
While there were elements of his character that I am sure viewers recognised in their bosses, you would never imagine one real-lif person could
contain all those traits.
Well, that’s what I thought as well until I watched this old video of English cricketer, Ian Botham.
It’s 16 minutes long … but if you need an added incentive to watch it, here’s one of the amazing quotes Mr Botham says to a TV audience of students.
“People don’t realise there are more deer in this country now than there were in days of Henry VIII. Fact.”
Sit back. Enjoy. Cringe.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Attitude & Aptitude, Brand Suicide, Comment, Communication Strategy, Crap Campaigns In History, Creativity, Culture, Egovertising, Focus Groups, Marketing Fail, Research
I’m back.
Did you miss me?
No, didn’t think so …
Anyway, a friend of mine recently wrote an article in the UK edition of Campaign Magazine about the state of outdoor advertising.
He made many good points – from the fact it’s now been relegated to ‘out of home’ categorisation to so much of it ignoring the basic principles of static communication by shoving so many words on it, you get the impression it’s a print ad, just repurposed for outdoor.
But for me, his point was not just about outdoor, but advertising as a whole.
Have a look at this ad by BBH London.
Nice isn’t it.
It ran in 1997 [I think]
Now look at this ad.
Same product.
Same agency.
Even the same line.
Horrible isn’t it.
OK, it’s not horrible by todays standards, but when you compare it to the ad they made 20 years earlier, it is.
And what’s with that ‘beautifully designed’ copy?
As if a car manufacturer would choose to make an ‘ugly designed’ car.
In the last 20 years, the standard of creativity has been severely dented.
Oh sure, Cannes is out there celebrating winners left, right and centre but there’s 2 flaws in their praise:
1. So much of it is scam.
2. The rest of it is niche.
But here’s the thing, the quality inside ad agencies has not diminished – if anything, it has improved – and let’s not forget, both of these ads were done by BBH … one of the all time greats … so I can only assume the shift downwards is being caused by clients focused on satisfying their ego rather than intriguing their audience.
Which makes me question whether clients understand what advertising is and how it actually works … because it seems they are of the belief the masses are sat at home waiting for them to tell them what they should care about so they can run out at the earliest opportunity and make the purchase.
Of course I know that’s not true and of course, I know there are some amazing clients out there – because I’ve worked with them – but maybe this madness is because clients are more focused on the words/phrases played back in their post campaign research analysis [ie: beautifully designed] rather than aiming for society be intrigued, excited or hungry for their brand.
In other words, for all the research and data we have on audiences, there’s far too much emphasis on what brands want people to care about them rather than understanding – and connecting to them – on what they actually care about.
So to Audi, please get back to communicating driver to driver, because not only is this ‘brand to consumer’ approach not working, it’s making you look like every other bland car brand in the category and that kind of defeats the purpose of investing millions of dollars in marketing.
Filed under: Attitude & Aptitude, Brand Suicide, Culture, Cunning, Marketing, Marketing Fail, Religion
So I was in San Francisco Airport recently when I saw this …
Putting aside the fact there is a Christian bookshop in an airport, I find their attempt to validate their religion through the use of the word ‘science’ hysterical.
Of course they’re not the only one who do it … ad agencies have a long history of labelling departments with pompous monikers to give it an air of validation. Or importance.
But here’s the thing, adding the word ‘science’ doesn’t make any religion scientific … just like adding the word ‘innovation’ to a media department doesn’t mean their media plan suddenly rivals the output of Silicon Valley.
In fact, a religion using the word ‘science’ is particularly offensive given they have spent decades basically declaring war on any scientist who has dared to disprove the things they believe without question.
Look, I’m all for people following a belief system – and I appreciate there’s times where getting others to embrace what you follow is valuable – but when you use terminology that represents the opposite of what you believe, all you’re doing is creating more walls rather than less.
Of course there may be another reason they did this.
Maybe it has nothing to do with winning others over and is simply to make themselves – and the people who follow them – feel even more important.
And if that’s the case, then they doubly deserve the ridicule they get, because anyone who believes the only way forward is to ignore the views of others has no idea how to truly make a difference in the World.
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I say all this but maybe there is a God because there will be no blog posts for you to suffer on Monday and Tuesday as I’ll be traveling. Now you can really enjoy your weekend, can’t you.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Attitude & Aptitude, Brand Suicide, Comment, Culture, Management, Marketing, Marketing Fail
… then many brands are killing themselves with theirs.
I’ve been doing this for a long time and I’m shocked how few brands really understand ‘tone’.
They either confuse it with a template look or using a corporate monotone full of buzzwords.
Brand voice is not a look.
It’s not even a tone.
It’s the expression of your individual values and beliefs, communicated in a way that resonates with the culture around your category.
Of course NIKE is probably the best example of this.
Regardless what they do.
Regardless what sport they’re talking about.
Regardless how an execution looks.
The moment you see or hear it, you feel it.
And ‘feel’ is the key word here.
That is no accident.
In fact, I’d say we often spent more time on the voice than the strategy.
They know the athlete so well that it is reflected in all they do.
And maybe that’s the problem so many brands face, because they don’t know their audience very well.
They define them in broad, ambiguous ways that are convenient for the brand to embrace.
It’s either that or the fact many brands seem to have values and beliefs that are designed to not alienate any potential customer … without realising they don’t resonate with anyone either.
There’s only one thing worse than a brand patronising it’s audience and that’s one that doesn’t even realise they’re doing it which is why brand voice – or tone – isn’t something you get by just scribbling some random words on a creative brief, it’s a commitment to finding it and then doing it right because to paraphrase Dan Wieden, great brands don’t discover the power of advertising, they discover the power of their own voice.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Attitude & Aptitude, Australia, Comment, Corporate Evil, Customer Service, Marketing Fail
So as any poor, regular reader on here knows, I’ve been getting emails from APAC Insider magazine saying that Cynic was in the running for a Business Excellence Award in Australia.
Now while this is flattering, you’ll also know that Cynic legally closed their doors in 2010 so APAC Insider are basically a bunch of con-merchants.
Well, now I have unequivocal proof of it because – as I suspected we would – we won.
Yep, Cynic – a company that has not been in legal existence for SEVEN YEARS – has won a Business Excellence Award.
Now they may claim our excellence is in the fact we sold the company, but frankly, this would have been more believable if they’d not left a 7 year gap before bestowing us with their award.
But that’s all by-the-by because I know what you want to know what we won.
Is it a massive trophy?
Is it a huge cheque?
Is it a staring role at a lavish ceremony?
No, it’s this …
That’s right, our ‘prize’ is the chance to get a discount to advertise in their magazine.
A magazine that gives out prizes to companies that don’t exist anymore.
A magazine no one has heard of.
Oh hang on, they also give you a ‘digital certificate’ that you can put on your website. Oh that’s alright then … I mean, who wouldn’t want to advertise a bullshit magazine’s award on their website that basically say’s We’re a bunch of gullible fools.
I hate this company … I hate what they are trying to do to small business.
Sure, the small companies might have some blame to share if they do it, but as I wrote a while ago, when you’re just starting out, you are so desperate to feel you are moving forwards, you tend to grasp onto anything that feels like a positive step.
That’s what those fucks at APAC Insider magazine are exploiting and managing to get away with it.
But there is some good news because last week I received an email from them expressing their interest in being nominated for the International Magazine Publishers ‘Promotion of the Year’, so maybe they’ll be learning their lesson more quickly than we all hoped.
And I’ll be there applauding them when they get their moment in the spotlight.