Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Attitude & Aptitude, Audio Visual, Brand, Cars, Communication Strategy, Content, Embarrassing Moments, Entertainment, Marketing, Marketing Fail, Mischief, Porn
Years ago, I was asked the title of this post by an industry journalist.
I replied with, “it would say I was a prick”.
Given a bunch of people in the industry – not to mention my mates – have personalised number plates, it didn’t go down very well, however compared to this, they’re all saints.
Yep, that’s a real number plate.
Better yet, it’s not even a personalised one. [Someone checked]
That is the number plate the DVLC gave the car.
Now I appreciate that maybe you wouldn’t immediately see the perv potential of PU51BAD … but when it’s written out as PU51 BAD, you’d have to be Stevie Wonder to not see it.
And yet the owner of this Volvo – not sure if it’s a male, but a male was driving it – is happily driving around the UK with it.
Why? Surely they know what they’re doing?
Hell, it seems they even made sure the number plate clearly conveys its questionable words.
Surely they realise the only people who wouldn’t find this cringe worthy are 16 year old boys.
Or maybe I’ve got it wrong.
Given the image of the typical Volvo driver – especially the old Volvo driver – maybe this has given them the bit of an edge they’ve been craving for years.
No longer are they the responsible, safe, family man/woman driver … now they’re sexpests of the most public order.
And to think, Volvo spent untold billions to shed their ‘safe and boring’ persona when all they needed to do was get a perv numberplate.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Attitude & Aptitude, Audio Visual, China, Chinese Culture, Comment, Communication Strategy, Culture, Fashion, Management
So this is a few weeks old, but IKEA recently opened a store in the Middle East.
This is what happened …
While IKEA dealt with the situation with grace and self depreciation, it highlights the potential problems of different cultures – and departments – working together.
It’s all to easy to assume the designers should have read ‘same text, but in Arabic’ and worked out their job was to write IKEA in Arabic. But apart from the fact many designers believe their job is about the craft of what they’re given rather than the reason for it, language structure is hugely different in cultures and so many people feel it is better to take words literally than risk making the wrong assumption.
When I lived in China I had a shirt I loved.
I’d worn it so often, it was covered in patches basically holding it together and so in the end, I realised that if I wanted to keep wearing it, I’d have to get another one made.
Fortunately, the fabric market had loads of people who did this so I went there and asked them to make me the same shirt.
A week later I went to collect it, and what did I find?
A shirt that was identical to the one I had given them.
Right down to the rips and patches that was on the original.
In other words, I’d had them make me a shirt I still couldn’t wear.
And it was my fault.
Because when I said, “could you please make me a duplicate of this shirt”, I assumed they would get without the worn out bits … but that’s on me, not them and that’s why anyone who wants to work in other cultures or with other cultures needs to understand they have to communicate on the audiences terms, not on theirs.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Attitude & Aptitude, Audio Visual, Authenticity, China, Comment, Communication Strategy, Confidence, Content, Context, Creativity, Culture, Entertainment, Fake Attitude, Imagination, Immaturity, Innocence, Innovation, Marketing, Marketing Fail, Packaging, Planners, Relevance, Resonance, Standards, Wieden+Kennedy
Yes it’s real.
Yes, it has been out for at least 4 months.
And yes, there are so many things I could say about it … but I’m relying on you do it for me.
I will say this however …
When I worked on Old Spice at Wieden – which was only for Asia and had little to do with the great work from Portland – we were adamant that while the creativity should be allowed to explore all manner of mad worlds, the packaging/fragrances had to communicate stability because otherwise there was the danger the whole brand would look like one giant joke.
Or said another way …
The product had to allow madness around it rather than try to compete with it.
I’ll leave it there, over to you …
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, Attitude & Aptitude, Audio Visual, Authenticity, Brand, Brand Suicide, Comment, Communication Strategy, Confidence, Content, Context, Creative Brief, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture, Emotion, Empathy, Fake Attitude, Focus Groups, Honesty, Imagination, Innovation, Insight, Marketing, Marketing Fail, Martin Weigel, Planners, Planning, Point Of View, Positioning, Relevance, Resonance, WeigelCampbell, Wieden+Kennedy
This is a topic that I’ve been bothered by for a very long time.
I touched on it last week in the post about my recent webinar for WARC.
It also formed part of the presentation I did with the amazing Martin Weigel at Cannes in 2019 … also for WARC.
Frankly, I’m seeing far too much work that is literal.
Literal in the problem.
Literal in the strategy.
Literal in the execution.
It’s like all the work is repackaging the client brief and just adding some fancy words, a bit of a gloss and that’s it.
No real understanding of the culture around the category.
No real distinctive expression of the brand behind the work.
No real lateral leaps in the creativity to make people give a shit.
It’s dot-to-dot communication based on lowest common denominator logic … and while I get it will pass research processes and client stakeholders without much pushback … what’s it actually doing for anyone?
Few will remember it.
Even fewer will respond to it.
And no one feels good at the end of it.
Don’t get me wrong, we have to make work that makes a difference for our clients.
I get that.
But that means finding out the real problem we need to solve rather than the solution we want to sell. Means finding out what how the subculture really uses the category in their life versus how the client would like them to use it. Means allowing the creatives to solve the problem we’ve identified rather than dictating the answer. Means being resonant, not relevant. Means having a point of view. Means dreaming of what it could be rather than what it already is. And – most of all – means letting people feel rather than just be told.
It’s why you remember Dancing Pony over that Vodafone spot.
Because while I’m sure both overcame all manner of research obstacles and client stakeholders requirements, there is one thing one campaign remembered, and it’s what Martin once said:
“You can be as relevant as hell and still be boring as fuck”.
Filed under: Advertising, Attitude & Aptitude, Audio Visual, Brand, Brand Suicide, Chocolate, Comment, Crap Campaigns In History, Creative Brief, Creative Development, Creativity, Differentiation, Honesty, Luxury, Marketing, Marketing Fail, Premium
We have had some amazing ads for confectionary over the years.
Trio. And the follow up.
Rolo.
Boost.
Maltesers.
Then, of course, the pinnacle … Cadbury Gorilla.
However one of the things I still haven’t quite understood is how we have also had some of the absolute worst.
I mean, for years, it was Ferrero Roche’s Ambassadors Table that was top of the shitness charts. An ad so bad, that it became great for its utter kitschiness.
And while no one ever really believed they were the chocolate favoured by diplomats, royalty and Ambassadors … it was a strategy that worked for many – from After Eights to Viennetta.
However there’s another ad that I’ve just seen that puts Ferrero firmly in second place.
They’re not saying they’re sophisticated.
They’re not claiming to be for special occasions.
They’re saying they are ‘so much fun’.
SO. MUCH. FUN.
Now don’t get me wrong, they’re a nice tasting bite, but fun?
They’ve never played video games with me.
They’ve never watched movies with me.
They’ve never even suggested you can use them as chess pieces.
What the hell is fun about it?
To answer this, let’s have a look at the ad they’re running shall we.
Did you watch it?
Did you survive watching it?
If it’s any consolation, that is still better than the one they ran last Christmas.
So, based on that monstrosity, they think they’re ‘so much fun’ because when you open up a pack, everyone comes out because they want to shove one of the caramel, chocolatey-hazelnut, nougat things right down their throat.
Which highlights 4 issues I have with this premise.
1. The client and the agency have no idea what fun actually is.
2. Even if it was ‘so much fun’, wouldn’t all confectionary be able to say that?
3. Where I come from, sharing something you like is cause for a fight, not fun.
So to dear old Toffifee … may I humbly suggest you sort yourself out.
Your ads are pants.
Your ingredients aren’t that unique.
The spelling of your name is absolutely horrific.
And most of all, your product is fair, but not fun.
Sort that out, and you can make Ferrero ads the most stupid again.
You’re welcome.