With the brief that is.
It hit home again today as I got handed yet another brief that numerous accountniks and one other creative director had allegedly looked over and approved. It was a fine document, with good insights into consumer behavior and all, but it lacked the one critical ingredient of a good brief: a hook.
Like so many awful briefs, it basically summed up all this fine research with the line : Buy Spacely sprockets because they're good sprockets.
Not something you can disagree with, right? Sounds reasonable. I mean they're good sprockets, Why wouldn't you buy them?
Well, that's where we actually get to make a difference. We take the facts and turn them into an image. I'm not going to spew out all the bullshit "LoveBites" crap, but a brand that stands for something, be it innovation, hipness, fairness, fun, simplicity, or class, is a step ahead of a brand that has no image whatsoever. Which is, if you think of it, the case with 99% of the brands out there.
Take Pepsi, for instance. I mean Pepsi tastes good. It tastes better than Coke to most people because it's a bit sweeter. But when they took the campaign to the next level, when they said "hey, the target thinks that Coke is for old people" and made Pepsi "the choice of a new generation" (I'm screwing up the tag line, I know, but it's late and I don't feel like Googling it) then BBDO made Pepsi into something bigger. They gave it a brand image. (Fully aware that I'm using past tense in that paragraph.)
Now there's clearly not a straight line from a good insight to a brand image to the One Show book, but even badly executed ads off of good insights rise to a level somewhat higher than that of well-executed ads off of insipid insights.
That's the real danger of the current craze for "accountable" advertising, e.g. DM and Web work. Those ads are selling a specific product and they want you to buy (or click) on it immediately. Branding be damned. So that at the end of the day all you're left with is "Buy Spacely sprockets because they're good sprockets. Act now and save 10%."
Not real compelling. And easily beaten by the guy who saves you 11%.
Feb 12, 2007
Feb 11, 2007
Enough Already
Dear Loud-Mouthed Liberals:
Please. We all know that George Bush is an idiot. That his administration is a failure. That his advisers are knuckleheads. That there were no WMDs.
And yet, you feel compelled to remind each and every one of us of these facts. On a daily basis if not more frequently. We see your t-shirts "He's Not My President." "Impeach Bush" and other not-even-vaguely clever sayings that we suspect you wear in the hopes of attracting fellow travelers who might want to sleep with you.
You know, I didn't vote for him either. Never particularly liked him. Was always astounded that this third-generation poster boy for the New England WASPocracy was able to pass himself off as a dumb Bubba. But like the cold weather we've been having these past few weeks, I regard his incompetency as something we have to live through. Not something I need to discuss or be reminded of hourly. I mean it's not like he's gotten more incompetent. Or that Cheney's turned into an even bigger liar. Or that the Neo-Cons are suddenly dancing around singing "Tricked you! Tricked you!" on the White House steps.
So stop already. Find something else to focus on. Stop assuming everyone around you shares your political beliefs. Hard as it is to believe, they may not. (Oh, the "Intolerance of the Truly, Truly Tolerant"). It's never okay to discuss politics and religion with relative strangers or with people you work with. And if your parents had raised you correctly, you'd know that.
There are many, many, many objectionable people in the world who've become successful. Though, granted, few to the level of GW Bush. Still, once we've identified them and agreed on their status, there's not much we can do about it. Repeating the same observations ad nauseum, with no fresh insights is just boring (I'm talking to you, Frank Rich)
So get over it. Please.
Please. We all know that George Bush is an idiot. That his administration is a failure. That his advisers are knuckleheads. That there were no WMDs.
And yet, you feel compelled to remind each and every one of us of these facts. On a daily basis if not more frequently. We see your t-shirts "He's Not My President." "Impeach Bush" and other not-even-vaguely clever sayings that we suspect you wear in the hopes of attracting fellow travelers who might want to sleep with you.
You know, I didn't vote for him either. Never particularly liked him. Was always astounded that this third-generation poster boy for the New England WASPocracy was able to pass himself off as a dumb Bubba. But like the cold weather we've been having these past few weeks, I regard his incompetency as something we have to live through. Not something I need to discuss or be reminded of hourly. I mean it's not like he's gotten more incompetent. Or that Cheney's turned into an even bigger liar. Or that the Neo-Cons are suddenly dancing around singing "Tricked you! Tricked you!" on the White House steps.
So stop already. Find something else to focus on. Stop assuming everyone around you shares your political beliefs. Hard as it is to believe, they may not. (Oh, the "Intolerance of the Truly, Truly Tolerant"). It's never okay to discuss politics and religion with relative strangers or with people you work with. And if your parents had raised you correctly, you'd know that.
There are many, many, many objectionable people in the world who've become successful. Though, granted, few to the level of GW Bush. Still, once we've identified them and agreed on their status, there's not much we can do about it. Repeating the same observations ad nauseum, with no fresh insights is just boring (I'm talking to you, Frank Rich)
So get over it. Please.
Feb 9, 2007
Harbinger of Things To Come?
Article today in the frustratingly unlinkable-because-it's-a-pay-site Wall Street Journal about how online agencies are starting to do offline work.
Big Rollers Agency-dot-com in particular. Seems they've done the online for Ikea in the UK and are now being asked to do print, outdoor and possibly TV.
Not that much of a stretch to see this trend continuing-- clients often give print work to design shops and if agency.com is smart they'll hire at least one or two freelancers who've done TV before to work on it.
Truth is interactive shops can do print every bit as badly as BDAs can, so why not keep it all in one place? And maybe, just maybe, one of those shops will be the one to realize that the big idea can be something online. Not a $1.5 million TV spot. (I know, I know, Crispin already gets that, but they're kind of the only ones...)
Big Rollers Agency-dot-com in particular. Seems they've done the online for Ikea in the UK and are now being asked to do print, outdoor and possibly TV.
Not that much of a stretch to see this trend continuing-- clients often give print work to design shops and if agency.com is smart they'll hire at least one or two freelancers who've done TV before to work on it.
Truth is interactive shops can do print every bit as badly as BDAs can, so why not keep it all in one place? And maybe, just maybe, one of those shops will be the one to realize that the big idea can be something online. Not a $1.5 million TV spot. (I know, I know, Crispin already gets that, but they're kind of the only ones...)
Toad's Friday Faves #3
The male Tadpoles and their friends have been having a world of fun with the new Nike basketball site. The Mash-Up feature, in particular, which lets you take one of about 75 different clips from the :60 spot and 3 variations of the music and click-n-drag them together to make your own commercial which you can then post on the site. And watch over and over again.
Well done, fun and easy to use and definitely helps to promote the brand and the tie-in to basketball. Lots of them posted to YouTube already, so clearly the kids who did them are proud of them. Is this "consumer generated content"? I don't think so. What about you?
Have fun.
Pardon Us For A Moment of Silence
Ian Richardson, the man who uttered the famous line "Pardon me, would you have any Grey Poupon?" died today at age 72.
Another commercial that's embedded itself on the national psyche. No matter how many "brand extensions" Grey Poupon rolls out.
Another commercial that's embedded itself on the national psyche. No matter how many "brand extensions" Grey Poupon rolls out.
Feb 7, 2007
We've Got Fans
Stumbled upon a blog called AdJab in a link from Joe Jaffe's always-opinionated, often-interesting, frequently incorrect, TV-Is-Dead blog JaffeJuice.
And it (AdJab) appears to be people from outside the industry offering commentary on ads theye love. I mean check out this luv-fest for those clenched-sphincter inducing "Tony Sinclair" spots that Grey does for Tanqueray. 22 comments on it, no less.
It's an ego boost for those of us in the business, the fact that we have, well, fans. And the internet gives them a place to show their love and discuss commercials above and beyond the water cooler. I mean AdCritic.com, if you remember, was started by some non-industry guy who just loved commercials.
(This post reminds me of one of my favorite ad columns, written years ago by (I think) Doug DeGrood, who at the time was at Fallon. He said that when people on airplanes find out he's in advertising and ask him what campaigns he worked on, rather than tell them that he just did a mailer for the local ad club that won a Gold Pencil and got into D&AD, he just takes credit for the most recent Pepsi or Nike spot, figuring the odds are pretty good that they won't know the actual copywriter. Always sounded like a good theory on this end.)
And it (AdJab) appears to be people from outside the industry offering commentary on ads theye love. I mean check out this luv-fest for those clenched-sphincter inducing "Tony Sinclair" spots that Grey does for Tanqueray. 22 comments on it, no less.
It's an ego boost for those of us in the business, the fact that we have, well, fans. And the internet gives them a place to show their love and discuss commercials above and beyond the water cooler. I mean AdCritic.com, if you remember, was started by some non-industry guy who just loved commercials.
(This post reminds me of one of my favorite ad columns, written years ago by (I think) Doug DeGrood, who at the time was at Fallon. He said that when people on airplanes find out he's in advertising and ask him what campaigns he worked on, rather than tell them that he just did a mailer for the local ad club that won a Gold Pencil and got into D&AD, he just takes credit for the most recent Pepsi or Nike spot, figuring the odds are pretty good that they won't know the actual copywriter. Always sounded like a good theory on this end.)
New Look
So to prove what hip and web-savvy amphibians we are, we're installed some new technology from snap.com that lets you mouse over any link and get a pop-up preview of the website it refers to. Along with the ability to click on said preview and open it as a new page.
Like it? Dislike it? I'm kind of torn- on the one hand, it's pretty cool and I don't have many links on here- just me bloviating. On the other, it could get pretty annoying.
Thoughts?
Like it? Dislike it? I'm kind of torn- on the one hand, it's pretty cool and I don't have many links on here- just me bloviating. On the other, it could get pretty annoying.
Thoughts?
Feb 6, 2007
And Sometimes Going Online Is The Worst Thing You Can Do
Especially if you're Snickers and you're letting NFL players make your Super Bowl spot into a homophobic horror show. After complaints from gay-rights groups and an outpouring of outrage on left-leaning political blogs, the spot was pulled and the web site removed.
No PC, bleeding-heart liberals here, but as soon as we saw the online video of various Colts and Bears grossing out over the male-to-male "kiss" we cringed and knew there'd be trouble. Because not only were comments in the videos-- which were meant to allow you to see which of the 4 possible endings to the spot the NFL players preferred-- incredibly mean and homophobic, the construction was also pretty darn racist: 3 clearly-not-too-bright Black players focusing on how disgusted they were with the very idea of two men kissing while Rex Grossman, the (white) Bears QB, practically offers a business school analysis of the marketing strategy behind the campaign.
Now what's ironic is that the spot itself wasn't particularly offensive- you can argue that the humor stems from the ridiculousness of the two main characters homophobic reaction. But the website unfortunately took it into a whole other category and that's where Snickers got into trouble and why they were forced to pull the spot.
So much for the oft-repeated notion that "nobody really cares what's on the web. You can do whatever you want on there."
Ooops.
UPDATE: thursday 02.08.07
HighJive alerted me to the "Player Reaction" videos on YouTube, where they are causing a maelstrom of a debate about homophobia.
No PC, bleeding-heart liberals here, but as soon as we saw the online video of various Colts and Bears grossing out over the male-to-male "kiss" we cringed and knew there'd be trouble. Because not only were comments in the videos-- which were meant to allow you to see which of the 4 possible endings to the spot the NFL players preferred-- incredibly mean and homophobic, the construction was also pretty darn racist: 3 clearly-not-too-bright Black players focusing on how disgusted they were with the very idea of two men kissing while Rex Grossman, the (white) Bears QB, practically offers a business school analysis of the marketing strategy behind the campaign.
Now what's ironic is that the spot itself wasn't particularly offensive- you can argue that the humor stems from the ridiculousness of the two main characters homophobic reaction. But the website unfortunately took it into a whole other category and that's where Snickers got into trouble and why they were forced to pull the spot.
So much for the oft-repeated notion that "nobody really cares what's on the web. You can do whatever you want on there."
Ooops.
UPDATE: thursday 02.08.07
HighJive alerted me to the "Player Reaction" videos on YouTube, where they are causing a maelstrom of a debate about homophobia.
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