I don’t recall ever being jarred by an Apple headline, but there you have it. When things like this occur, it beings to feel as though something is amiss. Get well, Steve.
Although it’s a bit much, it certainly shows someone’s thinking differently about product placement and shelf presence. Unfortunately, it’s just like a promoted tweet — all flash (quite literally) and hoping for relevance. Once all the big brands adopt the technique, we’ll spend all our time in the cereal aisle experiencing delicious, fruity seizures.
After seeing a dumb Alka-Seltzer spot this evening, wherein the revived tablet-wearing icon, “Speedy,” fist-bumps some office chick with a cold, I jumped online to find the aberration and give it a piece of my mind.
What I discovered was the spot below. Brilliantly animated, written, scored, and voiced — by none other than Gene Wilder.
Let Speedy drown in his own fizzy goodness. Bring back the blahs.
Endearing homeless man finds super stardom in a week’s time. Who couldn’t love the story? It’s a testament to everything that’s possible on the internet.
But when I watched the Kraft commercial, all I saw was the story that wasn’t being told on the screen.
As the actors delivered their lines, the commercial seemed more fake than any other commercial in recent memory. It felt like it was written for Ted to read on. It felt like Ted was standing right outside their door. I was thinking, God, I hope they don’t make him pop in to deliver whatever lines they gave him. Would Oprah swoop in to re-save the saved? (Well, apparently, that offer’s already been made.) So what’s in store for Ted tomorrow? The next day? Who’s going to call? And speaking of which, if he had the choice, would he choose an AT&T or a Verizon iPhone?
For the entire thirty seconds, I wasn’t thinking about mac and cheese. I can hardly remember a product shot or the story line. I was thinking about Ted, waiting for his voice. And when it came on, all I could see and hear was the beautiful story of a regular guy and his honey-coated voice, and the extreme generosity and endless opportunities of the world and time we live in.
Not such a bad thing to align yourself with.
Seriously, what’s all the hoopla about Old Spice responding to your tweets via YouTube videos?
Groundbreaking? Really? Haven’t you done that?
Oh come now. You’ve probably even responded to people via video and yet you sit here giving Old Spice all the credit. This isn’t brilliance, this is what we’ve come to expect from global brands. This is the monster every early adopter of social media created. This is what we — ahem, you — asked for. We need to get used to it.
What’s the difference? Timing and scale (aka budget).
If Old Spice hadn’t done it, some other company would have done it a month from now. The simple fact is, you didn’t do it first, and I didn’t do it first; and even if you or I had the idea to do it first, neither of us could have pulled it off and grabbed as much media attention because Barney’s Plumbing Service wouldn’t have had the resources or the volume to do so.
The original positioning, strategy, and commercial were much smarter than the fact that they responded to your tweets via video. Actually, I’d go as far as to label the strategy, positioning, and original commercial brilliant.
But why are you making such a big deal about it?
Because Old Spice responded to you. Personally. Individually. And with a wonderful sense of humor that only gobs of money can buy — which, case in point, is a good reminder that social media that goes huge in a short amount of time is far from free, far from cheap.
That Old Spice guy had millions invested in him before he reached your laptop, desktop, or mobile device.
Think about the commercial that created the Old Spice guy — the commercial that actually made him a likable character we wanted to watch again and again (yes, I love that guy, and I want to smell like that guy). Above all, let’s not forget the account planning department that worked on the the positioning that was handed off to a flock of creative folk chomping at the bit to be the ones who created the next Old Spice campaign.
Killer creative? Hell yeah.
Brilliant social media? Nope — smart and first would be more accurate.
What do you think? And while you’re at it, what do you smell like?
I’m on a horse.
After reading In today’s Advertising Age post, Why Metrics Are Killing Creativity in Advertising, Patrick Sarkissian’s subhead reads: “When marketing decisions are based on numbers, we lose the desire to be creative.”
Damn that’s bleak. And I certainly don’t see it that way.
What clients are asking for is accountability. They want results for their investment in our big freaking brains. And we have to deliver. Why? Because there is no going back to hoping something works, especially when the price tag for such work is six and seven figures deep. In the article, Patrick Sarkissian explains:
Recently, I had a wicked battle with a client determined to let the numbers fully dictate a new creative strategy.
Thing is, you cannot truly quantify creativity. And in ever-increasing fashion, our clients’ (and our own) rote dependence on the dusty world of metrics is exactly why creativity is going to hell.
Here’s the thing: when you leave it to marketers to explain their business and numbers to you, you’re done.
Think about sitting in a board meeting with them. Shadow them for a week and see what pressures they face. Make them go over the metrics before you sit down and develop a strategy. Once you see their business through their eyes, you’ll probably get a deeper understanding of why your pretty comps spray mounted on black foam core don’t mean a fucking thing to them.
It’s up to agencies and creatives to take the lead and explain to marketers how the world has changed and how bigger ideas — and yes, more creative ones that tug at the emotions or take a sledgehammer to the funny bone — are their best chance to emerge victorious in the constant fight for attention.
I think clients and marketers want to trust us again. They want to be able to have a partner they can look to and solve the problems they face. But if we just stand around bitching about metrics and accountability, that day will never come.
If you’ve lost your desire to be creative in the face of metrics, please feel free to refer those clients to me. I’d be more happy to find freedom within the numbers.
Thanks in advance.
So. What do you do when you launch a facebook page featuring a new product people hate? If you’re Honda, and your product is the CrossTour set to release this fall, you put a copywriter and a lawyer together in a freshly-disinfected room, turn on the fluorescent lighting, set the thermostat to about 64º, and get to work.
1. Set up a “Message to Fans” tab; after all, who wants to speak directly to anyone responsible for the very thing being berated?
2. No matter how strong the urge, do not respond directly to anyone.
3. Post a commercial that doesn’t even show the car, thereby fueling fans’ opinions.
4. Make visitors become fans to access “exclusive content.”
5. Explain the removal of comments with something warm and fuzzy like, “We removed comments that were posted contrary to American Honda’s consumer-generated media policy for associates.”
I could go on, but you get the point. Although a lot of bad has been said about the Honda CrossTour (and its social media efforts), it’s apparent Honda didn’t do enough social media homework to soften the blows they never saw coming. Personally, I don’t think the car looks all that bad — certainly the social media effort was designed much more haphazardly. I’d say it was as well thought out as the Pontiac Aztek (now THAT is one ugly vehicle).
Happy Sunday.
Posted via email from michaelcalienes’s posterous
So your full page print ad is running this morning’s USA Today. You spent $189,400 for the privilege — hoping people will care. We don’t. We’re too busy not caring.
We’re making coffee. Checking email. Writing a blog post. Avoiding the swine flu.
Reaching consumers is no longer a matter of reach and frequency and CPM. Frankly, it’s not even a matter of reaching them, it’s about pulling them in — by creating smart, unique content that points them to their own little peephole. If you’ve done it right, they’ll look inside and open the door. Whenever they’re good and ready.
The cost to you? Strategy, passion, and effort.
Thoughts? Opinions? Love to hear ‘em.
From time to time, I’ve placed ads in the Miami Herald newspaper for clients. To them, transplant (my company) is an advertising agency, so you can understand why I’m more than a little annoyed to have received the email below yesterday afternoon. In it, the Miami Herald openly offers businesses the very same guidance my company offers, placing them in direct competition with local and regional agencies like mine.
Aside from the body of the message, the email also included an article titled “PR Outranks Advertising in Improving Consumer Confidence in Banks” (both are shown below this post).
Problems:
Below is the email message followed by the article. Love to hear your comments. Love to hear the Miami Herald’s too.
Hope you’re well.
———-
Let me know how we at The Miami Herald Media Company can partner with you to bring confidence to the local community by getting your message out with an intelligent marketing campaign utilizing a combination of print , Direct Marketing (email blast & direct mail) and our interactive network to include Yahoo! The Miami Herald Interactive Network partnership with Yahoo! provides choices to promote your brand in the Miami-Ft Lauderdale area through banner sponsorships and Behavioral Targeting in Yahoo!
How best to use us:
When asked about their banks, insurance companies and investment firms, the study found that 55% of consumers who say they had seen more advertising for their financial institution reported having “complete confidence” in the financial health and soundness of their financial company. Among those who said they had seen less advertising, only 18% had “complete confidence” in their financial company and a significant 45% said they had “little or no confidence” in their company.
The report concludes that this supports the theory that companies that do not advertise are risking widespread public perception that they have failed or are on their way out, at a time when many financial companies are pulling back on their advertising and marketing efforts to cut costs and avoid the appearance of wasteful spending.
Nielsen also found that confidence was linked to age and affluence, as well as the amount of risk associated with the financial institution. Older adults ages 55+ and those with assets of more than $100K were more confident than the average. Overall, a minority of respondents said they had “complete confidence” in their financial institutions:
In response to what factors would increase confidence in the safety and soundness of their financial institution, respondents cited:
END
How are you doing these days? Hopefully well, but likely not. I don’t have to tell you what’s happening out there. You know the dirty details. You’re surrounded by them.
As the bad news begins to rise a little higher than you’re used to, think about this: leaving the agency setting and moving in-house.
(Wait wait! Before you click off. Hear me out. I’ll be brief, because I understand your attention span, like mine, is in a state of perpetual truncation.)
1. Why work with some clients you like and some you don’t? Why not work at one company you love?
2. Creativity can happen in so many places these days, with so many intricacies and layers, your options are limited only by your creativity.
3. To think that one copywriter and one art director can successfully handle more than one client’s branding needs throughout a myriad channels is simply foolish.
4. To think that one copywriter and one art director can successfully explore the myriad tools available to reach multiple audiences is, again, foolish.
5. (See reason #1) Why work with some clients you like and some you don’t? Why not work at one company you love?
Sure, a lot of the companies we creative people would deem “worthy of working at (or for)” don’t have an in-house creative department. So what? Build it yourself. You’ve spent your career selling smart campaigns to some of the biggest and baddest companies in the world. Selling a mid-size company with a portfolio full of promise on a way to save money and create better more insightful work should be a no-brainer for you.
So, should you take on the assignment, here’s a rough strategy statement:
Convince any one company I truly love and believe in that I can create more effective and insightful work than their advertising agency of record because I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and gosh darnit, who’s got the money to keep paying for a big damn agency these days?
Thoughts? Ideas? I know you have ‘em. Leave ‘em here.
Have a good one.
Photo Credit Jim Frazier
