Alastair Crompton put it well and simple in his book Craft of Copywriting: "If you have something to say: say it. If you have nothing to say: use showmanship." Today the latter basic strategy would be a wise choice for many brands. Too often there's nothing unique or truly different about products and services. If so, my advice would be to communicate the company's identity in a compelling way. That is to say: if your organisation has an interesting idea about it's position in the world of customers. If nothing else works: use showmanship. Be interesting. Like Docomo. What to say about a wood cased cellphone? Well, if you use showmanship, it's something like this:
Even if you are IKEA, what interesting things can you say about kitchens?
Or about closets?
So, if you have nothing truly interesting to say about your brand, product or service: use showmanship!
Reading Tom Himpe's book on alternative advertising got me thinking a lot about exciting and engaging ways of making brands connect with people. Much of the stuff he has collected, acts in some sort of public space. But there is even more to be found in more intimate settings. I rediscovered an interesting example on our cook book shelf tonight. It is a book about soup made by Only - a Dutch ad agency that can be easily insulted by calling them just that. I admire them for their very original approach to brand communications. The soup book is made for the Salvation Army and its title reads "Soup for sharing". Its not so difficult to imagine why. Some time ago Only developed a brand for the Salvation Army, based on the thought of sharing. This brand is called '50/50'. In Holland the Salvation Army is well known for collecting old clothes and other household textile. Only got the brilliant idea to reuse these second hand clothes and let fashion stylists take them apart and put them back together into fascinating combinations. Much alike Dance4Life, who succeed in bringing a remote issue to the attention of youth by addressing them in their own language, Only helps the Salvation Army get noticed again by a young and upper class audience. They make the Salvation Army contemporary - cool if you like. The soup book was originally a Danish concept I believe. But Only executed the idea quite nice. The book comes in a cover made from recycled woolen blankets. And they got a set of successful young angry chefs to deliver recipes for soup. Equally talented photographers made the pictures. It's subtly infused with a message too.The Soup is great. The book looks great. And the Salvation Army gets my sympathy and support.Just before updating my Blog I found a pocket book among our toilet reading stuff (sorry): it was issued by a social organisation that protects nature in the Netherlands. In stead of printing some dull magazine or just sending me a request for money, we got an educative book about landscapes, plants and animals just around the corner and various routes for talking a walk or a hike in nature. Very inspiring. Dutch people can get Soup book here and obtain the nature book by Stichting Natuurmonumenten here. I can recommend both books as a gift. To yourself if you like.
Maybe it's because I'm a guy. But I can't help feeling sympathy for brands that try and seduce women to get in touch with their own dark side. Such as Magnum Ice cream did with its Seven Sins campaign. Probably that works because it is built on the easily embraceable truth "Forbidden fruit tastes better". For we all have a little devil inside that needs a bit of a wake-up call every now and then.
It seems as if we have become quite poor in elevating products to premium status. By adding a simple strapline 'New York - Milan - Paris - Rome' to a beauty shot of the product. By placing the product in a setting that represents a slice of happy few life. Or by simply showing off obscure award show logo's as a sign of distinctive quality. Premium positioning by association. A rather shallow approach. Perhaps it is because of my preference for hand crafted things. I really like ads like these ones for Parker. As Bob Isherwood comments them: such ads don't come from the head but from a factory visit. To me they mark an era when products still differed in quality. When you had poor, good and better products. And when service wasn't an intangible product that comes at a certain price, but instead as a little extra that came as a pleasant surprise. To exceed your expectations; an act of sympathy. Of course we tell each other that people cannot be bothered with long copy because of the information overload. However, I tend to believe that if you have something interesting and simply convincing to tell about the superior quality of a product, people do want to know. I want to know. If a product is truly better than others, the story deserves to be told. Because what you buy is a story, not the product itself nor some vague reference to another product category like fashion or perfume if the ad is about a pencil. Excuse me: for writing instrument.
I found this classic in The Art Direction Book. The typography is the idea. Reading it comes quite close to a bit of an experience. The demonstration of a point. I love this simplicity. Art: Paul Arden.
I think strategic planning is much about finding a convincing, compelling or at least interesting truth. Something the people you are trying to connect with will embrace. Some notion, vision or thought that could elicit a response like "...and THAT's exactly how it is!" The fresher the thought, the better. Yet the quest for freshness of thought often ends with far fetched and constructed ideas. This French AIDS prevention commercial (TBWA/Paris) is, in my opinion, a good example of great strategic thinking - i.e Truth finding. For it isn't particularly easy to convince youth of the clear and present danger of AIDS/HIV. If you talk to youngsters you will find out that they all aspire to have an exciting active sex life (inspired to search at the fringes; just look at MTV...). And at the same time they share a quite oldfashioned hope to get married, have kids and start a family life. "Live long enough to find the right one." That's the clever truth of this commercial - clever because it unites two different and seemingly contradictory worldviews (I want lots of sex AND I want to settle in the end). Great execution, too!
Update: This commercial is a sequel; find the (first) girl version here. (thanks Yves)
I think Dove perfectly understood how to build an icon brand. They recognized that Northern European women deep down don't agree with the beauty myth they've been brought up with. Dove started a revolution. By telling the story of true, and thus imperfect, beauty. One that will be happily picked up by modern women and girls to cement their identities as strong and independent personalities.
Last Thursday I got the first chance to take a look at the award winning work of this year's Cannes Advertising festival. Again lots of serious and intelligent ideas awarded among print and outdoor. And again lots of funny ads awarded on TV. Is humour such a strong vehicle for communications? I certainly think it is. Aiming for a laugh works disarming and engaging. It leaves one of the most pleasant impressions. Humour often travels easy. And let's not forget that in current times marketing communications need some entertainment value - unless you have something really impressive to share with the rest of the world. Most of the time we don't... But is telling a good joke enough to create a powerfull communications idea? I stick with the advice I picked up many years ago: If your ad works like a joke, you can test it by removing the brand from the joke. If you then still have a joke, the brand will most probably remain unnoticed. You'll end up with an ad that people refer to as "Hey, did you see that funny ad? Yes, but what was it for?". If the joke is no longer a joke when you remove the brand from it's storyline or clue, then you may have a diamond in the rough.
This example of outstanding copy writing deserves an award more special than a Cannes Lion. This goes so much further than having an interesting vocabulary. What an unexpected twist. Master!
The best stories are probably those who leave something to the imagination of the audience. An open ending... See for yourself how Volkswagen agency Arnold used this powerfull technique. Although, I wonder what will remain in the viewers mind: the Volkswagen or the question that defines the art of Storytelling - '...and what happens next?'. What do YOU think is going on in her mind and what happens next?
Chip Heath: Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die I found this one of the better books on the hot topics of storytelling and engagement. Where many authors present a couple of far fetched characteristics, the Heath brothers come up with insightful observations on what makes a remarkable story. (****)
Alastair Crompton: Craft of Copywriting This referencebook is as much about the craft of advertising as it is about copywriting. Although is was first published in 1979, it contains many truths still valid today. Reading a book like this helps shifting hype and Zeitgeist from intrinsic laws. My copy came from an anonymous technical college library and it was never opened. I'm glad that I did. (***)
Bob Gill: LogoMania I quite liked this booklet. In a witty, direct style it provides some insight into the art of design concepts. Interesting to anyone with a broad interest in communication arts. Gill demonstrates some fresh thinking. (***)
Malcolm Gladwell: Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking After the Tipping Point, this book is quite disappointing. The idea of Blink moments is interesting. But Gladwell doesn't make as strong a point as with the Tipping Point. His examples demonstrate both the accuracy as well as great failure of people to judge correctly in a blink. (**)
Seth Godin: Purple Cow Triggered by All Marketers are liars, I expected a lot from this book. I found it a bit disappointing. After classics such as Eating the Big Fish, Blue Ocean Strategy and Disruption, Godin fails to add something significant. All American brand examples don't make it better for a European reader. (*)
Martin Lindstrom: Brand Sense Maybe I expected too much of this book. I think there's more to sensory branding. Yet it contains a couple of comprehensive tools and pointers. (**)
Cooper: How to Plan Advertising Although this book was written in the late eighties, most of its contents still hold true. A valuable source book for those who take strategic planning seriously. (****)
Robert Greene: Concise Art of Seduction Recent brain research leads us back to the belief that seduction is stronger than argument. This booklet offers an inspiring overview of types of seducers and ways of secuction to get your thinking started. (**)
Crispin Porter + Bogusky: Hoopla An entertaining book about an entertaining agency that turned branded entertainment into an art. I much admire these guys for their contribution to the (r)evolution in advertising. (***)
Pim van den Berg: Ondernemen is een Straatfeest Inspiring book by a Dutch guy who invented 'street-o-logy'. Or: the fine art of observation and surprise. (***)
Tom Himpe: Advertising is dead, long live advertising A very helpful inventory and analysis of an art that in full organic development: alternative advertising. Must read for any planner and creative. Full of inspiring examples. The only standard work on the subject I've spotted so far. (****)
Paco Underhill: Why We Buy: The Science Of Shopping As with many true things, it all seems so simple and intuitive. Nevertheless this book is an eye opener. I will never see shops and shoppers the same anymore. (***)
Malcolm Gladwell: The tipping point Cram full of interesting and fascinating stories. Gladwell doesn't provide instant solutions but very useful food for thought when you try to stimulate or stop things of epidemic proportion. (*****)
