Articles from: Advertising

Looking back through a few articles from our old Stream blog I found one from my old creative colleague, the talented Mr Jeremy Garner, who asked the question about the first digital pieces to win a coveted D&AD Black Pencil.

Looking at Leo Burnett’s Black Pencil site (2006) and Nike+ (2007) he asked the simply question “which will be remembered in 10 years time?” surmising the one we remember will determine which principles in digital we see as most important.

“I chew the question again - which will be remembered after the years have passed by? Which will become the Benson & Hedges, the Saatchi’s Pregnant Man, the Guardian Skinhead? Which will be the true pick of the crop from 2007? Is a brilliant tech idea enough, or will a pithy creative idea with beautiful craft and a bit of wit stand the test of time?”

It’s interesting to reflect on this, just 2 years later, as it might provide an answer without the long wait. I’m pretty certain Nike+ has won many more awards than Leo Burnett’s ‘Big ideas need big pencils’ site, with Nike+ generating a lot more discussion online. Nike+ would also seem to be a key piece of work many digital agencies refer too ¹. A quick search on the leading industry publications reveals people often asking just how much Nike+ has influenced the way we think about marketing and advertising.

In my immediate digital world people still talk about Nike+ and it’s a long time since anyone has mentioned Leo Burnett’s site as an fluencer. This could be explained by of our particular focus of blending marketing and technology, or reflective of wider opinion. What is certain is that our understanding of the digital has developed in this short time and the greater transparency afforded by the connected world means brands really need to be believable with their brand promise and their service being the same. In this sense Nike+ is clearly an important example of how digital thinking can deliver on the promise ‘just do it’ and develop a new service to boot.

Looking back at the original question, it’s could be seen we could face a decision between a brilliant technical ideas or pithy creative ideas with craft and wit. Does it mean we are going down a road where technical capability overshadows pithy ideas full of craft, wit. I hope not. I fact a quick look at subsequent D&AD Black Pencil winners reveal high levels of craft (Got The Glass, 2008) and wit (The Great Schlepp, 2009) have succeeded over pure technical excellence. Interestingly enough at Cannes Lions this year, it was a technically led application, Eco:Drive (often described as Nike+ for cars) that won a Grand Prix.

Perhaps the question posed at the beginning of this post is in fact a misnomer - with both pieces of work continuing to exert influence and it is in fact either too early to judge or simply misguided to do so.

What I do know is that our own understanding and appreciation of digital work is changing on a yearly basis as we push our creativity and technical abilities. Hopefully the real winner in all this, is our audience, the ones brands reach out to impress, engage, entertain and serve. The ones that scrutinize and demand brands be loyal to them.

Now that’s a thought.

1. A few crude Google searches fail to confirm or dispute this. So I could be widely wrong.

Last week I was lucky enough to give a talk at the IAB about blending creativity and technology. [Presentation deck is available here 7.7MB PDF].

Now that’s something we know a thing or two about here at LBi. We’ve a talented team of technologists who work closely with our creative and experience architect teams. It’s not always been easy or smooth but it’s something we’re committed to getting right - as the new digital world - really needs joined up creative and tech to deliver the fantastic ideas we have.

Here are a few simple tips for better blending:

- Make both sides aware of what’s important
- Don’t throw tasks over the wall
- Let your technologists suggest ideas
- Give everyone the chance to be a hero
- Challenge your technologists with the impossible

Keep up to date with our Technical Architects team right here on LBiQ. Jim and Mark-A are already posting, with Nick, Jon, Riaz and Mark-D preparing their own brain splittingly clever bits for your delectation.

Clever technology & creative blending means we can do things like this, that and the other.

Not our regular Friday activity but Cannes on the cheap was fun and some of it happened on a Friday.

In attempt to keep costs down we decided (quite rightly) to forgo the usual (or so I’m told) expensive rooms in the Martinez, Carlton or Grand and decided to head to the Parc Bellvue camping site in Cannes La Bocca – not far from the beach, but far from Cannes Central. We’d started with the idea of tent but decided to upgrade to a caravan – somehow convincing ourselves that it would be more secure for our presentation and laptops. As luxuries go, it did come with it’s own gecko and rather narrow beds, but it didn’t come with shower or toilet . Thankfully both the outside showers and toilets were very clean, with the former providing very warm water.

Respect to Mike Williams from übermore who decided we were involving too much luxury and pitched his £15 tent alongside. His entrance after hours attracted the attention of the security guards as he barrel-rolled over the fence sometime after midnight. Despite this he did a cracking job at representing the Creative Showcase along with Laura at their workshop the following day.

Laura’s idea of a slap up meal consisted of 2-minute noodles with a small bottle of Pop Champagne to help the Cannes spirit. Rumours suggest this might have been her standard breakfast ration too.

My first night consisted of airport beer before boarding the last bus into Cannes – and then trying to remember the general layout from years gone by. Having alighted the bus successfully I proceeded to the beach to find my colleagues somewhat worse for wear at the No Party. A shady ‘slip the arm band over the wall’ later I was in were all seemed to be celebrating the end of television amongst other things. Clearly this ‘no party’ meant no wardrobe or night vision after guest after guest managed to fall over my rucksack causing untold damage to the beautiful people of Cannes. Commonsense prevailed and an early night brought the proceedings to a close, for the importance of being there - we had a workshop the following morning. Thankfully I’d had the Heineken pipe fitted meaning this refreshing liquid managed to pass the majority of major organs meaning little damaged was caused.

An early start followed by a Nurofen, croissant and of course Perrier, meant no pesky audience was going to hold us back. Thankfully French buses are frequent, clean and cheap at 1 Euro. So our journey into Cannes was speedy and direct. Moreover they don’t seem to have annoying passengers that insist on playing below par RnB from their mobile phones.

Attempts to send intelligent tweets were curtailed by Anil arranging an in-promptu meeting at his building site come hotel. It had a marvellous view out across the Mediterranean once you ignored the unfinished roof, diggers and concrete mixers. Some how I preferred our campsite it felt far more real, believable. Get down with the Gecko.

Our workshop was then dispatched with aplomb and with a series of lewd but enlightening creative ideas from our visiting middle eastern friends (you had to be there). A few matters of work were cleared up and so then on to the smoozing. It was slightly annoying to be the only ones paying for drinks at a hotel bar when your UK digital friends are being entertained free of charge by the Guardian. Thankfully the cordon was easy to lift. A swift kick to Mr LMFM’s knee meant the esteemed guests soon left…. And we were back to square one.

As the sun set the evening’s entertainment options started to present themselves. Well actually they didn’t – the only party required an invite and our ‘do you know who we are’ posturing counted for nothing as we were right at the back of a very long queue all trying the same thing. We tried a shifty look around the side and even considered a commando style run over the roof and slide down the pole entrance – but quickly realised it was pointless. It turned out that Ginger hair and bad breadth (Mr Bedwood) would see you enter as would being polite and on your own (Mr Tait)

So running out of options we retreated to a hotel bar, where I correctly identified a famous person, but got it incredibly wrong before seeing the rock royalty of Roger Daltry complete with Union flag socks sat next to him. To complete this famous gang was the lovable Irishman and one time musician Sir Bob Geldof. Ignoring this merry group we got stuck into some Rose and chatted about the festival so far.

Realising a trip to Cannes without visiting the Gutter Bar would be a sacrilege we took matters in hand and traipsed off to find it. Thankfully a few expense accounts where still in existence and yes a little more Rose was consumed. We were introduced to a number of award winning creatives that evening (well done all) indulging in some stimulating and insightful conversation. Only to be interrupted by the screams of FIGHT, FIGHT, FIGHT – and then we saw it – the aforementioned Sir Bob being led away back into the hotel by a rather burley security guard. Thankfully Kofi Anan, fresh from his earlier seminar had been on the scene and provided the perfect mediator to this unsavoury episode. For the record Sir Bob wasn’t fighting with me. Thankfully.

As the light started to break across the French resort, we realised it was in fact time to head home. A stroll along the Croisette meant the obligatory photos with Hans Solo, Chewy and Uma. When all had been packed back in their hotels and apartments – I soon realised that Cannes on the cheap came at a price – how the hell to get back to La Bocca. Realising the concept of a night bus hadn’t reached the South of France – some ant like manoeuvres and arm gestures managed to a flag a taxi down.

The dawn chorus was in full flight, as was the nearby motorway when I returned to the caravan. So grateful was I for my rather splendid Boots ear-plugs I soon found myself in the land of nod.

Friday was a far more relaxed affair spent in the delightful company of Congregation Partners and WNTD – thanks for the expense account – yes I owe you. We spent some of the time discussing our beautiful French waitress called Sandy. Yep we couldn’t work that one out either - a face and name that just didn’t match. Much conversation on the state of the industry, economy, the awards and economy ensued before this budget traveller had to scrounge a lift back to the airport.

Cannes on the cheap had been a success – a successful workshops completed, connections made, important dialog spoken and all under a strict budget. It might be Advertising’s annual big celebration bash but I heartily recommend doing it on the cheap. So next year lets all hire a caravan, pitch a tent and keep it simple. It really is where its at.

Here at LBi we’ve just launched the campaign to promote D&AD New Blood’s 10th Anniversary exhibition, at the end of June. Its been a labour of love, something that I’m really proud of for the best (in my opinion) and most important part of the charity.

This campaign is about getting industry down to New Blood to support graduating students. First off don’t let’s forget the message here - we’re trying to build our collective future. New Blood has been suffering from growing apathy amongst us agency-types for a while now. In the last downturn, internships and placements just evaporated for graduates. For a few years students stepped out into an industry that just wasn’t paying attention. These graduates went elsewhere, and as anyone trying to find mid/senior talent, particularly in digital, can attest to - the whole industry lost out, and work has suffered for it. Its our collective responsibility to grow one of the most dynamic and amazing industries out there.

Call me naive (and I’m sure you will) but we wanted to try to get us all off our arses (or out of them) and take a minute to think about what New Blood is all about, where we might have been 10 years ago, and to make a personal pledge to give these new talents the support that they deserve: there’s no denying its going to be really tough for them out there.

The hero photos represent only a small part of this campaign, but a lead that we hoped would put New Blood on the industry radar again, and cause some intense discussion about why its so important (job done there, I guess ).The images are tongue-in-cheek but the message they contain is seriously important. The point is that these people aren’t the seven most important people at the event, its the students, and its also each person that stops navel-gazing and actually contributes to its success.

These industry ‘icons’ were selected because they are actively helping New Blood already, offering their scant time (extra big thanks to Nadav) and profile to help get the conversation going, and who have committed to the New Blood event - they are the first step towards creating some solidarity with our brightest young stars by challenging you to do more yourself. And it’s working.

For those that haven’t seen the whole campaign, please check it out. For those lucky enough to be judging D&AD professional and student awards this year, there was a booth set up (using the 2 of 2006’s Best New Blood Winners - David Horwich & Paul Mansley) where everyone could pledge their support… and  of course the hub of activity is that everyone is encouraged to upload their own photos or video committing to being at the event. “I’ll be there”.

We’ll also be asking agencies to use their prime window real estate to create their own statements of support - a lot of us have the best street-level ad space in our areas.

On top of that we’re providing free space for all students to have a web presence within the same matrix, and a great digital system for tagging your favourite work at the event, so that all that fiddling about with trying to contact your favourite future teams afterwards is as painless as possible.

So please, continue with the discussion as much as you like, but know it came from the right place. Most importantly take a moment to think about what it was like when you were entering an industry with your vivid optimism and desire to do what we all do every day intact - and pledge your support.

After all, the more voices we get online, the more those you don’t agree with will be drowned out by the noise of the industry pulling together.

I’m moved to Blog about Rory Sutherland’s inaugural speech as IPA President. It’s a fine piece of oratory as you’d expect from a fellow cravat wearer (though I’ve always thought mine to be more the mod-style silk scarf).

What’s interesting in his speech is the way Rory articulates the importance of “Social Value” created by brands in the coming age of scarcity. A lot of what he says chimes closely with our own ideas about Building Believable Brands. It’s clear from his speech that the “traditional” world is waking up to the notion that ideas without media spend behind them, creativity with media thinking inherently linked, and ideas of value exchange are going to be the salvation of the communications business.

It’s also clear that Rory understands advertising to be a small component of the picture. So we can look forward to a President keen to engage with digital businesses.

The other thing I got from the speech was this brilliant articulation of what agencies are here to do:

“We create ideas that turn human understanding into business value for our clients”

This is true whether you work in digital, direct, advertising, media or in any of the other unhelpful discipline distinctions we burden ourselves with.

Creativity is often misunderstood by those who are suspicious of it’s aims, as something antithetical to business, making money, selling stuff. This is absolutely not the case and any creative who thinks it is, should go and live in a garret making art.  Creatives in commercial businesses are concerned with understanding why somebody should care about a product or service and then amplifying that feeling, if possible making them love it, and at the very least, buy it.

Or as they say outside of the Roman Empire, Deeds not Words. Its a saying thats been around a while. And an ethos that is to be commended, celebrated and encouraged. So, when I sat down with a copy of the Guardian on Saturday I was faced with an existential crisis of massive proportions.

Honda had “taken all the advertising space in the first 11 pages in Saturday’s Guardian (and an entire ad break on Channel 4) as part of its campaign to get more members of the public to be “do gooders” regarding the environment” (see the full article here).

Brilliant sentiment, gorgeously illustrated. Made me want to watch the ad (which is sweet and cute and well, lovely)… until… it went on… and on… and on… page after page after page.

By page 11, I was steaming mad. Mad that Honda had just highlighted to me how much paper is wasted in those pages every Saturday with ads. Mad that what was a sweet story of discovery and action had turned into a rambling Oliver Stone epic; and most of all mad because if Honda REALLY wanted to do something for the environment then why not make a statement, buy the ad space and not print anything at all.

Imagine an ad-free paper, with a nice “Brought to you by Honda”. Save the 5 pages per Guardian you used with your pretty pictures.The PR you would get!  The readers would have thanked you. The trees would have thanked you (5 pages x 1.24 million - the average daily readership). And you would have been making a difference, instead of just making a noise.

Don’t get me wrong, as I said, beautifully executed work and the sentiment couldn’t have been more right, but its saying green rather than doing green, and both client and agency should have spotted that. In comparison to the Fiat Eco Drive, which is actually helping their drivers use less CO2, its just a load of hot (achingly beautiful) air.

Judging Dubai Lynx has been an experience. Some great judges to spend time with and one or two really interesting pieces of work even if the standard overall is low. But one thing really did take my breath away. Anyone know what to make of this? It’s a quit smoking campaign targeting smokers at Ramadan and looks like it was made by disturbed people at an art therapy class. We have old Coke bottles, we have sand and fag butts and we have un-smoked cigarettes fashioned to look like fireworks. We also have the agency’s name on the front. Bizarre.

Whilst creative judges and juries fail to admonish the jolly corruption of children in the selling chocolate to lonely women (and instead get down to late 80s freestyle electro), there are important things at hand ineligible for easy cool. 

<insert chocolate-vomit.jpg here>

Now that the Evil Eye of Mordor has temporarily passed from the energy companies to the Bankers… (and having recently worked on briefs for both) it strikes me there are some major insights relating to all forms of ‘corporate evil’: 

<insert bad-apple.swf here>

We, the consumptive populous require proof positive of corporate change in order to believe again. We want clear and easy influence… To be certain that the corporate villains are listening and repenting… And that this ‘change of spots’ is having a measurable, positive effect on our lives. 

We are conflicted, we want our guilt expunged without having to sacrifice warmth or mobility (or a million other convenient dreams)… we want CorpsUnited to change on our behalf, that’s what we’re paying for damn it!

It is said that capitalism is built upon scarcity and debt, and yet the human spirit craves the opposite… some say we are living through a 12 month window of opportunity disguised as a recession. ‘What Ever. My head hurts. I feel powerless. This is confusing. I don’t think I can make it without my two weeks in the sun’.

<insert therapist.ai here>

Here in the home of building believable brands, Marketing demands aimed at stereotyped targets seem redundant, self-indulgent and transitory. We are not immune from the dark side but we are relentless in our desire to make stuff that works and that is built on the solid foundations of listening to real people. To be part of their lives in any moment, mode or medium they feel or request. To be meaningful and sustainable. We are at Base Camp. There is a climb is ahead.

<insert corporate-optimism.mov here>

In the mean time I’d like to alert you to the genesis of a new cult: Cabralla. Sounds a bit like Kahbalah doesn’t it, well it’s pretty popular these days and not just with the creative elite. Supposedly the only effective protection is the gospel of the First Things First Manifesto, (old testament 1964, new testament 2000). As the followers of Fallon deride the disciples of IDEO (who pity them in return), some of us remember a simpler time pre-dotbomb, and imagine a future where ideas are the integrated currency - where everything else; every channel, format, media, platform and process… is open, available and perpetually intermixing. 

Some of us are nearly there now… we’re waiting for you…

<administer cold compress> 
</end waking dream>

(Playlist disguised as Post)

There’s no escaping it, times are rough and tough.  We’ve been bracing ourselves and tightening our belts to the point where we’re running out of notches. Green shoots of recovery? Yeah, right.

Clients are shaking their heads as they ponder budgets for 2009. The IPA and other industry gurus will no doubt be knocking on their doors with some solid scientific evidence that cutting ad spend has a long-term detrimental effect. Will it be convincing enough? Partly. But accountability will be more important than ever.

We creatives can expect a rather large magnifying glass to hover above our heads, scrutinizing our work and looking to extract every last drop of value from it. Clients will be looking us straight in the eye and demanding, “hey smart Alec, stimulate me some green shoots,” as though it’s all our fault.

You can imagine agency presentations across town this year. They’ll be rather like the old Fairy Liquid TV ads. “Your previous strategy only washed this many dishes. Our fresh, new, lemon scented strategy will stretch your budget to this many dishes.”

We’re already seeing conventional reactions to the crunch; big football sponsorship deals being pulled, four figure global lay-offs, corporate art projects canned.

Spectacular big budget broadcast will be seen as spectacular, big budget wastage. “Open on a tropical beach? You’re having a laugh, mate. What’s wrong with Skegness?!” And that’s just in the tissue meeting. Increasingly throughout 2009 you will hear themes of empowerment, sustainability, innovation and inclusion surfacing in articles.

Industry old boys will continue distancing themselves from broadcast, “Did we say tropical beach? Noooo! Of course we meant Skeggie.” New kids will be hyping the relevance of ’social’ and ’service’ design. Digital agencies can go even further: “We open on user generated shots of Skeggie.”

Yet do we need to get all doomy and gloomy about this? Well, it’s not ideal. I’ve seen tropical beaches and I’ve seen Skegness and, with all respect to the Lincolnshire Tourist Board, I know which I prefer. Yet, the new economic climate does open up a very real creative opportunity.

The good news is that clients are on our side. They know that, as the crunch bites down hard, creativity needs to flourish.  Not just in the way it connects them with their consumers, but the way it helps run their business.  Working smarter, innovatively distributing content and creating cost-effective dialogues is now higher up the agenda than ever. CMO’s will be empowered to make the big balls decisions using “the current climate” to reinvent their approach to their budgets.

So let’s not disappoint them. We too need the balls to grasp the challenge.  Let’s reinvent the industry; move from Broadcast to Narrowcast. Embrace Branded Generosity. Be being bold enough to zig while everyone else zags. Connect with consumers by building believable brands; ones that stand up to the scrutiny of the empowered consumer.

There’s something really appealing about the mash-up of broadcast and outdoor media for artistic/social commentary purposes - it often brings out some painful truths. From old-school audio-pirates like Douglas Kahn (who I was lucky enough to have as a lecturer at uni for a semester) and Negativeland to current street art, I love the way it plays with the true value of advertising and the media. And they’re always hidden - are these artists who create something beautiful/funny/poignant/political, using what our industry creates as raw materials, operating in secret because of the threat of big business and the brands ‘we’ represent? Surely if we’re helping brands become more real, believable, genuinely useful and honest then this kind of expression is quite beautiful, and not at all scary? (Or maybe that’s just my art-school roots talking, but Iove the idea of someone mashing up our work).

I haven’t seen anything from my beloved Shoreditch Decapitator for a while now, but Posterboy is just brilliant - and with maybe a slightly broader repertoire.

You can check out his Flickr page here.Or watch his video: Posterboy on the NYC subway.

LBiQ4 - Death of the big idea?

In our jaunt through LBiQ 4 and it’s exploration of ideas; big and small, traditional and new, it’s clear completely new ideas are increasingly hard to find – if they ever existed in the first place. “There’s nothing new under the sun”, after all, as some crusty old fool once said. (I think we can be fairly sure he didn’t work in advertising.) As the web grows up, and is no longer the brave new world of unchartered possibilities it used to be 10 years back, we need to look back and recognise the patterns that were formed during that period of innovation, to identify the successes, and the failures, and to work with and from these in order to keep advancing.

In the thrust for The New it is important not to lose sight of a few simple facts. Check this year’s hot work: quizzes, games, viral films, soap operas, blogs and scrolling banners. Nothing new there, per se – these formats are now established, in some cases almost traditional - but all are succeeding today in 2008 by combining creative thinking with brand messages in novel and interesting ways that match and resonate with the passage of time and the changes that are happening in the world at large. 

Just as David Gunn says there are only 12 types of advertisement, a creative writing teacher might inform us of only 14 ways to start a novel, or seven types of plot; and a musician teaches us that there are only a set number of chords; we can surmise there are a limited number of interaction models in digital, a set number of viral types, and a comparable set of methods for online advertising.

So let’s stop sticking our noses up at ‘just another’ video site, or in-search-of viral film, or interactive scrolling banner, and look a bit deeper. There are ideas a plenty in the digital world - ideas that creatively stretch the main brand promise, trigger the all-important emotional hook, and ensure they are bloody well executed. Inventing new forms of communication is hard, and it’s not necessarily the job of a commercial creative. Don’t be afraid to use what you know already. It’s easier, simpler, and usually much more effective, to focus on mixing and matching known quantities in order to find creative digital ideas that work. 

Want some inspiration on finding big brand ideas? Take a read of Brand Marketing Manifesto, in which a feisty future-looking John Grant sets out a thesis for ideas and creates a framework based on eight cultural streams: innate emotional hooks that exist deep within our psyche and can be found in centuries of literature, film and music.

Me? I’m off to write a book on the 10 different types of viral. Stay tuned.

I’m moved to include a lovely old Dilbert cartoon given to me by Dan Holder a senior art director here.

It raises a good point about “best practice.” If we’re honest with ourselves best practice is the last refuge of the unimaginative. It says we’ve stopped thinking about a problem and have settled upon a “lore”. Best practice is a sacred cow which we do well to sacrifice. More than ever, brands need brave ideas which cut through in what is undoubtedly a time of crisis. It’s time to dream to innovate, create and have fun. If you find a best practice document here’s a handy way of dealing with it.

Words and the internet. They’ve had a chequered history together, what with most agencies seeing “copy” as an asset to be uploaded as an afterthought and many a user claiming they don’t read it. Poppycock I say. There’s lots of great writing on the web, not least this from Nick Asbury. Corpoetics is an inspired and subversive exploration of corporate mission statements using poetry. Let this be a challenge to all brands, mean what you say when you say it. And even better, be believable. So do what you say too.

If you’re looking for inspiration of the word kind, the web contains all the greatest poetry ever written. We should look to poetry more than we do. What other art form is so instantly easily communicable? To appreciate a great painting you have to stand in front of it, novels take days to read, films and plays have to be viewed in the right circumstances. Poetry delivers a lot in a small space without costly embellishments. Is it the ultimate recessionary art form? Try Louis Macneice

The room was suddenly rich and the great bay-window was
Spawning snow and pink roses against it
Soundlessly collateral and incompatible:
World is suddener than we fancy it.

World is crazier and more of it than we think,
Incorrigibly plural. I peel and portion
A tangerine and spit the pips and feel
The drunkenness of things being various.

And the fire flames with a bubbling sound for world
Is more spiteful and gay than one supposes -
On the tongue on the eyes on the ears in the palms of one's hands -
There is more than glass between the snow and the huge roses.