Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Attitude & Aptitude, Awards, Communication Strategy, Creativity, Culture, Effectiveness, Marketing, Marketing Fail, New Zealand
Free newspapers.
Yes, they’re free.
Yes, they’re made of paper.
But news?
Most of the time I take them from the letterbox straight to the bin. And then I saw this …
A local, free newspaper that called itself ‘a rag’.
And do you know what I did?
I went and got it and then read it cover to cover.
15 years ago I talked about ‘unplanning’ … which is basically, the power of truth.
[Though in 2006, I also wrote a post about the commercial value of a single banana at Starbucks, so maybe the idea of ‘product loneliness’ had something to do with me picking up a copy of the paper. And you thought my posts were bad now, hahahahaha]
It was my reaction to an industry drowning under the weight of it’s own bullshit terms, techniques and approaches. Well you know what, it’s got worse.
So while calling a local newspaper a ‘rag’ is hardly a strategy … it makes more sense than so many of the strategy submissions I judged around the World over the last few years.
Oh my god the claims.
An item of food that reignited a culture.
A sales promotion that brought families together.
An alcohol company that inspires artistic diversity.
No … those examples are not a joke, they were real submissions … so with that in mind, a local, free newspaper that made a bloke pick up a copy, read it cover-to-cover then blog about it because they labelled themselves ‘a rag’, should be considered a Grand Prix winner.
Or in submission speak:
How a small plucky local, free newspaper become the most influential entertainment channel for international tourists.
Transformation. Disruption. Purpose. Blah, blah, fucking blah.
OK, I think I need to go and have a lie down … and lucky for you, it is going to last 4 days as I’m off to Melbourne so there’s no post till Wednesday.
You’re welcome.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Attitude & Aptitude, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture, Distinction, Emotion, Empathy, Imagination, Insight, Marketing, Planning, Wieden+Kennedy
A long time ago, I met a prospective client who absolutely loved Wieden.
They were besotted with them.
I was at W+K at the time and asked them what it was that they liked about us – expecting them to talk about NIKE or some other global work.
Instead they said this:
“Any agency that can make me care about a brand of milk is genius”.
The ad they were talking about was this:
Now while that was nice to hear, there were 2 things that led to them that point of view.
1. They worked in a different market and category to milk, so the fact they saw this, reinforced the stretch of great creativity.
2. They looked for the brand of milk in their local supermarket … which reflected the stickability of great creativity.
Of course, what they were really saying was the secret to great creativity … and that is it changes how you look at the world.
I say this because I recently saw a great example of it.
It may not have the charm of If Cats Had Thumbs.
And it certainly doesn’t have the budget.
But it’s up there with making you stop, think and reassess.
Isn’t that great?
A simple statement that has changed what I think of door handles and the importance of door handles.
Or said another way, it’s made me care – possibly for the first time in my life – about something I use every day of my life, without fail.
When you consider the ad is simply a photo of a bloody door handle, you not only realise how brilliant the idea of equating it to a ‘good’ handshake is, you realise how shit so much advertising must be when they’ve got tens of millions to spend and they still can’t make something you remember.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Attitude & Aptitude, Creativity, Culture, New Zealand
I recently had to go to a DIY centre.
On a Sunday.
For anyone who knows me, this is literally my idea of hell.
Fortunately I asked Jill to go inside instead of me to avoid having to kill myself.
I know that sounds like a shitty thing to do, but she LOVES DIY – and is amazing at it – so it was really a gift.
Anyway …
While I was waiting in the carpark, I saw their sign. This was it …
I don’t know about you. but when I looked at it, I didn’t notice the 15% off price guarantee, I noticed they had designed it to look like it had been done by hand.
Oh I get it, DIY store = DIY sign.
But …
Apart from this falling into the ‘cheeky Chappy’ tone that Uncommon destroyed with their [still] best work for B&Q, I can’t help thinking that if anywhere should have perfect signage and store interiors, it’s a DIY retailer.
Sure, there’s something ‘human’ about the imperfection of creation, but faking it doesn’t make me connect to the brand more, it makes me look at them and wonder what the fuck they were thinking.
Yes, it’s a minute thing.
Yes, Mitre 10 are pretty good.
But – as I am seeing a lot in NZ right now – this obsession with reinforcing stereotypes isn’t actually removing barriers for people to feel they can step in and step up with the ambitions or aspirations they have for their life … it’s keeping them, and treating them, like nothing ever changes.
NZ is an amazing place and has so many things the rest of the world could/should learn from … and we genuinely are grateful for the wonderful opportunity the people here have given us to live here – but for a nation that needs ambition and entrepreneurship to maintain a positive future, it’s amazing how little of that spirit is championed or celebrated by society, government and brands.
And while many will claim it’s because of the humble spirit of this great nation, it’s probably – and terrifyingly – because of this.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, Attitude & Aptitude, Authenticity, Brilliant Marketing Ideas In History, Chaos, Creativity, Culture, Emotion, Innovation, Marketing, Music
There’s a brilliant documentary on the band The KLF.
For those who don’t know who they are/were, they’re a band formed in the late 80’s who wrote some of the early 90’s biggest selling singles.
Except, if truth be told, The KLF were more artists than musicians.
I don’t mean that in terms of them having many different business interests …I mean it in terms of them expressing their creativity in ever-more dramatic, provocative and intriguing ways.
From burning a million pounds to sampling without permission to firing a machine gun full of blanks at an audience live on television to delisting every song they ever made … and a whole lot in-between.
It’s a truly fascinating documentary, where you realise that everything they did – while not planned – was definitely deliberate.
But there’s one quote about them that stood out for me.
Not just because it captured who they were, but because it revealed what is missing for me in so much of the work the industry is producing.
I love that.
I love it so much.
But sadly, many in my discipline of strategy – and all the self-proclaimed marketing gurus – have killed that in the quest to flatter their own ego.
And it gets worse.
No, I’m not talking about the clients who value function, logic and attribution over shaping or changing cultures opinion, attitudes and feelings – though I could definitely talk about that – but the agency creative departments filled with people who want to make ads rather than use creativity to push boundaries.
The KLF may have been seen by the industry as anarchists … but for a band who had a few – albeit massive – hits in the 90’s, their work still is remembered, stands up to scrutiny and can be directly associated with cultural change which is more than pretty much anything our industry, or most industries for that matter, produces these days.
Of course, given the untold billions brands spend to have culture know them, value them and want them … this is pretty ironic.
Oh I get these brands still make a ton of money.
More than even The KLF could burn.
But this isn’t about distribution, habit or media spent, but influence, change and ambition.
This doesn’t mean the talent isn’t there to make something like this happen.
It is.
But it means nothing if the role it’s used for is to give clients what they want rather than what culture can never forget.
Filed under: Advertising, Agency Culture, Attitude & Aptitude, Authenticity, Brand, Brand Suicide, Business, Cannes, Communication Strategy, Confidence, Consultants, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture, Design, Distinction, Effectiveness, Insight, Management, Marketing, Marketing Fail, Only In Adland, Presenting, Social Divide, Status | Tags: t
One of the things I’ve found fascinating over the past few years is watching consultancies AND platforms mock the value of advertising and then increasingly try and enter that space.
And while you could argue it’s because they saw an opportunity to do it ‘properly’, the way they have embraced it – and executed it – has shown they seem to want to be more like the beast they wanted to slay than the beast they are.
What do I mean?
Go to Cannes and the whole place has been taken over by corporations.
All the best locations, beaches, hotels are the domain of tech, consultancies and platforms.
Now you could say that’s because they’re the ones with all the money – and that’s true – but what is amusing is WHAT they do.
Because rather than reflect ‘a better way to do what those ad agencies used to do’ … they seem to be doing the same thing ad agencies used to do.
Parties.
Give-aways.
Celebrity talks.
Expensive dinners.
In fact the only thing that is different is how desperately bad their attempts to show ‘they’re creativity’ actually are.
Nothing brought this home more than a poster I recently saw promoting an advertising festival.
An advertising festival representing the ‘modern’ world of the industry.
This was it …
What. The. Hell?
Seriously … what is it?
I’m not just talking about the design and colour palette that could make a 1987 acid house party feel embarrassed … I’m talking about all of it.
The email automation masterclass.
The ‘scale your YouTube’ talk.
The $15 million ad storytelling formula class.
And let’s not forget the ‘thumb-stopping’ direct response scripts.
Look, I get small business may get something out of some of this.
And I appreciate there are many elements to run a successful business.
But this all comes across as used car salesman shit.
Worse, used car salesman shit where their office is a portacabin on a muddy industrial estate in Slough.
In all seriousness, what I find astounding is this must be what the people behind this conference must think is creativity. And don’t get me started on what it says about the people presenting there.
I include Scott Galloway who said ‘brands are dead’ and then not only invests in elevating his own brand, but starts selling courses on how to approach better brand strategy.
[For the record, I respect Scott Galloway hugely but when he said that – like when Mark Ritson said his advertising course was a ‘mini MBA’, when it is nothing at all like a MBA – I couldn’t help but feel their focus was becoming more about building their own cult than building better marketers. In fact, given their approaches have now been so optimised, systemised and codified … you could argue it’s actually undermining brand building because everyone is following the same approach and the result is passive corporate conformity. But I digress …]
I guess what I’m saying is that for all the smarts of modern marketing, the people behind this conference – and potentially the people at it – are revealing they know jack-shit about creativity or culture.
And you know what? That would be fine if they didn’t pretend they otherwise.
But for all their big Cannes events … agency buy-outs … and talk about advertising, the reality is they view creativity as a ‘wrapper’ for their engineering type processes.
A belief there is a singular approach to engage and grow – regardless of audience or category. That the features around a brand are more important than the brand. Or as I told WARC, that the condiments are more valuable than the steak.
Do not get me wrong, advertising has a lot of problems.
It’s got a lot it can learn from platforms and consultancies.
But at our best, we know how to use the power of creativity and culture in ways so many of thehaven’t got a clue about.
Now some may say that statement shows how out of date I am.
How contemporary business doesn’t care about all that.
And maybe that’s right … but while I could point out the vast majority of brands who are infectious to culture were not born anywhere near a ‘consultants proprietary marketing playbook’ … all I have to do is point at the AdWorld poster and say, “Look at that shit”.
Don’t get me wrong, I know there will be a bunch of valuable stuff at the conference.
I am sure it will attract tens of thousands of people.
It may make the organisers a shit-ton of cash.
But for all the smarts appearing at Adworld, they sure as shit don’t have any appreciation of style. And I would like to point out that I say this as someone who was wearing an ironic Celine Dion T-shirt when I typed this.
And with that, I wish you a good weekend … which only gets better for you when I let you know there is a national holiday here on Monday so there will be no post till Tuesday [I know, I just had 2 days off for national holiday – deal with it] … so with that, I leave you with a sneak-peak of the Adworld virtual after party dance floor.