Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Apathy, Attitude & Aptitude, Australia, Brand, Brand Suicide, Comment, Communication Strategy, Creative Brief, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture, Distinction, Effectiveness, Embarrassing Moments, Emotion, Empathy, Fake Attitude, Government, Insight, Internet, Management, Marketing, Marketing Fail, Mediocrity, Nike, Planners, Point Of View
OK, I’m back.
Again.
And this time, I’m not going to be going away for …. hmmmmm, actually let’s not go there.
Let’s move on shall we?
So before I start, there’s 2 things to say.
1. Some may have seen this before, because I accidentally put the wrong publish date on it.
2. This is a week of long and – for me – serious posts. So don’t say I didn’t warn you.
The good news is that on Friday, you’ll be rewarded for it, with some news that benefits you as much as it does me.
Kinda.
Maybe.
OK, so one thing that drives me nuts is when brands talk in totally different voices to different audiences.
But there’s something that gets to me more, and that’s when the brand in question has tried to position themselves as some sort of ‘brand of the people’.
Case in point, Reddit …
I really like Reddit.
I think their ‘front-page of the internet’ is a brilliant place to play.
And then I saw this …
‘Where Engagement Meets Results’.
What the fuck is that about?
Oh I know what some will say …
“They’re trying to reach business people who discount Reddit as a commercially valuable platform”.
And maybe they are. But the irony is the easiest way to discount Reddit as a commercially valuable platform is having clients on there who only can communicate in the corporate monotone of the meaningless mission statement.
How insincere is a brand who speaks to their customers one way and business another?
How crazy is it that some think business people are a different species to ‘normal’ people?
How badly will Reddit’s audience react to work from companies who only speak business?
Now some may think I’m going over-the-top … they will remind me that we all ‘change’ our tone and personality dependent on who we are talking to.
And that’s true … to an extent.
But this isn’t a tonal change, this is character.
I read that and it’s a brand I don’t recognise …
Feels more like they should be called Beigeit rather than Reddit.
The ability to adapt your voice to different audiences shouldn’t mean changing who you are.
People who play golf have a dramatically different view to sport than those who play football … but Nike still do it in a way where you know and feel it’s them. Just like CTO’s in major corporations has different requirements to those who want a laptop for home … but you never feel Apple changes who they are to communicate with them.
Brands who fundamentally change their personality in a bid to engage different audiences literally don’t know who they are. Worse, their customers may start to question that too.
Reddit are amazing.
Their audience is diverse, engaged and productive.
And while I appreciate some in business may not understand that, if you have to alter who you are, do you want them anyway?
Years ago I was doing work for Triple J … a government funded, youth radio station in Australia.
Unlike other ‘government funded’ media, Triple J was someone with real credibility, driven by championing and breaking new artists, discussing topics commercial radio wouldn’t touch with a barge pole and absolutely no advertising.
So when they came to us asking for help, we knew straight away that whatever we did had to ensure their current audience didn’t feel Triple J was selling out by advertising for more listeners.
While you may think this meant we went niche, we did the opposite.
Built off an idea we called, ‘enemy of the average’ … we went into mainstream media with messages that challenged audiences about the mediocrity they were engaging with.
Radio.
Newspapers.
Cinema.
Magazines.
Nightclubs.
Television.
Wherever mainstream audiences were, we were there too.
And while many hated our work [it was even discussed in Australian Parliament] it not only attracted the largest audience increase in Triple J’s history, it reinvigorated their existing audience because they saw the brand they love stay true to who they are, despite wanting what they didn’t have.
I get we’re in different times.
I appreciate the idea of any risk is unpalatable for so many.
But nothing is as dangerous as changing who you are to attract people who aren’t your audience.
The brand voice is more than how you talk. Or look. It’s how you look at the world … and if you’re consistent with that, then you can express yourself in a million different ways and always be yourself.
But too many brands, despite what they say, don’t want to be distinct.
They see it as having the potential to alienate an audience.
To which I say this …
While you may think being something to anyone means you can engage more people, the fact is, the most power to build the value of your brand is when you are everything to someone.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Attitude & Aptitude, Brand, Childhood, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture, Government, Lego, My Childhood, Play, Toys
I love Lego.
I played with it.
I’ve bought it for others.
I once applied for a job there.
I’ve had the privilege of presenting to people there.
Lego is a brand with infinite possibilities and made with real consideration.
But recently I saw this note they used to put inside their boxes and it reminded me how over the years, Lego has seemingly moved more towards instruction than imagination:
Now I appreciate Lego has never been so successful. Or adored.
Nor do I think they’ve changed their belief that play is an important way to learn.
But while kids may well use their product as they see fit, there was something brilliant about a brand openly celebrating you had the power to use it as you choose. That the power of your imagination was more important and valuable than any specific direction or instruction that they put forward.
OK, so even in the past there were Lego ‘kits’ … but they seemed to be more about inspiration to get you started rather than a goal to know when you’ve finished.
Maybe that is one of the reasons for Roblox’s rise.
That’s almost all imagination … or said another way … less direction.
Who knows, what I am sure of is the World needs Lego and I just hope that somewhere along the line, that note to parents makes a comeback, because in a world that is increasingly structured and defined by the actions of the privileged and powerful … imagination is the only thing that can take us all to somewhere new and better.
Might be worth companies taking note for how to get the best out of their creative partners too.
Filed under: America, Attitude & Aptitude, Australia, Authenticity, China, Content, Context, Corona Virus, Creativity, Culture, England, Environment, Government, Perspective, Social Media, Technology
So I’m back.
I had a lovely time and Croatia is proper beautiful.
I know that’s a big call given I spent 2½ days there, the rest travelling, but it was.
God I miss travelling.
You’d think after almost 20 years of basically living on an airplane, I’d be over it … but there’s something so magical visiting new places and meeting new people.
Of course the environment is even more important – and COVID has shown we can do a lot without having to be in the same room – however being in another country and culture is a powerful and important experience. Especially given all the nationalistic bullshit going on … so having people engage with each other in different environments and geographies – rather than just stay in their own bubble – is probably better for the state of the World than just keeping to your own shores.
Nothing highlights this more than the paranoia regarding TikTok.
All apps are harvesting data, but because the parent company of TikTok is Chinese, governments and business are telling their employees they can’t have the app on their phone.
And yet TikTok, unlike other social media firms, have not – as far as I understand – been caught using the data in illegal ways. And even if they have, I am sure it’s no where near to the level of other companies that have been caught.
But here we go … the classic racism and prejudice towards China.
I know I’m biased.
I also know China has many issues.
But as I’ve said many times, the actions of other governments are equally as bad … they just hide it better, package it better [if that’s what you can call something as sick as Guantanamo Bay] or use the focus on China to distract people more convincingly.
Then there’s the fact some of the stuff the Chinese Government do get away with – and they do – is other politicians wet dream. Specifically the Republican and Tory parties.
Anyway, I don’t know what the problem is because as you can see from the photo above, if TikTok thinks I’m 15, then the data they’re harvesting is nothing to worry about.
Oh hang on, unless that’s my mental – not physical – age, and then we have a lot to worry about indeed.
Sorry for the rambling, jet lagged, post.
I wish I could say tomorrow will be better, but we all know it won’t be.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Attitude & Aptitude, Consultants, Culture, England, Finance, Government, Money
So I saw this job ad doing the rounds …
Now I appreciate, £66,500 is a lot of money.
Especially at a time when the world is facing economic pressures.
But this is for the Head of Digital Currency.
At the Central Bank of England.
On behalf of the Government’s Treasury Department.
Maybe I’m mad, but shouldn’t this position require someone of such economic and political standing … understanding and experience … that they can command a much, much higher salary than this?
I mean, I earn more than that and I got 2% in Mrs Kirk’s maths class.
Who is going to take this job?
Why are they going to take this job?
Who is going to decide who gets this job?
It’s just laughable.
Laughable … because this is coming from a Tory Government who claim to be the economical responsible party but have put the country into financial oblivion with delusional lies like Brexit.
Laughable … because the government is led by a PM who wants to kill the arts in favour of more maths classes, because he feels that will drive more earning potential for people.
Laughable … because an important financial position is hiring down to a price, rather than paying up to a standard.
As I said, I get almost 70 thousand pounds is a lot of money.
But for what we need, I doubt it’s anywhere near enough.
And here’s the thing … if we get someone who can actively help ensure our kids have a better chance of a better future than their parents – which currently is widely acknowledged as not being the case – then I’d be more than happy to see more of my taxes going to them. Because being fiscally responsible is not about how cheap you go, but how much value they offer.
That said, the bigger question is whether I trust whoever is responsible to hire this person … because not only did they decide what salary to offer, but they may also be as under-qualified as the person they want to hire or – more likely – another blinkered, arrogant and ignorant Tory who helped get us in this mess in the first place.
And politicians wonder why the public don’t trust them anymore …
Filed under: China, Comment, Government, Technology, Tourism
… yet despite that, it may also be one of the most thought-provoking.
And potentially scary.
Even scarier than the start of yet another week, and not because it features my voice.
[Though that is also very scary]
So errrrm, enjoy.