Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Attitude & Aptitude, Comment, Communication Strategy, Crap Campaigns In History, Creativity, Culture, Football, Marketing, Marketing Fail
The celebrity endorsement.
Favoured by brands who have nothing interesting to say.
Or by companies who want to look more important than they are.
Of course they’re exceptions.
NIKE for example … because at least their choices are directly connected to the category they operate in, which is more than can be said for Clooney and Nespresso. Or the new entrant. Another handsome, old, white male actor – who, according to his ex-wife – may have domestic abuse issues to answer for.
Maybe that’s why Brad Pitt agreed to do one of the worst ads I’ve seen in a long time. To pay for any legal trial … whereas at least Clooney does it to raise the money for the films he personally wants to make.
In the old days, celebs went to Japan to top up their pension – safe in the knowledge that no one would see their stuff. Then the internet happened and not only could everyone see the rubbish they’d do for a big pay day, they realised they could do it now in their home country given everyone had seen their willingness to sell their credibility for cash.
Which leads to this …
Neymar.
For a financial investment firm.
If that isn’t weird enough, they’ve weirdly made Neymar look like he’s the financial advisor.
What the fuck?
Are they suggesting he is so rich he can give people expert financial advice?
If they are, is his advice, “become a professional footballer for PSG”.
Or is something else …
Is he paid so badly he’s had to get a second job selling financial advice?
That would at least make some sense as Neymar HAS BEEN FOUND GUILTY OF TAX AVOIDANCE!!!
Yeah, this financial company decided that the best celebratory endorser they could use to promote their company internationally was a convicted tax dodger.
Did no one think about that?
Did no one question what that would say about them?
Did they think that because Qatar – where QNB is based – don’t charge personal tax, it means Neymar’s crime basically doesn’t exist?
Did no one ask why were they photographing the football star as if he was a financial advisor?
Nope.
And was that because they were starstruck?
Or was it because they didn’t think about it?
Or care?
Or think anyone else would care?
Or was it all of the above … because let’s face it, there’s enough examples to show many investment firms don’t give a damn about rules, customers or tax obligations … so maybe using Neymar was the most truthful and inspired choice they could make.
How nice of QNB to make it so much easier for the authorities to find people exploiting the financial rules for personal gain, because now all they have to do is ask one question:
“Do you use QNB?”
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, Attitude & Aptitude, Business, Comment, Communication Strategy, Creative Brief, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture, Effectiveness, Emotion, Empathy, Experience, Innovation, Marketing, Planners, Planning, Point Of View, Relevance, Research, Resonance, Respect
For all the money companies and agencies spend on trying to know their audiences better.
For all the systems and processes companies and agencies put in place to be reduce the friction of purchase for customers.
For all the data companies and agencies invest in and rely on to identify market opportunities they can leverage.
For all the investment in experience to drive brand consistency.
It’s amazing how simple it is for a brand to differentiate themselves from the competition … resonate with a specific audience … encourage emotional loyalty and build commercial value by simply having a point of view that is expressed by doing what people find important rather than what you want them to find important.
This brilliance is from Tesco in association with St John’s Ambulance.
Clothes that your baby will look good in and could – if the worst happens – help save their life.
No eco-systems.
No data analysis.
No additional experience layers.
No focus group idea blandification.
Just an idea where the value is undeniable to all.
A real idea. Not an ad idea.
A real idea where communication amplifies the solution rather than is the solution.
Done for real, not for ad award submissions.
Some agencies [and brands, like Timpson’s] do this sort of thing properly – for example the brilliant Tontine pillow [by the brilliant Mark Sareff] and H&M’s One Second Suit, not to mention the fact Colenso has consistently been doing this sort of stuff for decades – however if clients let their agencies partners solve problems without their dictatorial interference or obstacles … and if agencies listened to what their clients need rather than what they want them to want … we’d not only have more interesting, valuable, creative and effective agencies and brands, we’d be making more of a difference than all the pointless purpose statements put together.
I can but hope.
We all should, because it’s down to us.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, Attitude & Aptitude, Authenticity, Brand Suicide, Comment, Consultants, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture, Differentiation, Diversity, Emotion, Empathy, Experience, Honesty, Imagination, Innovation, Insight, Loyalty, Management, Marketing, Marketing Fail, Perspective, Professionalism, Relationships, Relevance, Resonance, Respect, Standards
A while back I read an interview with film director, voice of Yoda and countless muppets and expert puppeteer – Frank Oz.
It was a beautiful interview … a story of friendship, loyalty, creativity and compassion, so I urge you to read it … but there was one thing that really stood out to me and it was this:
Now it’s fair to say it’s no longer just corporate America who don’t understand the value of the things they’ve just bought. In some respects, we see it every day from clients who dictate and demand changes to a piece of creativity that an experienced professional has custom made for their specific situation … right through to companies who blame talent for circumstances and situations that they were directly complicit in creating and encouraging.
As I see it, the problem is three fold.
1. People judge output without any appreciation of how it happened.
2. People wildly overestimate their own talent.
3. It’s easier to look like you’re doing things than doing things.
None of these should be a surprise.
It’s why we tend to lavish our attention on individuals who are associated with ‘results’ rather than recognize the people around them who made it possible. It’s why we talk about wanting to follow similar paths to others but dismiss the pain, hardship and conflicts they endured to get there. It’s why companies build in-house creative departments without understanding the importance of objective viewpoints that lead to the work they want to replicate. It’s why people dismiss what others have done despite never having done anything of note themselves. It’s why companies talk about the importance of experience but see them as an expense. It’s why industries talk about D&I but don’t change the situations and contexts that make it an issue. It’s why companies talk about teams but have departments of exactly the same sort of people. It’s why companies become obsessed with proprietary processes even though the work and results it produces is nothing special. It’s why many consultants tell you what is wrong but never take responsibility for making it right. It’s why someone I once worked with on an airport project said – no word of a lie – “why don’t we push out the architects, because we could do a much better job”, despite the fact he wasn’t an architect and our role had little to do with it.
I could go on.
And on and on and on.
The reality is we’re all complicit in some way.
And the irony is if we learn to value what it takes to get the results we want – rather than simply focusing on the speed, power and control of ownership – then we’d all stand a much greater chance of achieving the things we want.
Or said as the wonderful Lee Hill once said to me …
Hire well.
Pay well.
Brief well.
Value well.
Trust well.
Have a good weekend.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, Attitude & Aptitude, Chaos, Comment, Consultants, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture, Design, Effectiveness, Environment, Innovation, Marketing, Perspective, Resonance
Creativity is getting a bit of a kicking these days.
Oh, people talk about it.
They wax on about how valuable it is.
But then they dictate a ‘formula’ … something they say ‘optimises’ effectiveness and efficiency … conveniently ignoring they are actually promoting the total opposite of what creativity is and how it works.
Complicity.
Somewhere along the line, we’ve decided the value of creativity is not related to output at all … just input.
Now there is truth to that, creativity definitely starts with the mind, however that never includes an endless list of superfluous and superficial mandatories followed by dictatorial demands regarding terminology, talent and ‘category codes’.
You don’t liberate the power of creativity by weighing it down with factors that – at best – can come much later in the process.
And yet it is happening more and more.
Where success is people knowing your name and your corporate colours.
It doesn’t matter if they like you or feel something about you, it’s all function attribution.
And that blows my mind because creativity is capable of incredible things.
Making people care.
Creating value and intrigue.
Driving change and differentiation.
Literally open up possibilities that make people want you rather than you having to chase them down or brainwash them into submission with millions of dollars of spend.
That all these possible outputs are being dismissed in favour of following a pre-determined process and output blows my mind.
Of course one of the big reasons for this is control.
Creativity asks people to let go of comfort zones.
Asks them to be open to new ways to solve old problems.
Demands them to trust someone who isn’t at all like them.
I get it, that’s scary and hard … and there’s definitely a lot of people and organisations who have been burnt by other people and organisations who claimed to offer ‘creativity’ but weren’t really that creative.
[Though it you’re going to value creativity by price point or complicity rather than the impact it has on your business … what do you expect?]
However while everyone has some form of creativity, there are some who know how to harness its power in ways that can change how millions think or feel or want to live.
Sure that may include your brand becoming synonymous with a colour.
Or a set of words.
But it will be more than that, because they will find a way where people value you for what you have added to their world.
Not simply functionally … but how they see and feel what’s around and possible.
And while there is always a risk it might not end up quite as successful as you hope, it is still better to end up with something that means everything to someone rather than nothing to everyone.
That said, when you see the possibilities of creativity – like this magical mural by Brazilian artist Fabio Gomes – then you may accept people who see the World differently to you can create ideas that are far bigger and more powerful than your World could ever imagine.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, Attitude & Aptitude, Authenticity, Comment, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture, Effectiveness, Fake Attitude, Management, Marketing, Marketing Fail, Michael Mann, Professionalism, Resonance, Teamwork
Teamwork.
A word used so much, by so many, to ironically control others into doing what they want them to do. It’s often got far more in common with production line subserviency than teamwork.
Then there’s the other version.
Where people spout teamwork with a big smile on their face while openly trying to fuck others over so they look better to the people who matter most. The boss, for example.
But what is even worse is when people are called out for not being a team player simply because they have a different opinion.
The great irony is they’re not doing it to be a pain or problematic or to express an ego. It’s to try and offer a viewpoint they think may help get an even better outcome so literally everyone wins.
But no.
They’re criticised, belittled, undermined and made to feel like they’re the problem.
Of course teamwork is important.
It can make a huge difference to the end result.
An exponential difference.
But to do that it’s not simply telling people to practice teamwork.
It’s about having the right people in the mix – by discipline, standards and character. It’s about ensuring everyone has clarity on what they’re all working towards beyond their individual discipline. It’s about ensuring everyone knows what is expected of them and how that works in relation to those around them. It’s about giving them the freedom to use their talent to push the standards and capabilities of what they are responsible for creating, while remaining true to the overall goal everyone is working towards achieving.
I learnt that last bit from the film director Michael Mann.
I found myself with him in a meeting so asked him how he makes films given the amount of different people and disciplines involved.
He told me he starts every project by sitting with the entire production team and explaining his vision for his movie.
The story he wants to make.
What is really important to him.
What he wants people to feel watching it.
He then added this vital element:
“I want everyone to use their talent to make this film better than I could imagine. But it’s has to be my vision of the film. Not one they think I should be making.”
I love that. I love it because his version of teamwork is encouraging everyone to play up to a standard rather than down to a tick box. Which all goes to show that real teamwork is so much more than just sticking a bunch of random people and companies in a room and expecting them to “be a team”.
But that’s what so many companies and managers do.
Either because they’re lazy or just want overall control.
Once upon a time a very good friend of mine went into his annual review.
He had done incredibly well and was hoping he would be recognised for it.
Instead he was bollocked …
Bollocked for having opinions.
Bollocked for asking questions.
Bollocked for not being a ‘team player’.
He listened patiently before replying with what is still the best fuck you, power play I’ve ever heard to that accusation.
“Oh I’m a team player …”, he said, “… I’m just the captain of the team”.
Forever proving – as the pic at the top of this post shows – that as much as people may try to tell you otherwise, there is most definitely an ‘I’ in team.
Legend.