Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Attitude & Aptitude, Authenticity, Brand, Brilliant Marketing Ideas In History, Comment, Communication Strategy, Confidence, Craft, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture, Design, Emotion, Experience, Imagination, Luxury, Marketing, Premium
So last week, the disgustingly talented Nils Leonard posted this on his instagram.
I have to say, I love it.
Sure, it’s for Mothers Day that affords more creative licence in terms of how a brand expresses themselves, but given Chanel has only celebrated elegance and perfection for years, it’s a huge leap.
Apparently it was drawn by a Chanel employees daughter on a ‘bring your kids to work’ day.
I can’t imagine how much money this saved them in terms of ad agency costs.
Though of course, this is less about being cheapskates and more the changing face of luxury.
For too long the category has been a closed shop.
It dictated terms, rejected new entrants and ruled by an iron fist.
Cold. Clinical. Aloof. Exclusive.
But the shift has been happening.
The rules of luxury are changing.
And while the establishment may look down at brands like Supreme as nothing more than expensive hype, the reality is the new generation of luxury buyers feel differently.
They don’t want to be part of the old rules, they want luxury to reflect them and how they live.
Personal. Emotional. Ridiculous and audacious. Human. Fun. A new definition of perfection.
And with brands like Mr Ji and Gucci both embracing this change and driving it … it will be interesting to see how many other luxury brands start stretching the boundaries of who they are and who they associate with moving forward.
Though I accept there’s a good chance they’ll just do what they’ve always done – especially with designers – and just try and buy the brands/people who are making waves.
Then assimilate them into their system.
Wow, look at me talking about fashion. And luxury. Who Am I?
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, Attitude & Aptitude, Comment, Confidence, Creativity, Culture, Digital, Embarrassing Moments, Emotion, Empathy, Entertainment, Immaturity, Innocence
In these days of working at home, the possibility of making a video-conference disaster are quite high.
I’ve already had some ‘incidents’ …
For example I was on a concall recently and Rosie – our cat – decided that would be the perfect moment to release the World’s biggest hairball right by the microphone of the laptop.
That went down well.
Then there was the moment Jill and Otis thought it would be fun to fire water pistols against the window I was working from. What they didn’t know was that I – you guessed it – was on a concall again.
The photo at the top of this post captures that moment.
Then there was the second ‘cat’ incident.
I was on a video conference with a client when I noticed them smiling.
“Hey Rob …”, they said, “… your cat seems to have climbed your wardrobe”.
Now given Rosie is so old she won’t even jump on my lap, I looked behind me to see what he was going on about.
“Oh,” I replied, “that’s not my cat, that’s a cuddly toy”.
The client laughed and said, “Wow, it looks very life like” to which I responded …
“I hope so, I paid a fortune to have it made to look exactly like my cat”.
He quickly changed the subject, but he had that unmistakable look in his eye … the look of, WHY HAVE I LET THIS LUNATIC WORK ON MY BRAND?
But for all those incidents, nothing – absolutely NOTHING – compares to this …
Do I feel sorry for ‘Jennifer’?
Sure. But my god, it made me laugh.
I know for a fact if I was on a zoom call and did this in front of my team, not one of them would say a word.
Not because they would be wishing they were blind, nor because they’d be vomiting on sight … but because they’d be busy instagramming the shit out of it.
And I don’t mind telling you, I’d be very proud of them for their evil genius.
Then I’d release all the bad instagram photos I’ve taken of them.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, Apple, Attitude & Aptitude, Authenticity, Brand, Business, Comment, Communication Strategy, Confidence, Creativity, Culture, Management, Marketing, Nike, Perspective, Positioning, Relevance, Resonance, Wieden+Kennedy
After my post about Nike/Jordan, here’s another.
But before we get there … I need to take you on a little story.
Years ago, Wieden Tokyo were doing some research for Tabasco Sauce.
As part of the adventure, we went to the American south and interviewed chefs from the region.
One of them told us something that had a huge impact on me.
“The more confident the chef, the more simple your dish”
I love it.
For me, it communicates everything about belief and confidence.
Saying and doing exactly what needs to be said and done and not a sentence more.
Sadly this is a lesson that seems to have been forgotten.
Nowadays, companies have endless pages of terminologies, explanations and behaviours … often to disguise the fact that they don’t really know who they are or what they are here for.
I recently met a Venture Capitalist who told me the biggest mistake companies make is not knowing what business they’re in.
They think one thing but are something else.
And by not knowing this they undermine their present and their future.
However recently I saw something that showed me a company who ‘gets it’.
A company who has always ‘got it’.
Similar to the Apple memo I wrote about recently, this is a celebration of knowing who you are.
As you will have already worked out – mainly because I said it in the first line of this post – it’s NIKE.
Look at this document from the 70’s, entitled ‘Principals’.
One page.
Clarity and direction.
Fight and function.
All you need to know about what how the company behaves, what it values and what it believes …
I love it.
I love how it is so simple yet says so much.
I love how it acknowledges what it can control and what it can’t.
I love how it conveys the attitude of the brand through the battle it is undertaking.
I love how it celebrates the ugly reality of hunger, ambition and commitment while also advocating integrity and responsibility.
But most of all, I love how it acknowledges that they’ll make money as a byproduct of what they do rather than that being the focus.
And while they don’t mention the words ‘sport’ or ‘athlete’ anywhere in this page, it’s not hard to see what they are describing are the principals of building a team.
One that has a common goal, a common fight and a common belief and reliance on each other.
All on a single page.
Which is still their single page [albeit with an updated swoosh]
Because they are confident in know who they are and what they are about.
In these days where companies churn out endless pages about who they are … endless statements about what they do … endless updates to their terminologies, platforms and positioning statements, I find it interesting the companies that attract the most loyalty from audiences and the most jealousy from corporations are the ones who have been fiercely consistent about who they are, what they believe and what they stand for.
All expressed succinctly, yet passionately.
From Apple. To Nike. To Wieden.
Because the more confident the company, the less they need to say about themselves.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Attitude & Aptitude, Brand Suicide, Business, Comment, Communication Strategy, Creativity, Culture, Marketing, Marketing Fail, Perspective, Resonance
When I was a kid, the top shelf of the newsagent was what I imagined Las Vegas was like.
Naughtiness.
Adult stuff.
Things no one should mention.
What am I talking about?
‘Men’s’ magazines.
I’m not talking Playboy … but the very English, very low-rent versions that were all – weirdly – either named after Ford cars or luxury London streets.
Fiesta.
Escort.
Mayfair.
Park Lane.
In the early days, the covers were on display for everyone to see.
EVERYONE!!!
Young boys would walk into newsagents and stare at them while trying desperately to not look like they were.
For most people, that was as close as you would get to them because buying one – or even looking through one – was out of the question.
What if someone saw you?
What if someone you knew saw you?
Of course someone must have been buying them because they were produced for decades.
I know for a fact that ‘one-eyed’ – the newsagent opposite the Nottingham main police station – was a magnet for the pervs and the teens, because it was small enough and out of the way enough to get away with it, but I always wondered how many of these would be bought at major players like WH Smiths.
Over time, the covers got covered up.
Not just to protect the innocent, but to try and stop the objectification of women.
Of course, given The Sun still had ‘page 3’ and claimed to be a ‘family newspaper’ this meant it had absolutely zero impact … and even today you can see those attitudes are still alive and well in all walks of life thanks to so many companies – including those specific to women evolve and grow – having a vested interest in making women feel, or be seen, as offering only looks to the World.
Anyway, the reason I say all this is that I recently walked into a WH Smiths to buy Otis a magazine and was pleasantly surprised – and a bit shocked – to see the top shelf was just that, a top shelf.
No doubt part of this is because porn – or erotica, or whatever title you want to give it – is so readily accessible that you don’t need ‘specialist magazines’ anymore as opposed to society having a healthier, more balanced attitude towards women [or sex] but it was weird to see nothing but genuinely ‘family friendly’ titles on there.
What was funny was one of those titles was something I was interested in buying for Jill, but the context from my past meant it was almost impossible for me to grab it.
That’s right, a ‘word puzzle’ magazine was loaded with baggage from what the top shelf once meant to me and I wonder if that is something that reflects my individual weirdness or something bigger … where being placed on the top shelf of WH Smiths may be best for visibility but worst for purchase.
And before you think I’m a total nutter, remember the brilliant – but slightly mad – Clotaire Rapaille believes your first exposure to brands and experiences frames and defines the way you look at them forever.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, America, Attitude & Aptitude, Authenticity, Brand Suicide, China, Chinese Culture, Comment, Confidence, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture, Cunning, Embarrassing Moments, Fake Attitude, Food, Marketing, Marketing Fail, Mischief, New Product Mentalness, Packaging, Standards, Viz
The fast food industry is having a hard time.
As tastes change and a more healthy lifestyle becomes more desirable, it is getting more difficult for them to operate as they once did.
While some brands are evolving their offering – like McDonald’s – others are taking a more pragmatic perspective.
The most famous, recent example is the BK Mouldy Burger which ignited all manner of debate – often with people quick to say it won’t work without anyone actually knowing what the goal of the work actually was.
Well in South Korea there’s a burger company that makes BK look positively innocent.
It’s not just how they used Supreme to inspire their logo in a way Uncle Martian would be jealous of.
Nor is it their audacious copyright infringement of famous cartoon characters to talk about themselves.
And it’s not even their proud claims of being ‘100% Beef Meat’.
No … it’s none of those, it’s their utter confidence of their product over their competitors.
Take a look …
Amazing eh?
Not just the aggressiveness … but the choice of words.
Linking the words ‘burgers’ and ‘shit’ makes a mouldy burger look positively appetising.
Then there’s the fact it’s in English.
When I lived in China, there were a bunch of stores that used English in their copy.
Sometimes it was for the audience it was targeting.
Sometimes it was because they thought it made them look ‘sophisticated’.
But a lot of the time – as I think is the case here – they did it because it enhanced their ‘authenticity’.
Given burgers are very American, I feel their idea was that by using English and being aggressive in their tone, they encapsulated the American spirit and as such, could say their burgers were authentic.
Of course, given Burger King and McDonald’s are also American slightly undermines that idea, but hey – it doesn’t seem they really put too much thought into how they came across.
I must admit, when I saw it, I couldn’t help feel it was like a Viz fake-ad from the 80’s.
Viz – for those who don’t know – was/is an English ‘adult-humour’ comic.
Years ago, I approached them about starting an ad agency.
They said no, which still disappoints me as not only were their spoof ads brilliant, but based on both Billionbox and BK’s recent work … there’s more and more brands seemingly trying to copy their style but without the brilliance, clarity, humour or memorability as them.