Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Attitude & Aptitude, Brilliant Marketing Ideas In History, Chaos, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture, England, Insight, Marketing, Nike, Paula, Point Of View, Resonance, Wieden+Kennedy
Last week, Nike dropped an ad.
A 3+ minute ad.
THREE MINUTES, ARE THEY MAD?
Well yes they are because it’s the most magical 3+ minute ad you will see in a long, long time.
I know you might say I’m biased because [1] it’s Nike [2] it’s by Wieden and [3] my beloved ex-collegue, Paula Bloodworth, worked on it … but I’m not saying it for those reasons, I’m saying it because it’s sheer gloriousness.
Sport.
Culture.
Authenticity.
Eccentricity.
London.
You watch it and you are sucked in. You’re smiling, laughing, nodding, relating.
Whether it’s how outsiders see different parts of London to the madness some young athletes have to go through to be noticed.
There’s so much to love about it … though I have to say my favorite parts are definitely the female footballer, the ice-hockey player and the guy at the end on the bike who swipes the ball away.
Brilliant casting, writing, everything.
An ad that shows how great advertising can be when it’s injected with madness, authenticity and originality. Not to mention fun. Not in terms of what the ad is – though it’s full of that – but in terms of feeling how much fun everyone had making it.
An ad that not only shows the elasticity of NIKE’s brand voice, but their ability to be culturally authentic while staying true to who the brand actually is.
Right there is why Wieden is so fucking good.
It’s not just that they’ve made an ad people around the World will love – even if they won’t understand it all – it’s that they’ve made an ad that people in London will truly get.
An ad that is for them.
About them.
Bursting with all the swagger, humour and contrast that makes that city what it is.
I’m sure they knew they had something special at the very beginning but when it started actually coming together, they must have got super excited.
And nervous.
I remember going through all those emotions when we were creating Blackcurrant Tango.
But as I’ve said before, the best feeling in adland is when you think a piece of your work is going to be either amazing or a disaster
Nothing in-between.
Because it means whatever happens, it’s going to make a statement.
And this ad does.
Without doubt it is my favorite NIKE spot in a while [acknowledging a huge amount of them of late have been extra good] and I’m so happy for all my friends who were a part of it.
In fact the only thing wrong is when they say ‘Nothing Beats A Londoner’ when we all know a Nottinghamer can.
Ahem.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, Attitude & Aptitude, Brand Suicide, Communication Strategy, Creativity, Culture, Insight, Marketing, Marketing Fail
In the old days of marketing, the attitude was 'always have new news'.
Of course, the reality is constantly having new news is almost impossible – especially news that actually means something to the majority rather than the boardroom – but this attitude has seemingly stood the test of time, despite the fact it arguably does more harm to the brand than good.
[Lufthansa take note]
And that's why I passionately believe one of the most important lessons for marketing is knowing when to speak and when not too.
I appreciate many will disagree – especially those who indulge in self-indulgent, ego-messages via social media – but in a World where we are constantly bombarded with noise, adding to it doesn't seem to be the smartest move, especially if your way of 'getting attention' is becoming more and more exaggerated while claiming it to be based in truth.
[Lufthansa take note]
Is there a way to communicate on an on-going basis?
Of course. The simple rule being ‘talk about the stuff your audience cares about rather than what you want them to care about’, but for all the research available to us, I’m still shocked how few brands really understand this … mainly because they still think they’re in a battle for share of voice rather than share of give-a-shit.
It’s been a long week – I’m as tired of this blog as you are – so I thought I’d leave with 2 images that sums up how much technology can change the rules that society has lived by for bloody decades, if not centuries.
Hey, I know both are old, but at least they’re more fun than Tom Goodwin’s [albeit good] quote of ‘The world’s largest taxi company, owns no vehicles. The world’s most popular media owner, creates no content. The most valuable retailer, has no inventory. And the world’s largest accommodation provider, owns no real estate’.
First there’s this …
… and now this …
Well, I liked them anyway.
Have a great weekend.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Attitude & Aptitude, Confidence, Creativity, Culture, Differentiation, Education, Innocence, Innovation, Insight
So Elon Musk’s SpaceX company successfully launched his Falcon Heavy rocket.
I was interested for many reasons, most notably for the fact that when he launched his previous rocket – I saw it but didn’t know what it was, so my brain got bent out of shape as I tried to work out whether it was an alien invasion, a Korean rocket or just a Hollywood stunt.
As it did to many others too.
For the record, to make sure Otis wasn’t scared by his parents and odd-parents reaction, I told him it was Santa doing a ‘trial Christmas run’.
He didn’t believe it … which is impressive because at that stage, none of us knew what was actually going on.
But this launch was different.
Bigger. More innovative. More spectacle.
And as amazing as all that is, what I found the most fascinating was how they made the booster rockets return back to earth.
IN UNISON!!!
I’m not saying this just because it’s the sort of thing you only expect to see in a JJ Abrams movie, but because by doing that – he just reduced the cost of space exploration from NASA’s billion dollar a flight price tag, to about 90 million.
Incredible.
But there is something even more wonderful.
No, I’m not talking about the fact it’s made me write the most topical post in this blogs history, I’m talking about how it has reignited the imagination of people around the World.
Shifting the aspirations of tech from making a billion dollar app to literally changing the potential future of the World.
Of course you need a lot of money to do that, but everyone has to start somewhere and as long as Musk continues to show how to do this with responsibility and humour for the benefit of the planet [unlike how he conducts his personal life], then I think he has just introduced humanity to an incredibly exciting chapter in it’s development.
And boy do we need that.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Attitude & Aptitude, Comment, Culture, Emotion, Empathy, Friendship, Humans Goodness, human_2, human_2 Needs You ..., Love
As today is Valentine’s Day, I am going to write about love.
Not the rubbish peddled by the card and florists so they can charge a 100% mark-up on their usual prices because today is supposedly a ‘special day’, but the sort of love that shows you genuinely care rather than have been bullied into looking like you do.
The fact is, they’re more people on the streets than at any point in the last 20 years and it’s going to get worse.
While a lot of media likes to paint these individuals as thieves or con artists, the vast majority are good people who have simply fallen on hard times. This could be because of family, work or mental health – but they are good people and we can’t be allowed to forget that.
While it’s easy to avoid them, I have a little ask.
If you see someone who you think is having a tough time – and please know most don’t have the confidence to write a sign, let alone ask for help – just quietly go up to them and say, “I don’t want to embarrass you but I thought this might help” and then provide what you can.
A bit of money, some food or a [none alcoholic] drink.
Then simply walk away with no fuss or expectation of gratitude because I guarantee your small act will have made a difference, if only for the momentary interaction of human warmth that is hugely different from the invisibility and insignificance they experience every day.
As many of you know, this is an issue that is hugely important to me that I see getting worse every day. Any help, helps … from simply acknowledging their existence, to offering a little helping hand to doing something that can give them back some of the self-esteem that they thought they had lost forever.
I will be forever grateful to Virgin and Human_2 for helping me see how much a little gesture can make a big difference. If more people understood that, maybe they’d feel more comfortable reaching out when they see someone having a tough time.
Happy Valentine’s Day.