Filed under: Advertising, Attitude & Aptitude, China, Comment, Communication Strategy, Crap Campaigns In History, Crap Marketing Ideas From History!, Creative Development, Creativity, Egovertising, Fake Attitude, Focus Groups, Management, Marketing, Marketing Fail, Nike, olympics, Planning, Pretentious Rubbish, Relevance, Resonance, Respect, Shanghai, Wieden+Kennedy
Toothpaste.
It’s all kind-of the same isn’t it.
OK, so the manufacturers would disagree – which is why they keep launching different variants with all manner of ‘secret ingredients’ – but to the average person on the street, not only is the product pretty much the same, so is the advertising.
I get it, toothpaste ads must be hard … but even that doesn’t justify this shit from Colgate.
Cop a load of this.
Yep … ‘Made for greatness’.
Not made for great teeth, but greatness.
Hmmmmn … that’s not an over-claim whatsoever is it?
It’s a toothpaste.
For teeth.
TEETH.
And while teeth have a big role in our lives – and culture – THEY HAVE FUCK ALL TO DO WITH YOUR ABILITy TO CLIMB A MOUNTAIN.
Or a flight of stairs for that matter.
Now I appreciate I’m biased because in 2012, we did Greatness for the London Olympics … but have a look and tell me which you think is better … more resonant and more appropriate?
Yes, exactly.
And that’s before you have been reminded about the two lead NIKE Olympic ads from 2012.
God, even now Jogger gives me chills.
As I said, I get how hard toothpaste ads must be, but if Colgate want to do something right and interesting, they should give me a call – as I literally have 3 great ideas they can have. For a price. On the bright side, I promise you that whatever the price we agree on, you wont have to pay with your dignity like you have had to do with this.
Oh god how I’d love it if they did that, even though we all know it’s not going to happen.
So I’ll leave you with this.
Colgate … I am sure this passed all manner of internal research tests.
I am sure you this makes you all feel you’re doing something really important for humanity.
And while healthy, bright, strong, clean teeth are important – and Colgate plays a big role in that – it would be so much better if it helped make the brains of the people who approved this, as bright as their teeth, because maybe they wouldn’t have churned out the advertising equivalent of a root canal without anaesthetic.
Call me Colgate. Seriously. Please call me. I can put a billion dollar smile on your face.
Filed under: Advertising, Attitude & Aptitude, Colenso, Comment, Creativity, Culture, Marketing, Relevance, Resonance
A long time ago there was an ad I absolutely loved.
It was very funny.
It was founded on an interesting premise.
It captured the spirit of the times perfectly.
It was this …
How good it that eh?
And as great as it is … if you live in NZ or Australia, it takes on a whole different level of cultural significance because people here used to see this sort of thing every day, every summer.
I must admit, I’d forgotten about it but recently it came back into my life with because of this …
What’s that? I hear you cry.
Well, it’s the pair of budgie smugglers in the ad.
And why
1. Colenso did it.
2. Levi – my creative partner – did it.
And if ever you wanted proof you were in the right place, it’s this.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Attitude & Aptitude, Authenticity, Comment, Corporate Evil, Fake Attitude, Purpose, Relevance, Resonance
Marketing is always trying to find a way to be ‘relevant’ to its customers.
Of course, the real reason for this is because many of them don’t care about their customers beyond what they’re spending their money on.
It’s for this reason we so much bandwagon jumping – where brands suddenly claim to care about issues they’ve never shown any interest in and, in some cases, directly contributed to the issue society is fighting against – because they need to keep that money rolling in.
It’s why we have so much ‘purpose’ being spouted in marketing decks all around the World and why so many brands appear schizophrenic as they switch their attention to whatever social issue they think will ‘optimise’ their return on illusion. I mean, purpose. Ahem.
Putting aside the fact that if a brand really was committed to their purpose, they wouldn’t be changing it in the blink of an eye … there are at least some brands who put in some effort … who actually invest some money into what they believe. However, there’s others who just look for the easiest way to lie.
What. The. Hell???
I mean, there’s greenwashing, but this isn’t greensplashing.
I particularly love how they claim to have ‘overlooked the possibility’ the naming could mislead the people.
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.
Nothing shows how little regard they have for their customers than using that excuse.
I mean, doing such a terribly shit thing is horrific … but using an excuse like that to ‘justify their actions’ shows how they literally don’t care.
They’re laughing at us.
They think we’re stupid.
So let’s prove them right by never buying one of their products and say we overlooked the possibility they wanted us to actually buy their shit.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, Attitude & Aptitude, Authenticity, Colenso, Comment, Creativity, Culture, Distinction, Marketing, Marketing Fail, Relationships, Relevance, Research, Resonance, Respect
When I joined Colenso, they organised some workshops for me to start having a deeper understanding with the Maori culture. It was – and is – amazing and I am so grateful.
In one of the classes, the professor said something that I thought was brilliant. While her analogy was about how many white people in New Zealand like to view New Zealand, it is so easily transferable to all nations.
While I’m probably paraphrasing her, what she said was this:
“We’re a world of fruit salad that governments, companies & media present and view as a smoothie.”
What’s terrible is adland is a major contributor to this.
Blending people and cultures to a bland, beige mess …
Saying a lot but telling you nothing.
Viewing individuality as an obstacle not a gift.
Which is why next time you write a brief or read an ad, it’s worth asking yourself … are you making fruit salad or a smoothie?
Filed under: Business, Chaos, Colenso, Comment, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture, Emotion, Empathy, Imagination, Innovation, Insight, Loyalty, Marketing, Mischief, Point Of View, Relationships, Relevance, Resonance, Wieden+Kennedy
So recently a friend of mine sent me this video of Prince performing at the Brit awards in 2006.
I don’t just love it because I miss his talent.
Nor do I just love it because it reminds me of what a phenomenal musician he was – with his guitar playing in particular being of Rock God standard.
And I don’t just love it for the beautiful moment he and Darling Nisi sing the chorus of Purple Rain – even though her smile shows how joyful she feels at the moment.
No, the main reason I love it is because of his stage presence. The sheer commitment to performance. The spectacle that is impossible to ignore.
This is more than just being a famous musician performing in front of others – I’ve seen many do that and bore everyone to tears – no, this is about his magnetism.
All eyes are on him. Despite a stage of dazzling talent and dance, you never move your gaze off him. You end up feeling all your emotions have been given a thorough workout despite him being on stage just 12 minutes. I haven’t seen anything like that since Queen’s iconic performance at Live Aid … where in just 20 minutes, they secured their place as music icons.
There are actually less people who have this talent than you think, but one who had it in ‘the real world’ for me was a guy called Chris Jaques.
Years ago I wrote how I had to hold my hands together under the table at our first pitch presentation together because he was so amazing, I just wanted to clap.
I also wrote how anyone who ever worked with Chris who saw the carousel scene in the TV show, Mad Men, thought it could have been him.
He was that good.
But it wasn’t just because he was exceptionally smart.
Nor because he was also exceptionally talented.
But because he had an energy around him that you could not ignore.
He had the incredible ability to make you think he was only talking to you, even in a crowded room. He was clear, open and pragmatic with his opinions. He would go out of his way to ensure everyone felt included and involved. But there was never any doubt he was the leader. You wanted to work for him. Be better for him. When he walked in a room you felt his presence before he said a word. Not because of his power or wealth or standing … but because you felt it was going to be a valuable moment.
But what was even more special about Chris is that he never let this adulation go to his head. OK, not much anyway … certainly less than the people who think they have this impact … which meant he was always approachable but always valuable.
While there are some amazing people out in adland, there’s less Chris’ these days. Whether that’s because they have chosen different industries or this industry hounds people like Chris out is up for debate … but I do feel it’s a great loss.
Many like to refer to them as dinosaurs … people of another time who are no longer relevant. But people who say that have never worked with people like that. They probably wouldn’t want to as they would be challenged and questioned.
But what they don’t understand is their comments wouldn’t be about them.
They would just be talking about the work.
Wanting to help them be better by pushing their own boundaries.
And that’s why everyone should listen to this interview by the irrepressible Tony Davidson of Wieden London.
Tony – along with Kim – basically made that office and his interview is special.
He reminds me a lot of Chris.
Sure, their methods and approaches were very different, but the impact he had on me was very similar.
But after 20 years, Tony is leaving Wieden. While I am in no doubt that he will go on to do other amazing things, the reality is another person who made this industry interesting is going.
And while there are still some out there – Nils Leonard at Uncommon, Angela Watson at Colenso, Jorge Calleja at CPB, Ellie Norman at F1, Susan Hoffman at Wieden and Ryan Fisher at Wieden London to name a few – the industry still seemingly likes to give more face-time to the faceless and beige than the people who make things wonderful and weird.
Maybe that’s the industries insecurity showing [again] but as much as we are talking about mental health and work/life balance in a bid to lure people back to us [which is important and well over due]… maybe another way would be putting the weird, interesting and intriguing in the spotlight again.
Because you don’t attract the creative with even more logic, you attract them with people who have made ridiculous powerful and effective.