Filed under: Attitude & Aptitude, Audio Visual, Brand Suicide, Communication Strategy, Crap Campaigns In History, Crap Marketing Ideas From History!, Creativity, Culture, Design, Embarrassing Moments, Innovation, Marketing, Marketing Fail, New Product Mentalness, Technology
Kodak.
A company that once was synonymous with photography that is now synonymous with failure.
There are a million stories detailing their demise, but fundamentally, it wasn’t because they couldn’t innovate [they were one of the pioneers of digital photography], they didn’t want to bring it to market because they didn’t want to kill their photographic developing business, even though that business was going to kill them if they continued with it.
But this post isn’t a bad history lesson, it’s about the new Kodak … the lean, mean, technology machine.
Have a look at this …
Yep, it’s the World’s first 360 degree action-camera with 4k picture detail.
OK, so you could say bringing out a device like this, years after GoPro blew-up the market, shows Kodak still have a habit of being late to change, but at least this time they are trying to offer a fundamentally better product than what is currently available – not to mention leveraging the 360 degree market, that seems to have come from nowhere.
But even that isn’t what this post is about.
No, what this is about is that based on this ad, Kodak still think it’s the 1980’s.
A few years ago, I wrote how one of GoPro’s strengths was how they were part of the culture they were making products for. This authenticity separated them from the countless other brands that tried to jump on the bandwagon – even when they had arguably better products.
Two years later and it seems some brands still haven’t grasped the importance of focusing on the culture, rather than the category.
Look at that ad. Look at it.
It’s fucking horrible.
If a photo of the London skyline from a bloody restaurant wasn’t bad enough [what the hell is ‘action cam’ about that???] … what about the utterly terrible shot of the product.
A brown square with a shitty dome on top.
It looks like a crap 1950’s robot toy that you’d find in a Kinder-Surprise.
What the hell were Kodak thinking?
And then there’s the product name and the font choice.
PIXPRO … using a stencil type font in a desperate bid to look cutting edge.
If your product is the ‘future’, you don’t need to use a shitty font because people will work it out for themselves. And even if you decide you absolutely, positively, desperately want to do it … my advice is to not use a font that is synonymous with the 1982!
And what’s that line … ‘Brings You Closer’.
What does it even mean?
Here is a product that gives you 360 degree views [which, arguably, they don’t even show in the ad] and they use that line.
Mind you, here is a product that gives you 360 degree views in 4k quality, and they don’t even help you understand what 4k quality means to the recipient.
There is so much they could do to make people want to know more – even using an old-school print ad – but no, they’ve gone for the worst advertising you could get.
Apparently the product is quite good … but sadly for Kodak, with a name that represents the past rather than the future and an ad that reinforces that perspective, I think the only view they’ll be seeing is their once great name growing smaller and smaller into the distance.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Anniversary, Attitude & Aptitude, Comment, Creativity, Culture, Daddyhood, Education, Emotion, End of Year, Innovation, Insight
OK, so the title of this post is wrong given we have almost 3 weeks left before it’s 2017, but this is going to be the last week for this blog because [1] I’m going to be in LA all week [be afraid George, Pete & Baz … be very afraid] and [2] I can’t be arsed to write anymore.
Frankly, I can’t believe how quick this year has gone. It’s been stupendously quick.
And yet, when I look back at the past 12 months, I see a lot has happened … and I’m not just talking about my holidays.
From Bowie dying.
The worst Toyota campaign in years.
My favourite quote of the year.
A time of self realisation.
My best friends penis. [Hey, it wouldn’t be this blog if I didn’t reference that]
The power of design.
My beloved Mum’s first anniversary.
The launch of The Kennedys in Shanghai.
[With updates on whats going on here]
A reminder of the importance of empathy.
The best Rock n’ Roll mash-up. Ever.
China showing that for all their progress, a lot of it is only on the surface … here and here.
How Cannes is bringing the worst out of adland.
My amazing June consisting of an amazing conference in Paris, my wife’s birthday and a phenomenal holiday in too many places.
An idea that should be celebrated for it’s humanity.
My argument about what the ad industry needs to do to be relevant to the next generation of creative class.
… and recognising what new creative talent actually is.
The importance of fearlessness.
Saying goodbye to a couple of people who were very important to me. But only goodbye in the ‘I’m leaving Wieden’ sense. Ros and Paula.
As you can see, there’s been a lot that’s happened.
OK, so some you may agree with, some you won’t … but it’s important [for me, at least] to see it because the speed this year has gone, it would be easy for me to convince myself nothing has happened.
Recently I read an interview with ex-Take That star, Robbie Williams, that kind of summed up my attitude to working.
I know … I know … it’s Robbie Williams, but the fact is I have always liked him.
I’ve liked his attitude and his honesty – even when he’s ended up being screwed over by what he said – but for me, his viewpoint that ‘if the brain stops working, it’s all over’ feels very relevant to me.
You may not believe it, you may say there’s a lot of evidence to challenge it … but it’s something that feels incredibly true to me.
So true that 2017 is going to see quite a few changes for me … all in a bid to make sure my brain remains energised and exercised so that I don’t need a blog post to remind me that my days have been filled with stuff that has been interesting and exciting.
But that stuff will be discussed later, so until then, enjoy the final 5 days of this blog in 2016.
Filed under: Attitude & Aptitude, Brand Suicide, Comment, Corporate Evil, Crap Products In History, Cunning, Devious Strategy, Egovertising, Fake Attitude, Innovation, Marketing Fail
There are a lot of people who think that in the digital age, nothing can be kept secret.
Maybe they’re right, but that doesn’t hide the fact that some people can keep their secret from being found out for a pretty long time.
Case in point is Elizabeth Holmes – the much lauded, self-made billionaire of biotech start-up Theranos.
That’s her in the photo.
While many have written about her, her story is really one about confidence.
Or should I say the dark side of confidence … both in terms of how she used it and how many fell for it. That said, it is also a story about the fear of missing out and how cash can blind the judgement of many otherwise sensible people.
[But, fortunately, not all]
It’s a truly scary story though I must admit, the thing that shocked me most was learning there was a guy in the US – admittedly a Brit – who had never worn a pair of jeans.
Anyway if you haven’t seen it yet, I encourage you to read it … it’s a modern day version of the Emperor’s new clothes.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Attitude & Aptitude, Comment, Context, Creativity, Culture, Innovation, Insight, Technology
New.
3 letters that can inspire all manner of emotions in people.
When it is associated with something you already like, you tend to be happy … excited even.
However, when it is associated with a fundamental change to what you already know and/or do … then the general response is skepticism or outright distain.
I recently did a presentation to a client of ours about the need to do 3 fundamental things when looking to push into new territories.
1. Remember society knows what they want, they just don’t know how to articulate it.*
2. Make your UX as intuitive as possible so people can move from the present day to modernity without feeling insecure.
3. Prepare to ride waves of criticism.
There were two big reasons I wanted to remind my client of this.
One is that I recently read an interview with a tech journalist who said his biggest challenge was not to review brand new technology as if it was fully developed technology. He has to remember his view should be about potential, not realisation.
The second was this …
Interesting eh?
I don’t know when that article was written.
To be honest, I’m not even sure that article is real … but given the name of the ‘journalist’, the visual design and sarcastic ‘riddle of email’ that is placed at the bottom of the piece, it does seem the sort of shit The Sun newspaper would have peddled.
Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate how mad ‘the internet’ and ’email’ must have sounded back then – mainly because I was living through it – however, instead of having the distain of The Sun, I distinctly remember how excited I was about what I was hearing.
Maybe that was because of my age.
Maybe that was because of my love of gadget tech.
Maybe that was because I was seeing science-fiction becoming reality.
Whatever the reason, it served as an important reminder to me to listen before I dismiss.
Of course, there’s lots of new things that turn out to be a pile of shite … and sometimes that is because they are literally, a pile of shite … however societies skepticism to ‘new’ plays a huge role in whether things take off or not [acknowledging there’s a whole host of other elements] which is why the next time someone offers up something that challenges your tradition, think about what they’re trying to solve before you judge how they’re doing it … and who knows, maybe adland can be part of something new rather than packaging up someone else’s new.
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* I say this because people constantly quote Henry Ford’s “If I asked people what they wanted, they’d say a faster horse” … and yet, if they had said that, it wouldn’t take a rocket scientist to work out what they’re saying is they want to get from point A to point B faster than the current modes of transport available to them. In other words, they were giving big clues to what they wanted without even realising it.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Agency Culture, Attitude & Aptitude, Comment, Creativity, Culture, Experience, Innovation, Insight, Internet, Technology
OK, so that is a deliberately provocative headline, because the answer is no … but let’s put that aside for a moment.
Following on from my post about what the ad industry needs to do to attract young creative talent, I point you to this.
Read it.
It’s absolutely fantastic.
But if he was in an ad agency would he have been encouraged to do it?
Well, if he worked for one of the scam-masters, maybe … but the likelihood is he wouldn’t because they don’t like doing things that actually require commitment to the cause.
And why would this happen – or not – as the case may be?
Well, apart from the fact most agencies would regard a 19 year old as a junior and should be shackled, rather than released … agencies still don’t regard ‘technologists’ as ‘real creatives’.
At best, they’re there to serve the creative department rather than be creative in a different way.
Or said another way, they are there to respond to the creative departments idea, rather than lead it.
And this is what fucks me off with this industry.
We say we are a ‘creative’, but in most cases, what we mean is ‘only the traditional creative department’ is creative.
Utter bullshit.
That’s not to say there aren’t incredibly talented people in creative departments who can do things few can. Of course there are and when I see them, I’m in utter awe of their brilliance. But by the same token, there are creative people outside of creative departments, and agencies as a whole, who can do things they can’t.
The ones who think in terms of solving problems rather than just advertising them.
Or think in terms of developing culture changing ideas rather than just making executions.
But as long as the industry regards – and wildly protects – creativity as something directly linked to art and/or copy, we’re going to lose more and more relevance. Worse, we’re going to alienate people who could push us to greater and more exciting places.
For an industry that talks about open minds and collaboration, we’re not very good at either.
I still hope we realise this before it’s too late.