29Oct / 2008

80 things you actually really need to know about advertising?

Adnews’ attractive publication with the evocative title has been sat on my desk for a few days now but I’ve only just found the time to flick through it, and flick through it I did. I know this is to celebrate 80 years of Adnews, so I can’t be too hard and I may be being unfair, but to call it ‘80 things you need to know about advertising’ is somewhat misleading. It is essentially a chance for people to pat each other on the back and talk up how great traditional advertising is and whilst look back on the golden era. Which is fine, but I don’t really, really, really need to know this.

I also got a small feeling that there was a distinct lack of ‘things you needed to know’ relating to digital?

Out of the 80 things only 3 mentioned digital and none of them were remotely helpful, or productive. Here they are…

‘Who created the first Internet viral ad in Australia and what was it for?’ An Internet Viral ad?? An interesting concept in itself but it roughly translates as a TV ad that was popular on Youtube. Now I like the Carlton Draft Big ad mentioned, but surely there is a better example of viral content on the web?

‘Will mobile ever overtake online spend?’ Who cares, it’s what people are doing that counts and technically more and more people are online on their mobile.

‘Is digital marketing resource intensive?’ The question was so confrontational and unproductive I didn’t read the article

Out of the 80 things these were the lowlights…

‘What is so fascinating about advertising?’ Arguably answered by this other question ‘Does advertising have its fairs share of wankers?’

‘Are consumers really more ad savvy these days?’ They are more everything savvy

‘Can advertising ever be art?’ Yes, it can be anything it needs to be. A film, a blog, a book, an adventure, even a 10 pound note.

‘Which ad agencies have the best offices?’ Who cares

‘Why is there no innovation in the ad game?’ First of all there is, everywhere I look there is innovation just not ‘in the ad game’.

Now it wasn’t all bad. Out of the 80, I really only needed to know the following four

1 # Should advertising reflect society?
2 # How do you connect with new Australia?
3 # Can you build a globally successful brand without ads?
4 # How do clients develop strong communications for global brands in local markets?

I feel bad binning this as it’s a very valid celebration of Adnews so I thought I would help them out and see if we can compile a new list of ‘80 things you actually really need to know about advertising’ and I will do this for free. Hopefully with your help. So I’ll get things rolling by adding the fifth which is

5 # As more and more people ignore, switch off and close down, how can the industry advertise without advertising?

To show there are no hard feelings, you can order a copy of the Adnews book by calling: 02 9213 8325. And if you are interested in the history of Australian advertising then it is highly recommended.

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04Jul / 2008

A new positioning for radio

Image via

Well it’s not quite that exciting but I was having a chat with Auntie Mye about why she always leaves the Radio on in the house even if she is out. I initially thought it was something to with scaring off potential burglars, but as it happens it’s because ‘a house is never lonely when the radio is on’. Which is a lovely little thought. I don’t listen to the radio much these days, only Lastfm, but it’s true, radio background noise is comforting and it’s not just at home. We all must of worked in those offices which could do with a bit of Radio ambience to breathe some life into the place and drown out the tapping of keyboards and long silences. Perhaps there is a campaign to promote radio in there somewhere.

I love it when you are having a chat with someone who shines a little light on something which makes you look at it differently, or with a new kind of affection.

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17Jun / 2008

Playing catch up

It’s been good catching with all the great work and thinking that has been going on since I have been away so here are just a few of my initial favourites.

First of all is Poke’s work for Orange. It’s up there with their ‘Spot the Bull’ work they did for them over the last two years. It really is the World’s First Internet Balloon Race.

Then there is Leland’s new blog on Transformation Design.

In Leland’s words: “When businesses look at marketing, they focus on things like integration, brand measures and ROI. While these are important, we must respond to the fact that we are now in a situation where the recipients of marketing are, at best, numb to it or, at worst, revolting against it. We must put emphasis on designing new marketing activities that engage with people’s behaviors, emotions and lifestyles in ways that help them and our clients.

To that end, design thinking and techniques can help us rethink marketing systems and structures and – possibly – redesign them from beginning to end around the “user.” This is genius and right on the button in my opinion.

And also Noah Brier’s Brand Tags project is neat along with it’s supporting blog and battle mode. It would appear that Lego is the current brand to beat.

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12Sep / 2007

iTunes U

Sorry if this generates even more information overload for planners, but I think it’s worthwhile.

iTunes have just launched, iTunes U, ‘the campus that never sleeps’. You may have noticed it on your iTunes interface already? It’s basically 100s of free lectures from some top Universities in the US. I haven’t had the chance to have a good rummage, but there are a couple in there I’ve spotted that look interesting. Particuarly lectures from MIT’s comparative media studies course. Which features the fantastic Henry Jenkins.

You can read The Guardian’s article here.

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06Sep / 2007

AAAA – The culture of creativity

This is one of the best vids I’ve seen for a long time. Sir Ken Robinson, at the AAAA Conference, gives one of the most entertaining and inspiring speeches on creativity I’ve ever heard. I can’t claim to have found it, Mark posted it last month. I’m surprised I’ve only just come across it. It’s so good I had to post it on here.

Not only is it good, it made me really think about my time at school and in particular one important moment. At the time it didn’t seem like such a life changing decision but looking back now I reckon it’s the reason why I now work on a PC rather than a Mac. When I took my options at high school I had to choose between Art or P.E. In fact there was a group of ‘creative’ or ‘enjoyable’ subjects that you were only allowed to pick one of. My school simply wouldn’t allow you to do more than one. I’ve know idea if this is the norm? I loved both and I reckon I was pretty good at them as well but I decided to take P.E, mostly due to the influence of my careers advisor and my Dad.

I ended up taking English, Psychology and Sport Science at A-levels, before going on to do a Marketing communications degree at Uni. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not sad about it, I’m more than happy doing what I do. It just proves a few of Sir Ken’s points:

1 – Creativity should have the same status as literacy
2 – We shouldn’t be so afraid of making mistakes. If we’re not prepared to be wrong we won’t come up with anything original
3 – People don’t grow into creativity we grow out of it, or get educated out of it

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05Sep / 2007

Book Review – Unspeak

I think words are one of the most powerful weapons a planner can use and this is an excellent book that really gets you thinking about how to use them in a different way. It’s jam packed full of euphemisms, metaphors and hidden meanings.

Journalist Steven Poole analyses how governments, ‘terrorist groups’, religious leaders and corporations manipulate words in order to influence behaviour, thoughts and the opinions of the ‘herd’. So if you like words and political debate Unspeak this is well worth reading.

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30Aug / 2007

Planning agencies

Following up on this from PSFK, is this great presentation by Zeus Jones. Which I came across at Adam’s great blog – thanks for the timely find.

Now I wouldn’t say this is the model that will change things over night, but it’s the thing that is exciting me the most at the moment.

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30Aug / 2007

Change the world?

The ‘advertising’ world perhaps? The old theories and the agency flab definitely. Get doing it absofriggingloutley! This is well worth watching if you can make the time. It has a nice mix of hatred for ‘BDAs’ (George Parker of Adscam), idealistic thinking about marketers being the saviour of the world (Steve Stainaker of Hub Culture), a perspective from an agency that really does do things differently (Johnny Vulkan of Anomaly) and a touch of ‘cut through the crap’ realism (Russell Davies of OIA).

First of all I don’t believe that marketers could or should be contemplating changing the world. By all means go and work for a charity or a pressure group. Use your skills for something different with a higher purpose, but don’t forget what clients pay us for if you work in an agency. I do believe every business should be socially responsible, but unless it’s relevant and a central part of the brand, then we shouldn’t be doing it just because it’s fashionable, or because it allows us to feel better at dinner parties. I’d hate to see every agency and brand from soap to cars being cause related and purpose driven. As Russell says: ‘leave changing the world up to revolutionaries and governments’.

Unless it’s authentic, which is easier said than done, just concentrate on doing things better. I’ve said it before, it’s not about ‘BDAs’ vs digital agencies it is just about tearing up the rule book and doing the right things, not just ‘differently’. And despite the often gloomy outlook there are a lot of cracking agencies and people doing just that.

The second point from this is about cutting out the rubbish and deconstructing what it is we actually do. There isn’t a Holy Grail that will make our lives simpler as much as we would like one. It will vary from agency to agency and discipline to discipline. We shouldn’t be so hell bent on pigeon holing the industry. Terms such as advertising, marketing and brands have become meaningless. They are just used to generalise what we do so we don’t really have to explain it, or god forbid go into more detail and risk being exposed as money grabbing charlatans. If you want to read a great book on how strange concepts and beliefs supplant rational thinking over time, then this is a great place to start.

I personally really love Anomaly’s ethos. I can’t for the life of me work out how they get clients to work within their fee structure, but they do, so fair play to them. But being in the business business just makes sense. It sums it up perfectly to me. Anomaly feels like independent, fluid, problem solvers that actually create stuff that’s useful for businesses. I know it sounds quite vague, but that is the point, it is free to do what is right. I think it’s the clearest way of describing the kind of agency that clients will find more and more attractive.

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23Aug / 2007

Only average people see the average in things

“Every tree and plant in the meadow seemed to be dancing, those which average eyes would see as fixed and still” – Jalal ad-Din Rumi

No one likes to think they’re average. But the fact of the matter is at least half of us are below average. Yes it’s true I’m afraid, averageness is all around us.

Now I think I’m quite a proud Englishman, despite the fact that we are generally average at everything in the modern world. Our culture is average, we’re average at sport, our economy is average, our service is average, our music is average, our weather is average and it would seem that even our creative industries are now seen as average. At least that’s how people generally think of it.

As a nation we seem to be a pessimistic bunch with such high expectations – God forbid should our great empire be considered average. I think we are way to hard on ourselves sometimes and perhaps a bit of optimism is in order. Just like this fantastic exhibition currently on at Tate Britain.

‘How we are: photographing Britain’ was an open exhibition that invited anyone to contribute photographs of Britain taken through their own lens so to speak.

It doesn’t necessarily celebrate our averageness, but embraces it and portrays Britain in its most unspoilt and often humbling way. Much of it is optimistic and endearing, looking for the interesting thing in an ordinary life or object. Such as these:

Enjoy the stormy weather