The Mavericks

"I just wanna dance the niiight awaaayy..."

No not those ones.

One thing that has been bugging me for a while is the photos I see of most advertising people. I can't help but notice that so many of them look exactly like we would expect advertising people to look.

Now that's not to make a judgement on their abilities, they may be outstanding creatives/planners/account folk - but the fact they look like advertisers unsettles me a little. It's as if creative people are being molded into a template too much.

Not this one either.

For a start, we are supposed to be in touch with and communicate to the average person. The more the industry starts to feel like it has a block way of being, the less likely it is we'll achieve that.

Secondly, our industry feels like it is sorely lacking in mavericks right now. People that have a real energy and determination to change things for the better, who are prepared to take risks and be hugely bold. Maybe they are out there, but the perception is that there aren't many making a noise. Most of the ad folk that I would class as maverick in some shape are over 40, or names from the 70's, 80's and 90's.

I worry that for the creatives, account folk and planners of the future, there aren't many new names for them to get excited about. The people students are inspired by now are probably largely the same ones who inspired students of my age.

Similarly, we are still too much a white, middle to upper class, male industry. Nowhere near as bad as it used to be, but we still need to get more people from different backgrounds. I've met incredibly smart and talented students who end up working for small agencies scattered around the country, while a posh student who is less smart ends up at a huge London agency. The first agency graduate interview I went to, I remember speaking to the other candidates, and every single person I spoke to has been to either Cambridge, Oxford or Edinburgh Universities.

We need intellectuals, we need radicals, we need the logical, the intuitive. We need a wide mix of people with the drive to take what we do forward. I've always admired W+K's policy of hiring people from different job backgrounds, who bring a different perspective.

There are so many smart people in this industry. I just hope that some of them are preparing quietly to break away from the conventional. As I said a few years ago, if HHCL was a punk ad agency, we really need a PIL agency about now.

We need more people like these:

Dave Trott
George Parker
Rob Campbell
Marcus Brown
Andrew Hovells

What Marketing Can Learn From Calvin and Hobbes

Calvin and Hobbes is the best comic strip ever produced. Funny, intelligent and sweet, nothing else comes close. I figured there would be some nice lessons in there somewhere...

1. Fight for what you believe

Bill Watterson wrote and drew Calvin and Hobbes for ten years, and in that time he went through some almighty battles. The distribution studio that effectively owned the rights to his characters wanted to make a cartoon, and to sell related merchandise, but Bill didn't want an actor putting a voice to something people could imagine. He didn't want toys and gifts to weaken the world of the strip.

Bill fought a long and difficult battle, the studio contract was so one sided they could have fired him and hired writers to continue the strip. Eventually though, he won the battle.

Too often we let great ideas go because of one piece of rejection or criticism. If you believe in something then fight for it. A great example of this is on Andrew H's blog here.

2. If the system is wrong, change it

Calvin and Hobbes was a playful and creative strip, but it was heavily restricted by the norms of cartoon publishing at the time. The Sunday strips had to be made of blocks in set places, losing the first two boxes to a throwaway gag.

Bill fought for a change (which in some cases meant the strip lost space in publications) which allowed the strip to be one whole piece, providing a huge increase in creative scope. It allowed such wonderful strips as this one:

In marketing we are always talking about things that need improving, so let's improve them.

3. Know when to stop

For most successful comics, ten years is quite a short production time. However it does stop the decaying quality that comes with trying to stay original for many decades (Simpsons, Garfield, etc). By stopping before the ideas ran out Bill Watterson preserved Calvin and Hobbes as a strip that never lost it's edge or sparkle. The reverence it is held in by many has proved Bill right, even if it was sad to see them go.

Too many campaigns carry on past their use by date, we should be as observant about quality as any other creative medium. Don't carry on just because we can, but also don't stop while something is still yet to peak.

4. Treat people with intelligence

Many cartoons treat people as if they are stupid. They highlight every joke and make out that the readers have no intelligence and cannot work things out for themselves.

The worst offender for this is the awful Mandy in the Daily Mirror. Which (until recently at least) used to mark every key word that you were supposed to laugh at in bold and italics.

Calvin and Hobbes never shied away from deeper topics, and beneath the humour was one of the most intelligent and meaningful commentaries on the human existence there has ever been.

In marketing, too often we forget that people are human. They have brains, they don't need to be spoonfed everything, they should not be treated as 'consumers'.

5. What you don't say can be as important as what you do

Sometimes not saying something can be far far more powerful than saying it. Take being stylish, as soon as you say 'We make stylish...' you make it seem less so. Know what to say, and what not to say.

Calvin and Hobbes never answers the questions of its reality. Hobbes is both real and unreal, you are left to decide for yourself the full story.

Likewise you never know the names of his parents, they are just 'mom and dad', which makes them so much more identifiable as characters.

6. Quality lasts

The legacy of Calvin and Hobbes is huge. For many (including me) it becomes a treasured part of life that weaves itself around you. Almost everything I ever do has a reference point in the strips, it asks questions and makes observations that still speak wisely about the world almost 18 years after it finished.

If you make something you can be proud of, the results and legacy will always be better than if you let yourself move downwards.

These two strips are two of many that are completely relevant for those of us in marketing:

A Date to Remember

One thing that's puzzled me recently...

I know a few girls (without mentioning any names) who tell me how fed up they are of internet dating, how they never seem to find anyone that they like. The funny thing is, these girls are smart, pretty and interesting, it doesn't seem to make sense that supposedly carefully refined (and expensive) dating sites cannot find decent people for them to meet.

Current dating sites do a LOT wrong. I see things like "Michelle uses OneNightStand.com - Sign up free now!" on my Facebook feed. People obviously use looks as an initial judgement, but in the race to increase membership it's never really used as a filter. Likewise dating profiles are typically hideous, people tend to either not know what to say, or say too much.

So what could we do about it?

Well what if we make a dating site for people that are serious about meeting nice guys/girls. One where everybody plays a small part in the matchmaking process through user reviews.

I'm no dating site expert, but I've not seen any site that has a substantial user rating system. Perhaps partly because people would create multiple logins if they got negative reviews.

So let's make a site where everybody has one login forever. The login is attached to your personal details (not shown) and making a duplicate would be incredibly difficult. Of course this would make registration harder, but we are talking about a site for those who are serious about meeting people. By locking in reviews to one checked profile, you reduce the risk of people leaving badly thought out reviews and dodgy profiles - It becomes a less suspicious place to meet people.

Profiles are simple and informative. You can get a good idea about someone without them needing to write an essay. Those who are confident can write more, but the essentials are covered quickly.

After every date, both parties would score the other on aspects of their personality. Some of these questions would be aimed at red-flagging horrible people, but most would be based around building a comprehensive detailing of each person's real life attributes.

The problem with most dating sites (apart from the smart datemyfriend) is that they rely on your interpretation of yourself. What this new site would do is add to that real responses from people you've actually met.

The Macallan Ice Ball. Suave.

Is Mary: Loud o o * o o Shy ?
Is John: Smart o o o o * Casual ?
Would you recommend meeting Jane to others who match her profile? Yes / No
Etc.

So the real life dating experiences add to the data on the site and use actual opinions to improve the matchmaking process.

Alan says he is Witty, adventurous and handsome.
People who have met Alan say he is: Friendly, shy and polite.

What we hopefully end up with is a dating site that produces more appropriate matches, reduces false profiling, and will find my lovely friends someone nice that they would wish to see again.

Oreo and Being Responsive

I was planning to write a post about Oreo and their brilliant quick response to the power outage at the Superbowl. However, Marcus has just done such a good job of it I needn't bother:

http://wearesocial.net/blog/2013/02/brand-improvisation/

Market In Review: Football Gambling

Having spent a bit of time watching the African Cup of Nations (which all real football fans should do I might add, it was worth it just for the joy of the Ethiopian team and supporters just to be there after decades of war and famine decimated their sports leagues and training.), it's hard not to come to the conclusion that the vast majority of gambling related ads are a bit weak.

So here is a round up of what is going on in the field of football gambling.


Ladbrokes

I'll start with this, as due to their Cup of Nations sponsorship, I have seen this campaign the most.

The idea of using Chris Kamara, who is very popular with many football fans is a smart one, but they don't always get the best out of this tie-in. The standard ads have a nice concept, Chris advertising something else that doesn't quite suit him, and someone interrupts the ads to tell him about Ladbrokes gambling. Sadly the character they have against him just doesn't quite gel, I can see how it might have worked on paper, but on screen it becomes more annoying than funny.

Then we get to the sponsorship idents. Same problem, somewhere along the line it doesn't mesh. The character is too screechy and whiny. Sure, it works in terms of being memorable, but nowhere near as much as it would have if it was truly funny.


Bet365

Ah. Cockney it's cockney time cockney for cockney cockney cockney geezer cockney  Ray cockney Winstone. This ad couldn't be aimed more squarely at hardcore London football fans if it started with the words "Oi, Irons and Lions."

It does work however, in that it is clear and simple: These are the latest odds on the game you are watching, go online for some more. As a direct ad I guess it works, but it doesn't really have any idea that connects you with the brand.

It's hard not to feel like the overwrought cockneyness is grating though, and I speak as someone with plenty of family from West Ham. "Whassat, you wannanuva one?"


BetFred

Looks nice, it throws features and selling points at you in a pretty blunt way though. There doesn't really feel like much of an idea, other than the nice "BetterFred" endline suggesting improvement and new features in a way that strives to make you remember the brand name.


BetVictor

An interesting attempt to stand out by making Victor the central character. Paul Kaye makes it work, but you get the feeling it could have been much better as well. He gives it an amusing touch, but that also comes at the expense of making it a bit irritating. The 'guy who doesn't get it' makes the feature sell a bit less blunt though, it also has the best copy of these ads: "I'll have a Pony on that donkey to score for the Canaries."


WilliamHill

Again, there is an idea here...  about WilliamHill being the home of gaming, the most dedicated towards the industry. Yet the ad feels a bit cheesy and a little cringeworthy.  It's as if they had an interesting idea but then tried to make it funny. It feels like an ad where doubling the production budget would have made it five times better.




Overall

In one football ad break there are just so many betting companies being thrown at you, it's hard to make them stand apart. The concept of using Chris Kamara or Victor in the ad helps, but I still get the feeling that a really great campaign would blow all of these straight out of the water. It's hard not to watch these ads and see them all as much of a muchness, to get to the end of a break and think "Was that BetFred? BetVictor or Bet365 that had those odds?"

I'm not a gambler, and it feels as if these are designed around that audience, not aiming for new customers. But if I were looking to place a few bets, I can't say that any of these really make me want to favour one brand over another, and if I did notice a nifty feature, I'd struggle to remember which brand it was for. More frequent gamblers, you'd expect to know what they are looking for. But I can still see a great brand campaign being very effective against the market as it stands, especially if the product and odds then back it up.

The positive thing from a strategic and creative perspective is that there are some ideas hidden away here, and if they are developed maybe the campaigns will improve.

Plannerama

In one of those odd occasions where you think of a name for something that doesn't exist, and the name drives you to fit something around it... I was thinking about Plannerama recently.

Tell me if this sounds rubbish but:

Planners are generally intelligent people (the ones I know certainly are anyway), and we are always coming up with interesting ideas and observations for clients. So what if we used our plannery skills to do some good for the world?

So the first draft concept for Plannerama is this.

Twenty planners in an informal room, maybe a pub. We are split into four groups of 5 planners, split roughly by seniority.

Each groups is given twenty minutes to discuss and think of ideas around a topic of social, charitable or political importance. After the twenty minutes the topics are rotated, so each group has done all four topics by the end of the night.

There is then a twenty minute all group discussion on each topic, and the best three or four ideas are written down. Following the session the results are published, and hopefully at least one of them will be good enough to provoke some response, action or publicity around the topic in question.

Example ideas for topics:

Is there a peaceful way to resolve the Israeli/Palestinian conflict?
How do we best help the homeless in our cities?
How do we get the public to look at the facts around a political subject (E.g.: The EU) instead of the media hype?

Any thoughts?

Recently...

If anyone is interested, here are a few links to things I have written recently for gaming website Voxel Arcade:

Everybody Hertz - A look at why gamers in Europe are still being given inferior versions of classic games.

What are the Greatest Videogame Soundtracks Ever Made?

A New Star Soccer Story - A critique of a game that has become very popular despite being very flawed.

Discounting a Discount

I saw a brief conversation the other day about whether someone should invest in a National Rail student card. It reminded me of a simple idea that I had for such a card, but one I have yet to see.

The card costs £28 for a year, and gives young people a third off all rail travel. Make a few journeys and it easily pays for itself.

The railway companies want to sign more people up for cards, as it helps encourage the holders to take the train. Yet they seem to be missing something very obvious.

When you book a ticket online, and a third of the cost of your total journey is £28 or more, it should give you the option to sign up for the card for 'free'. As in one journey the card will have covered itself, you simply send them the card and forms and you make the process of choosing to have one simple. It's free to the customer, and simply includes the discount in the first purchase.

If someone orders a cheaper ticket you can include the discount from that ticket in a lower price for the card.

If you are buying a set of tickets that cost £84, and you get a simple tick box option that gives you a third off all future fares... why would you say no?

It takes a decision of uncertainty (will I make the £28 back? how often do I use the train?) and turns it into a no-brainer.

Be Faster! Nice Work For John West

I love it when agencies and brands respond quickly to things going on in popular culture.

Specsavers have always been fantastic at this, sometimes even being in the newspapers on the same day as the story they are referring to. (E.g.: The South/North Korea flag issue last year)

I saw this image from a creative team I used to work with and thought I should post it. It references something that is big right now, but in a way that is actually related to the brand and the product.

I haven't seen it published anywhere yet, but I hope it is. It deserves to be.

What Marketing Can Learn From Sooty

Yes, you read that correctly.

I was watching the CITV retro weekend, and it struck me how Sooty has been successful for over 60 years. Apart from being brilliantly funny, more so than many adult programmes; I started to think about what made it special.

So yes, here are some lessons we should take from The Sooty Show:


1. Really Know Who Your Audience Is

Most kids shows set their audience as a blanket group of kids. Either young kids, tweens or young teens. Boys or girls. Sooty was one of the first kids shows to understand two important things:

• Kids watch shows together (Especially years ago), so you need to be careful about targeting just one age group.
• Kids watching shows are usually accompanied by their parents or older siblings.

The show always featured in-jokes and references that many kids might not get or be aware of, and combined it with jokes and action that kids would get. Sooty truly knew about the whole audience, and made sure to include something for all of them.

Some of the gags in here I didn't get until I rewatched them years later.


2. Don't Talk Down to People

So many kids shows are designed to be simple and slow, they treat kids as kids. But most kids want to be older than they are, it's why they place so much importance on how old they are. As soon as a show talks down to someone, they alienate them.

Sooty always treated kids with respect. It had scenarios and situations that were relevant to them, but always spoke to them as if they were real people, not in a manner that kids programmes were usually seen to do.

I watched the show as a kid, and then with my little brothers. The respect it showed for the audience meant you could still enjoy it even as a cynical grumpy teenager.

Far too many campaigns treat people as if they are incapable of understanding basic metaphor or symbolism. Or think that the only way to get attention is to lack any subtlety whatsoever. If you look at the campaigns that people love, and the campaigns that people respond to, they almost always treat people as intelligent.



3. Don't Let People Ruin a Good Vision

For most of it's existence, Sooty has been looked after by people who really care about the show and the characters. Except for the time between 1996 and 2008 when HIT Entertainment bought it, and gradually changed the show in a way that led to it's cancellation after over 50 years.

Since the show was bought back by long time fan and presenter Richard Cadell, it has returned to the vision that made it a success, and the response from audiences has been much better.

It's too easy to make concessions that damage the work we do. If we believe in our work we should fight for it every step of the way. If we don't believe in our work, why are we doing it?


4. Details Matter

The little details matter because they signify how much care has gone into what you are making. Take Sweep. Most shows would just have a puppet that made squeaky noises, but the Sooty Show made sure that every squeak was fully scripted. This meant that the character felt more a part of the action, and also meant that people could laugh at what he said before the punch line, creating a double gag.

Care for the details also makes it far more palatable to see something a number of times. Which if you are creating an ad, is a useful thing to have.


5. Make it Good. Don't Make it For Money.

Many kids shows are designed to maximise the profits from toys and licensed merchandise. Sooty was created out of a love for performing and a real desire to entertain, not to make something profitable.

Make it good and the success will come. A lesson I wish more advertisers would learn.

This also goes for shows and campaigns that are essentially designed to mimic the good work of other people. Just don't.


6. Pushing the Boundaries is What Drives Us Forward

The Sooty Show has caused outrage on a few occasions. Notably on introducing Soo, in an era when it was thought to be introducing sex into a show by having a boy and girl together. Similarly when in one episode where Soo pretended to be pregnant by putting a cushion in her jumper. People will always want to stick to the status quo, but we are in a creative industry, we are creative people, if we don't push things forward, then we will only go backwards.

The silly insults and slapstick violence, along with the above things may sometimes cause shock, but by doing so, the end product was right, and they matched what the audience wanted to see. Forget the status quo, we are here to do good work that works for our clients. If we have to break a boundary to do that, then bring on the boundaries.




Also. As someone who grew up wanting to be in advertising, the below episode is lodged in my head from start to finish. Cos Tooty Poo Smesh.