Just noticed this very cool promotion on the satorialist blog site. I think its a great initiative between Absolut and Satorialist.It's a a brilliant example of a corporate and social comms partnership that feels natural.
follow the link and you end up here. Here looks like this...
I do think a lot more could be done with it, but this is the kind of consumer generated promotion I love. And I think it's because the journey that led to this initiative was rather serendipitous; not at all contrived like this .
i know they feel a little like a mobile phone ad, but summer's coming and the soundtrack on both is pretty cool.
these on the other hand are fuckin abominations.
with added ketamine for the crasha kids.
I'm sure there's a whole generation of asbos desperate to have this theme tune on their phone (never quite understood mother nature and natural selection, clearly I'm to cretinous to understand) but they are horrible pieces of work that deserve nothing but vilification.
We all know what creatives contribute. God help us if we forget the planner. But what about the good old account man. Always the butt of agency jokes. Constantly berated and criticised but fuck me, they'll do whatever it takes to keep a client happy. And we all know a happy client is a spending client.
Compared to planners or creatives, they are simple altruistic creatures who are more interested in the agency's success than their own. You'll never find them bashing out some hyperbole bollox on a blog site. And they don't give a fuck what anyone else thinks unless its the client.
So today I raise a glass to every single account handler who's still in the office this very evening, desperately fabricating that compelling story for the shite creative they're presenting tomorrow.
In these four examples and a million others like them it seems we can't help but include a little brand strapline (always in the corner) just in case no one actually deduces the intended brand meaning.
be Like no other.
Go beyond.
Intelligence everywhere
Bringing it all together
This isn't a critique on the ads or in fact the propositions, but merely an observation that if the execution is strong enough and it encapsulates the brand idea in the right way then why include these throw-away lines. It's like a disclaimer on the execution; if you don't get the ad or what this brand is trying to stand for, here's a 3 word summary spelling it out for you.
Needless to say, i really hate them and despise their inclusion on any piece of communications. I hate the way they always appear in a corner in a really small type size. And I hate they way they never make sense, usually some naff hyperbole. Either the work is designed to support & underpin a brand idea, or focus on explicitly delivering it. Whatever, just stop fucking combining the two. It's a self imposed straight jacket that actually encourages lazy creative & strategic thinking because these lines are used to rationalize a piece of creative that would otherwise fail to say the very thing it's intended to. In other words, take 'intelligence everywhere' from the Motorola ad and ask yourself would you get to that same idea from the headline and visual alone?
If you're still in doubt look out for the latest Premier Inn ads (especially the 48 sheets) and try to find the link between the headline and the brand strapline/idea it's trying to bring to life.
Everyone has a shit drawer. Not shit per se, but the contents in which it holds. Seemingly too important to throw away but insignificant enough to be kept hidden!
Firmly rooted in good old fashioned postcode mailing targeting techniques, this is what greeted me when i got home this evening.
With no apparent desire to change or evolve like everything else, some imbecile(s) actually commissioned this range of shite. I would love to have the heard the client sell-in or if indeed it was the case, the client's briefing to the agency.
What rock have they been living under? Actually that's insulting to urchins, insects and other simple folk who might call Scoria home. At least these chaps have an understanding and appreciation of their environment even as it changes, which ironically is more than the those douchebags above can be credited with.
Not the best stuff to come out of BMB, especially when you consider the latest Belong/Carling work.
I love my house which is my home. That's fact.
You can't have one without the other unless you're a baggy- turned-up-g-star-black-thick-rimmed-specatcle-wearing douchebag strategist and really believe the metaphor between home and house strikes a chord with anyone except themselves!
I see what they are trying to say and think this would be inspiring stuff for an estate agent, but it's pretty numb/lifeless for a retailer like Ikea. I love my house and the last place I would visit is IKEA because I wouldn't want to furnish it with that homogenous cheap crap you can only buy at IKEA. So I see this all as a bit of a contradiction!
Don't think much of the execution either. It seems really cliched and can't see how this will connect with varied groups of people who want to furnish/update/refresh their homes. It reminds me of a mobile network operator; a shallow humanist surface that is desperately trying to cover up its money grabbing soul. Soft music, technically impressive but wholly irrelevant.
It's coming. Listen carefully and be very afraid. You can hear them beating their drums, it's getting louder...
"Where's the link...
"Where's the link...
"Where's the link".
Quick duck for cover, it's a tribe of planners armed with their 'Ogilvy on Advertsing', Marketing Pocket Book, video camera and a deck of charts. They're here to beat down anyone who dare question the theory of advertising and all the shite that surrounds it. "Advertising is about big ideas, fundamental yah-de-yah-de-yah. "How dare you run an ad without an obvious all-for-everyone-to-see-without-thinking-brand link..." Where's the rational message...."
What's brought on the attack you ask? This.
Well, its a damn sight better than this.
Not to dissimilar from this.
Shits on this.
Well fek me. if it's been quoted by an 'ad guru' then its ok and if not, well you and your brand are screwed. What is this obsession with opinions from men who belong to the land that time forgot to justify or qualify an ad? Why don't we concentrate on what's happening now, because frankly, Mr Bernbach et al would be lost in this day and age.
"What's the link with the gorilla?", "Whats the joy?", "What about Cadbury's?" etc. Sorry but this is all a load of tripe. The only people who need/want to get this are planners and researchers so they can develop a new model that might equip them with the ability to create something as inpsiriational and impactful themselves (without having to rely on a group of lemmings behind a one way mirror to approve their thinking!)
gorilla + phil collins = joy to watch
cadbury = chocolate = joy to eat.
Is there anything else to get? Even then I'm probably delving to deep in the search of a meaning. Basically, this ad is brilliant. It will resonate and it will be remembered. And so, in a category driven by impulse, the smart money has to be on Cadbury.
This is a gem for two reasons:
1. Its not nu-folk shite being played against a sunny utopia that kinda resembles London, but isn't...
2. Phil Collins is the daddy. Period.
Oh and it's changed the conversation from aren't 'Cadbury's contaminated/losing money' to 'was that a gorilla playing the drums..'
It’s really quite simple.
Before I forget, think about this...
"In advertising not to be different is virtually suicidal."
No need for deep strategic insights on this one (and I can't even do that stuff anyway!). No, quite simply, if you can't score, shift the goal posts and hey presto, GOAL!!
