Making a dollar out of 15 "sense"

Before you read this, watch the clip. . . OK...Huh? This commercial for Cadbury Chocolates by Fallon London won the Grand Prix for Film at Cannes this year. Well, technically it shared the honors with the Halo 3 Believe spot (the first time in Cannes history that there has ever been a tie). The point is that I don't get the point and I feel as if this is one of those things that is supposed to be brilliant because you don't understand it. It's awesome because it's so far out that it could be connected to the product in any abstract way. Who am I to question the judges at Cannes? If there is one thing that working at Zubi has taught me is that I should question everything (or PUSH as they would say). I don't think I'm out of line for questioning the strategy behind this.

Keith Reinhard was recently inducted into the advertising hall of fame for his amazing contribution to the ad world (including coming up with the taglines "like a good neighbor, State Farm is there" and "You deserve a break today" for McDonalds). He said that he believed ROI, Return on Investment, to be an acronym for something else. He said ROI meant Relevant, Original and Intelligent. He believes that if an ad campaign accomplishes all three then it will achieve success. There are a lot of ideas that sound terrific but if they are not relevant to the strategy in the brief then the idea is useless for the client. At the end of the day we must sell a product.

My problem with the Cadbury ad is that it does not prove to be relevant for me. It is original without a doubt and the intelligence behind it is subjective as to whether you think it is or is not relevant to the strategy. It seems to me like the brief must have said that the single most persuasive idea for increasing trial of Cadbury chocolates is to have shock value. The commercial is very shocking and entertaining. The fact that so many people are arguing about the commercial's meaning has naturally raised awareness of Cadbury as a brand. Even then, I don't know how many people actually say "Hey have you seen the latest Cadbury commercial?" as opposed to "Have you seen the commercial with the drumming gorilla?" Let's be serious. What does a drumming gorilla have to do with a chocolate bar?

I can make the case that drumming gives this gorilla pleasure and that Cadbury chocolate will give me pleasure. I can make this simple connection and the message would be simple but the interpretation is so difficult. Maybe it won the Grand Prix because it is so impossible to forget. The visual of the commercial has penetrated my mind. I probably can't hear Phil Collins' 'In the Air Tonight' without thinking of this commercial and then thinking of Cadbury. The truth is that watching this commercial makes me want to go get a drum set not buy a chocolate, and in that lies the problem.

I'm a fan of leaving things open for interpretation. I like analyzing the concepts behind music and film but as advertisers I think the message must be clear. This commercial is very vague. It could mean whatever you want it to mean and I think people are making it seem better than it is because of its ambiguity. Don't get me wrong, I like the commercial. It makes me laugh and usually puts me in a good mood, but I don't see the link and I personally feel the link is important.

Random Acts of Social Responsibility

Bob Garfield had an interesting blog about how disgusted he was with the new Cheetos campaign, RAoC (Random Acts of Cheetos). As you can see from the video, Cheetos is promoting the use of Cheetos as a medium for getting revenge on authoritative figures such as bosses, teachers and so on. The campaign encourages viewers to visit www.orangeunderground.com and post their videos of vandalism (because that's what it is). I have to agree with Bob and say that as marketers we have a responsibility upon society to not be the catalysts of questionable behavior.

So maybe there is an extremist viewpoint I'm harboring because the truth is that most people will probably not spend $500 in Cheetos to get back at someone, but even if the spots were not encouraging user-created content, the spots in and of themselves are not funny. They have destroyed the Cheetos' mascot's image from being the "cool guy" to the evil guy on your left shoulder inciting you to make the wrong decisions. It's meaningless and obnoxious campaigns like this that make consumers resistant to advertising.

I've repeatedly asked myself whether I'm alright with making a living by selling people things they don't need. People hate advertising and then subsequently they'll hate me just as much as they hate lawyers and other professions with negative connotations. I bumped into an article (also on Adage.com) that resonated my sentiments exactly.

"Self-loathing has become all too commonplace in marketing and not entirely without reason.Young marketers or agency executives don't take long to learn they've dedicated their lives to creating stuff people seek to avoid."

The author proposed that marketing with meaning will be the answer for all of us ad execs in need of a way to justify our existence in the polluted Time Square architecture. A company named Bridge is agreeing with that notion and has even started a blog aptly titled www.marketingwithmeaning.com . If we make the actual marketing message the cause of our advertising then it will engage consumers instead of repel them. The concept of an interactive message that people are receptive to is nothing alarmingly new but the actual resurfacing of the issue of morality in our message is what caught my attention.

I don't have to feel guilty about what I love to do because advertising can be used for a good purpose just as a manipulating one. The truth is that advertising is a necessary evil because consumers do need to know what to buy. They may not want to be used as marionettes in a company's selling play but just imagine if good ol' advertisers disappeared. We advertisers have to accept the criticism but realize that we can use our medium to benefit and inform the world. Advertising can theoretically make "going green" cool and save the planet from imminent destruction (dramatic I know). I am not ashamed and I love what I do and if someone doesn't like it then I guess I can fill up their car with Cheetos. (just kidding)

...Again and Again

Irrelevant again but this video is awesome. Just look at the creative use of all the programs we have grown to use and love again and again.

That's How You Jump Over an Aston Martin, BOY!

Is it real? Is it fake? Does it even matter? The point is that Nike has intelligently devised a way to make me wonder about it. During my 10 replays trying to see whether it's real or fake, I saw Kobe putting on his new Nike shoe 10 times. The thing is I know it's fake because no professional player would be allowed to put himself in that type of danger. Obviously this video is not for people that think like that. This video is probably targeted towards a younger demographic that idolizes Kobe and wants to believe that he could jump over a car and they want his shoes so they can feel like they can jump that high. The truth is that he does jump high enough to clear it.

What fascinates me about the whole thing is that Nike is not mentioned anywhere in the video so it looks like a normal YouTube video uploaded by a regular person. It adds that personal aspect to the video that makes it seem like it is not an advertisement, but it is. I love that Nike has successfully used a popular medium to their advantage, and the fact that this video costs almost nothing to make and definitely nothing to upload to the web makes it a great advantage. This is buzz marketing at its core. The low budget video has created such a buzz that it actually has gotten free airplay (I'm assuming) on TNT and ESPN during the playoff analysis shows. YouTube also allows a way of tracking frequency. You can see how many views the video has gotten.
Overall this shows that copywriting doesn't necessarily mean writing great copy, it could mean coming up with great ideas and this is a great idea.

MUTO

Wow. This is not advertising related but its creativity sure deserves mention. This video by Argetenian artist BluBlu is simply amazing. It is a series a wall paintings shot in timelapse to create an animation. It is just something you have to see for yourself. Go visit his website too. It has a lot of interested surreal sketches. www.blublu.org

Oh I Will Not Be Ashamed!

Wow I love this commercial. The Pepsi owned AMP energy drink has just come out with a new campaign by BBDO, which ties in the most human aspect of behavior with the need for an energy drink; doing something shameful and being completely ok with it. The commercial is in a musical format which is not often used and makes the commercial that much more refreshing (no pun intended). None of the actors in the commercial are singers and their kareoke-esque voices brings the tone of the spot down to earth. The truth is that a lot of the scenarios each actor is put into is a very down-to-earth scenario that many people have gone through. Waking up in a strange room, starting your day wearing the same clothes from last night and common mistaken judgement are all part of the lifestyle of the target market for AMP energy drink, 18-30 year-old party-goers. Energy drinks are obviously not for everyone. They are obviously for people that need energy usually from staying up all night. The lyrics to the song are funny and sincerely true. The most important part is the slogan titled "Walk of No Shame", which encourages consumers to embrace their youthful and spontaneous decisions by justifying them with an AMP energy boost on "the morning after". The three new flavors, Revive, Focus, and Maintain go along with the theme of the campaign and the link on the website (walkofnoshame.com) that invites you to post your own walk of shame stories on Facebook is a clear example of target market research done correctly. Young people party, to work in the morning needing an energy drink and get on some sort of social networking site as soon as they sit in their office. I am applauding the unconventionalism of the campaign as well as the originality.

Blog like a Rabbit

http://www.bannerblog.com.au/2006/12/vw_like_a_rabbit.php

This campaign is from last year but it is pretty fascinating to me. Crispin+Porter has done it again with the latest campaign for Volkswagon. It compares the car to a rabbit and lets the consumer figure out what exact rabbit behavior they would like to see happen. It is basically a box embedded into a webpage with a blank line that you can type into. What makes this campaign work is the interactivity of it. Advertising is really moving in the direction of getting consumers more involved instead of using traditional media. The beauty of the campaign is that the creators of it understood our dirty little minds and included those particular words (hump, mate, multiply...like a rabbit) in the campaign. Once you enter the word you see a mini video come out that responds to the action you have requested. You can use words such as run, hide, sleep, dance, and flirt like a rabbit. Overall, it is just really fun and that translates into Volkswagon also being a very fun brand and car to drive.

There Can Only Be One

I was watching the NBA playoffs last night at a bar and one of these split-screen commercials came on. Immediately everyone began talking about it and it confirmed my belief that this was one of the NBA's most effective campaigns. It works because it is simple but a the same time it is visually stunning because seeing two people become one and speak in synchronicity is strikingly weird. Weird is good in my opinion and especially in advertising. It catches people's attention. This campaign is so successful because it adds drama to all the series'. Just the idea of seeing Kobe and Shaq in the same commercial wearing different uniforms gives basketball fans chills. Also, the copy on all these commercials is great. It's philosophical and deep yet so relevant to competitive sports. Probably one of the best ways to tell if a campaign is successful is when it invites parody. Have you seen the latest Time magazine commercial with Hillary and Obama on the cover? The concept of this campaign has obviously transcended sports. YouTube is full of parodies as well (some hilarious one I may add). The slogan for the campaign is "There can only be one" which again is utterly simplistic but so effective because it is completely true. In the NBA playoffs, there can only be one champion and eventually there will be no split-screen commercials but just one face of one champion. It's brilliant. The NBA has definetely increased their stock this year with their advertising. I think Goodby Silverstein has really understood how to get to the heart of the basketball fanatic. The regular season campaign, "Where Amazing Happens", was also very simple and very open to parody. On a side note, go Chris Paul.

Moonvertising

Moonvertising??? Huh? That's what I said when I saw this billboard on my way to work a couple of months ago. I didn't know what to make of it so I naturally visited the website (DING DING! they got me this far). Moonvertising is Rolling Rock beer's newest campaign to break through the clutter by using a "super" laser to put their logo on the moon where there is obviously no Budweiser logos yet (not that they would care since Rolling Rock is an Anheuser Busch owned beer as well). I personally think this is hilarious. I immediately called all my friends to tell them about it and they just sneered and told me how disgusting my field is. "Advertising is taking over the moon now? All you marketers should burn in hell."

OK, noted. So maybe some romantic, beach-loving hippies don't want their moon tampered with but I thought it was cynically original. I told some of my fellow classmates about it and we were all excited about the big day. Someone from my class said they would be pretty disappointed she would miss the "light show" since she was going out of town only to soon be rudely awoken by the reality that the moon is indeed everywhere. In that fact lies the ethical problem regarding the campaign. Should the moon be fair game for marketers? The question I noticed that came from most people I told was not whether this event was even possible but whether this event was even morally right. Not to say that I didn't get the "this can't be real and you're crazy" comment as well but the majority of people just thought advertisers should not have the right to pollute the sky with our manipulative tactics. Of course, I didn't care because I am well aware of people's defense tactics towards marketing messages and I got ready during the full moon to watch the comic book like laser fill the moon with the Rolling Rock logo.

Oh my God, I am such an idiot. You got it. My cell phone was overloaded with messages explaining how much of a moron I was for thinking this was even plausible. i don't know, the little kid amazement hidden in me wanted to believe this was possible, even though I did think that owning space on the moon would probably be a serious international political issue. Regardless of my disappointment, Rolling Rock's campaign worked. I immediately visited the site expecting to see an apology, which I did indeed see. It was a video of a mock attempt gone wrong followed by a message to watch their next attempt on the next full moon. The spoof was funny. Their next attempt was even funnier. Mt. Fiji expoloding due to this idiot marketers idea to advertise on the moon had me cracking up.

The concept is great. It is a completely absurd idea that is so outside the box that it must be recognized. The protagonist of the campaign is a fictional VP of Marketing for Rolling Rock who is very over-the-top very much like Michael Scott from The Office. The website is great because it is interactive and lets you put your own message on the moon as well as see where there are Full Moon parties being hosted. It is hard to identify what target Rolling Rock is hoping to market to with this campaign but I think this campaign has a lot more to do with brand awareness than with anything else. Trust me, I probably won't be forgetting Rolling Rock beer ever again. The truth is it's just a lot easier to say "Let me have a Bud."

First Post

I decided to start this blog because there are a lot of things regarding advertising that I have opinions on. I'm opinionated in general. I think that it would be a good way to continue to drive traffic to my website if someone is reading my blog. If you haven't visited my site, please visit www.theideahatcher.com . I hope to add something at least 3 times a week. I figure advertising for me can't just be a job but something that I am truly concerned with and up to date about.