Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, America, Attitude & Aptitude, Communication Strategy, Culture, Experience, Loyalty, Luxury, Premium
So recently I was on a Delta flight when I was handed the menu.
I looked at the food choices but there was one thing that caught my eye above everything …
This …
That’s right … a premium heated nut mix.
Yes they were warm.
Yes, they were a variety of nuts in the small dish.
But premium?
Are they referring to the quality of the nut offered or – as I suspect – the ‘status’ that a warm variety of nuts conveys.
Either way, it smacks of utter pretentious rubbish …
Another example of a marketer who wants to appear ‘upmarket’ while actually demonstrating how desperate they are.
What with premium toilet roll, clingfilm and now nuts … maybe we all need a bit of a rest from this status inflation.
I get people like nice things … I get people will pay more for nice things … but the emphasis is on ‘nice’ and if people can’t tell the difference, then you have a problem and I can tell you Delta, I couldn’t tell the difference between your nuts [ahem] and any cheap-ass nuts I can find in a local pub except they were heated and served in a little dish.
Oh hang on, you probably read that ‘experience’ is better than ownership and so the heat and dish of your nuts were your way of offering a premium experience.
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha …
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, America, Attitude & Aptitude, Authenticity, Comment, Creativity, Culture, Fashion, Luxury, Marketing, Resonance, Women
I’ve written how mental Gucci have been in the past few years in both their fashion and their marketing – though on this last point, it’s been quite refreshing from the up-itself-image-bollocks the fashion industry tends to perpetuate.
However I recently saw an ad for their lipstick that is making me think they’re doing more than just trying to superficially differentiate from the competition.
Yes brands like Dove have celebrated ‘real beauty’ before – though they also sold skin whitening products so you know that their intentions for female empowerment are not entirely true – but it’s rare for a high end fashion brand to do such a thing, especially in such dramatic fashion.
You see even though Dove celebrated women of all shapes and sizes, they tended to all be classically beautiful … however here is Gucci, doubling own on celebrating the beauty of the imperfect by showing what my American friends would say is a ‘British smile’.
We will have to see if they are truly going to push this agenda but in an industry so superficial they can make a puddle look like an ocean, this is a step in the right direction in helping women celebrate their own beauty, not someone else’s definition of it.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Attitude & Aptitude, Comment, Creativity, Culture, Design, Insight, Luxury, Management, Marketing, Professionalism
When I was young, I loved cars.
OK, I still do … but back then, they held a particularly strong fascination.
Freedom. Independence. Status.
Now while there are many cars that are burned into my consciousness – the Ford Fiesta XR2, the Fiat X19, the Triumph TR7 to name a few – there is one that has a special place in my heart.
Not because I wanted one, but because in my provincial mind, it represented the pinnacle of success.
It was … a Ford Granda.
Yes … that tank like thing at the top of this post.
I know … I know … how utterly shameful.
As I said, it wasn’t a car I aspired to owning or driving – besides, I was years off being allowed to drive – but it was the biggest car on the road and in my small, little mind, that meant the driver was doing one of the big jobs in life.
You have to understand that I was entering as period of my life where school life was soon going to make way for the rat race … and while I was good at school, I was crap at exams so I was looking for direction in terms of a job that could one day, potentially let me own a Ford Granada.
Jesus, I was sad.
It gets worse … because I still remember seeing a man drive a BMW 7-Series when they first came out and going up to him to ask what he did for a living as I couldn’t believe anyone in West Bridgford – my home town – could ever have a job that let them buy a car like that.
The irony was it was less about having something that would convey status and success to the outside world and more about setting a goal that would let me think I have done OK in life if I ever got to own one.
Which I didn’t .
The reason for all this is that I recently watched a video for the launch of the MK II Granada.
It’s long, but it’s worth watching for a whole host of reasons.
Part of it is because it highlights how far the car industry has evolved since 1984 interns of technology and what they regard as driver/passenger comfort and sophistication … part of it is because it’s funny to see them make big claims about small features [digital clock anyone?] … but the biggest part is how much technology we still regard as luxury is over 30+ years old.
It doesn’t make me want a Granada, but it does help me feel less foolish rating them in 1984.
Filed under: Advertising, Agency Culture, Attitude & Aptitude, Audio Visual, Comment, Creativity, Culture, Cunning, Design, Entertainment, Insight, Luxury, Marketing, Meetings, Planners Making A Complete Tit Of Themselves And Bless, Presenting
As I mentioned a few weeks ago, when I was in NY, I was invited to speak at design gods … Pentagram.
Whenever I’m asked to speak at something, the first thing I think is ‘why?’
The second thing I think about is ‘what right have I got to talk about this subject?’
And the final thing is ‘what am I going to talk about’.
In the case of Pentagram, I didn’t know what I could say that would be of any interest of them.
Then I remembered the only reason they asked me to come is because of my relationship to a certain, famous rock band so instead of doing a deck – where, let’s be honest, they would be judging the design of each slide rather than listening to what I said – I bought 12 iconic albums on vinyl [they’re the ones in the picture above] and talked about the relationship they had with the music and the fans of the music under the heading, ‘Design is not decoration’.
Now I have no idea if they actually learnt anything from my talk, but it certainly created a bunch of conversation and debate and for me, that’s a big win.
Actually, getting out alive was the big win, but seeing some of the most talented design people in the World talk about the relationship between music, design and fans was something I’d pay for just to witness.
Which is why one of the best lessons I learned about strategy is less about what you are going to do and more about what you’re going to sacrifice.
Filed under: Attitude & Aptitude, Brand Suicide, Chinese Culture, Comment, Crap Campaigns In History, Culture, Embarrassing Moments, Luxury, Marketing, Marketing Fail
Louis Vuitton.
A name that conjures all manner of images in the mind.
Luxury. Sophistication. Worldliness.Travel. Wealth.
OK, so in China, it’s also known as the ‘mistresses brand’, because in the old days of China, the only people who could get their hands on the stuff were the lovers of Government officials or international businessmen who bought it when on one of their numerous overseas trips.
Now while ‘perception may be reality’, there’s some perception you don’t want and LV have spent years and hundreds of millions of dollars on changing this.
Given their success in China, you could argue it has worked – however there are two things that I think are potentially going to undermine them.
One: In their quest to keep the cash rolling in, they’re opening more stores in ‘lower tier’ markets. While this is helping wealthy people in those cities buy their products more easily, it’s putting off their core audience because frankly, they don’t want to be associated with individuals from places they regard as ‘being underneath them’.
Two: This …
WHAT. THE. FUCK.
OK … OK … I admit I haven’t seen this first hand [a friend sent it to me] so there is a big chance it’s either a pisstake or associated with an upcoming movie but if not, why-oh-why would they do such a thing?
While some may find a cliche-looking gangster cool, I’m not sure it fits in with the image the average LV customer wants for themselves. And what do you think is in those suitcases?
A pair of pants and some inflatable arm bands?
Probably not … and yet they have the cheek to add ‘the spirit of travel’ to the bottom of the ad.
Where are they travelling too? Jail?
And what are those ‘weapon looking things’ in the arms of the cliched ‘hired help’?
If they’re not fancy umbrellas, someone is going to be getting into a lot of trouble.
Look, I get the luxury inflation rate has pushed brands to basically make ads showing people bathing in a pool of money while burning poor people in their big, open fire but I’m not sure going to this extreme is a good idea.
If the goal was to make LV owners look so successful they don’t give a shit what others think [“Fuck you money”, as I wrote here] then I would have suggested they follow the lead of the brilliant ‘spoof’ Bentley ad below, as opposed to associating with people who might kill you if you even look at them funny.
