Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Agency Culture, Attitude & Aptitude, Authenticity, China, Chinese Culture, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture, Effectiveness, Film, Nike, Sport, Wieden+Kennedy
So the posts this week have been quite emotional.
Well, they have for me …
And – if you watched the hostage negotiation film in yesterday’s post – probably for you too.
And given I’ll be writing an emotional post on Friday – in preparation for what would have been my wonderful Dad’s 85th birthday on Sunday – I thought I’d take a bit of a lighter approach to today, because frankly, I’ve cried enough for this week.
This post is about case study films.
Specifically case study films by agencies for award submissions.
To be fair, there are some that are truly great. Mainly the ones that actually have the work to back it up rather than those that crank up the cliches and superlatives because they haven’t.
Even though I’ve made more films than Spielberg, this is one of my faves … even though it blows my mind it’s 11 years old now.
But even that … even with all it’s success is no match for what I’m about to show you.
A film that trumps 95% of all Cannes/WARC/Effies case study films.
Not just because it is clear, entertaining and informative.
But because it demonstrates more human insight than all those others put together.
Enjoy.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Attitude & Aptitude, Authenticity, Communication Strategy, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture, Nike, Sport
My 8 year old, Otis, loves Rubik’s Cubes.
LOVES THEM.
Not only that, he’s bloody good at them.
To give you an idea of how good, take a look at this …
I know he’s my son, but that’s pretty amazing.
Hell, even when he shows me how to do it – move by move – I fail, and yet he can do it blindfolded!!!
Now it’s not just him that loves cubing, it’s back in a big way. A whole subculture that is thriving and evolving.
From Youtube influencers like Cubehead – with almost a million followers on Youtube – to more types of cubes than you could ever imagine.
From heat activated.
To shape-shifting.
To digital screens.
To a whole host of customisable cubes in different sizes and shapes to increase performance for competitions … competitions, that are literally being held in every country around the world.
Hell, even Nike have just released a shoe in cube colours to connect to its growth.
This last point is particularly interesting to me because I see more and more sports brands moving away from ‘competition’ to promote participation in an attempt to connect to a generation who are walking away from physical sports.
Except they’re missing the point …
You see recently I took Otis to a speed-cubing completion in Auckland.
It was packed. Full of kids, parents and adults … all messing with cubes at different standards and speeds.
But while they were all supportive and encouraging to everyone around them, be under no mistake they were competitive. More than that, they wanted to be more competitive.
And here’s what the sports brands are getting wrong.
Kids aren’t afraid of competition, they just want to beat their own limits rather than loudly and publiclly trash someone else’s.
Of course there’s exceptions.
Of course there’s contexts and situations.
But they be in a much better position if they stopped promoting passive participation and got back to what they were always about … just understood the best victory is when you out-compete yourself.
Filed under: Apathy, Attitude & Aptitude, Authenticity, Childhood, Context, Corporate Evil, Culture, Emotion, Empathy, England, Entertainment, Football, Mediocrity, Music, Nottingham, Nottingham Forest, Paul, Queen, Sentimentality, Sport, World Cup
Recently I came across this photo of the old Wembley being demolished …
And while I know the new stadium is better – albeit with terrible wifi/phone signal access, which is ironic given it’s sponsored by O2 – there was something about that photo that made me sad.
Of course it’s because I’m a sentimental fart.
Because despite seeing my beloved Nottingham Forest gain promotion in the new stadium, that old one has even more significant memories for me.
Live Aid.
Seeing Queen there.
And the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert.
Not to mention Bruce Springsteen, Madonna and countless other bands and singers.
Then there’s watching Brian Clough lead Nottingham Forest out for their various cup finals.
There was something magical about that old stadium when I was growing up.
It was the pinnacle. Where World Cups and Legends were celebrated and made.
And while there were other venues around the World that could lay claim to a similar standing … this was mine. In England. In our capital. A way to reinforce that for all the Madison Square Gardens and Giant Stadiums out there, we had ours. We still mattered. A bit.
Now I should point out I’m not saying this from a xenophobic ‘ENG-GER-LAND’ perspective … I mean it more in the same way I viewed Raleigh Bikes in Nottingham.
And while we replaced Wembley with a new and improved version – which is far more than Raleigh managed to do – there’s something about that photo that still hurts.
Not because I don’t love change – because even though I’m a sentimental, old fart, I do – but maybe because the replacement feels a bit soulless. Designed to look the part without ever really demonstrating they understand what it takes to be the part. Efficiency over character. Optimisation over soul. Money over memory.
I get this is probably only felt by people of a certain age.
I get the times have changed and so Wembley is not as unique as it once was.
But what shapes our identity is often the weird, the inconvenient and the personal symbols of possibility … and somewhere along the line, we’ve been made to think these aren’t as important as efficiency and complicity. Of course the irony of this thinking is that this is the sort of shit that is keeping us down rather than lifting us up.
Or maybe that’s exactly what some people intend it to do.
Jesus, I’ve become a conspiracy theorist now. That’s all we need.
See you tomorrow. Unless the FBI pick me up before then.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Attitude & Aptitude, Culture, Finance, Michael Jordan, Nike, Sport
A few weeks ago, I saw this on Linkedin.
Given NIKE paid MJ US$250+ million last year for the sale of his shoes – despite [properly] retiring in 2003 – it’s fair to say:
1. He got NIKE to pay.
2. Nike know how to monetise athletes.
3. Jordan is a true cultural icon of sport.
What do I mean by cultural icon?
To be honest, I’m not sure.
It’s more than just about success … because there’s plenty of athletes who have achieved that. It’s more than their continued standing … because there’s athletes who have achieved that as well. And it’s more than simply being popular with people who are not interested in their particular sport … because there’s examples of that too.
OK, so it could be those rare athletes who could feature in all 3 of those filters … but even then I don’t know if it’s that.
If I really think about it, it’s probably about how they changed the game.
Not just in terms of what they won, but how they won.
Where their style of play becomes the benchmark all others are judged by.
Their ruthless competitiveness.
Their commitment and drive.
The level of attention opposing teams give them.
The excitement they ignite when they are in the game.
The athletes and/or teams who you never write off … the ones who can change outcomes, defy records and evolve the game.
There’s not many of those.
At least not in terms of being able to do it over a long period of time.
But MJ is one.
And he’s still doing it even when he’s stopped playing competitive sport.
Which is why MJ’s greatest talent may not be playing basketball, but knowing his worth.
Filed under: Agency Culture, Attitude & Aptitude, Authenticity, Brilliant Marketing Ideas In History, Childhood, Comment, Communication Strategy, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture, Design, Differentiation, Distinction, Effectiveness, Emotion, Football, History, Individuality, Legend, Nottingham, Nottingham Forest, Resonance, Respect, Sport
Over my career, I’ve had a lot of ‘annual reviews’ and in all that time, there’s been a couple of topics that have made regular appearances in my bosses observations.
I am sure you can guess a lot of them, but one is that I approach every brief like a chance to change or impact everything.
Sometimes it was said in a positive tone.
Sometimes it was said in a less than positive tone.
And they were right.
They still are.
Because whenever we/I get a brief, my starting point is ‘what excites me about the brief’ … quickly followed by ‘how insanely big could we make the idea’ … quickly followed by me getting ridiculous excited about the potential, totally ignoring the fact that all they wanted was a shelf wobbler. Or something.
You think I’m joking don’t you? Well I am, but only just.
My strength/weakness is I always dream massive. Proper massive.
Sometimes it’s paid off – creating the first 4×4 on 2 wheels for Peugeot Mopeds in Vietnam.
Sometimes it’s been a total and unmitigated disaster – trying to get Porsche to bring rally car culture to China.
But pretty much all the time I’ve been able to look in the mirror and know I gave them what they needed, albeit in bigger, more provocative ways than they may have wanted … imagined … or expected.
And you know what, I’m good with that … which probably explains why the quote from the KLF – ‘Don’t give them what they want, give them what they’ll never forget’ – resonated with me so hard.
Anyway, the reason I say this is because waaaaaaaaay back in 1973, this ad appeared in the good, old Nottingham Evening Post.
It was an ad to design the Nottingham Forest Football Club badge.
If that sounds strange, wait till you hear the reason.
Originally, the Forest badge was the Nottingham Coat of Arms … it’s the emblem featured in the middle of the ad.
After discovering they could not copyright it, they decided they had to come up with a new badge and – for reasons no one has really got a good answer for – they decided to run a competition in the local paper, recruiting two lecturers in art and design as advisers.
Despite this being before the glory years of the Clough era, and a prize of just £25, the response was massive.
There were 855 entries from as far away as Australia and Germany … with one man submitting 27 designs.
After a judging process, David Lewis was crowned the winner with this …
David was 29 at the time, working as a graphic designer and lecturer at Nottingham’s College of Art.
He was a football nut and fancied a shot at winning the cash, but there was one problem … one of the judges, a man called Wilf Payne, was the head of the department where he worked.
David said …
“I didn’t think that any design I entered could have been judged fairly if he knew it was mine, and I also didn’t want to embarrass the judges. I did want to enter, though, so I decided to use my mother’s maiden name to hide my real identity. My mother’s side of the family were Italian immigrants and her maiden name was Lago. So I submitted my design as Lago and it wasn’t until afterwards that the judges found out my real name.”
Thank god he did that, because otherwise he may not have won and football – not just Nottingham Forest – would have missed out on one of the most beautiful and distinctive football club logos of all time.
Simple, yet powerful.
Accessible, yet iconic.
Universal, yet truly Nottingham … thanks to the tree representing Sherwood Forest, the wavy lines reflecting the river Trent [where the City Ground stands next to] and the red/white colour formation to reflect the club colours.
Forest’s badge has remained unchanged ever since David’s design – except for the addition of 2 stars to celebrate Forest’s back-to-back European Cup triumphs in 1979 and 1980.
Hell, the club is known to fans as ‘the tricky tree’s’ thanks to the logo.
And a few years ago, an American magazine ran an article on the most memorable and liked sports logos across the world and Davi’d design was in the top 10.
THE. TOP. TEN.
The point is, David Lewis could have approached the competition ‘pitch brief’ as many approach real pitch briefs.
Giving them exactly what they ask for in ways they would expect or feel comfortable with … which in this case would be a badge that represents Nottingham Forest and takes design cues from the existing logo.
But David thought bigger than that.
He wanted to create a design for Nottingham Forest that would be known, respected and revered across all sports and across all countries. A badge that could play outside the lines of the game and into culture.
A designer badge. Literally and figuratively.
And he did it. Beautifully and brilliantly.
Which is why the next time you get a brief – whether for a pitch or an existing client – just remember this story, because the whole industry could do with being more David Lewis.