Our day at IPA Campaign Planning 2012

Sometimes, life at the School of Communication Arts can settle into a bit of a routine. That doesn't mean it's dull, just that it follows certain patterns.

So yesterday, despite the early start, was a welcome change. 14 of us dropped in on IPA Training's campaign planning conference, to act as creative guinea-pigs for the participants. They'd been working for two days on a brief to extend Tetley's brand appeal to middle and lower-middle class women in the south, who currently saw Tetley's as northern, irrelevant, out-of-touch, and outdated.

They'd split up into 7 strategy teams, so each one was assigned a team of 2 creatives. The brief Olly and I were given was to reposition Tetley "as a reassuring partner to support the ups and downs in everyday life" and make it a brand that "lets you embrace the unknown inherent to everyday life". The Tetley Tea Folk were to be killed and unceremoniously disposed of.

We developed 3 creative strategies for them in the morning session - a fairly weak one that met the brief, a strong one that met the brief but also took it into new pastures, and a third one that ignored the brief and found a way to keep the Tetley Tea Folk whilst appealing to a new set of customers. After much discussion, they plumped for number 2 - which had taken their strategy but substituted the word "extraordinary" for "unknown".

So the plan was to show that everyday life had changed since the timewarp-stuck cliches of the Tea Folk, and that behind the simple details of our life lie great talents, strange hobbies, unexpected friendships, and genuine suffering. And Tetley would position itself as a modern brand, providing a constant in these strange, disjointed lives we lead.

In the afternoon and after dinner, we got our ideas down on paper, and made revisions after discussion with the team. In the end we managed to churn out 4 characters, 4 TV ad synopses (including a twist that could extend the concept into a second campaign), 2 single page press ads, 2 double page press ads, a rough packaging design, and an online / experiential idea. Not bad for an afternoon's work (there's a photo at the bottom) - and it could even be something that makes its way into our portfolio.

The planning team pitched today in our absence to Tetley's marketing people - we're waiting to find out if we / they won. But even if not, the day was immensely valuable...

I learned that the brief you get from the planner can be very tight, and very focused. But I also learned that this could be inspiring.
This may not go for all planners, but I learned that challenging a brief, or at least pushing the boundaries, is always worth a try.
I learned that the more options you offer, the better the chance of getting one through.
I learned that if you knuckle down, you can produce a lot in an afternoon.
I learned that being able to articulate your creative strategy is as important as being able to produce it.
And finally, I learned that planners and account managers are absolutely lovely people, hard-working, enthusiastic, and as passionate as any of us about seeing great creative work hit the public. Or at least, the young ones are.

Virgin Media Success Kid

Funny, how things turn out. In 2007, a lady called Laney Griner took a photo of her baby son playing on a beach. It was one of those amusing photos that 10 years ago would certainly have remained in her drawer - or at least on her computer.

But the internet has moved on, and like many others, she found that once you put something out there, it doesn't really belong to you anymore. And somehow her snap had become a recurring internet meme known as "Success Kid", like this:

 

I suppose one might find this annoying, although Ms Griner appears to be relaxed about the attention - as her son is now 4, it's not like he's going to get recognised.

But she also got her just reward in the end, as Virgin Media have now paid to use her image on their latest outdoor campaign.

I'm not actually sure if this was done before or after the great DDB-BBH handover, but whichever, it shows the value of being immersed in culture of any sort. Anyone who's in on the joke will love it and remember it, and if you're not, it's an amusing photo all by itself.

The boy is not called Tim, though.

Same idea, two treatments

Just saw 2 ads in as many ad breaks with basically the same concept - that the client's standard service is so good, the customer will assume they are being given special treatment. Not a hugely original idea, but it makes a valid selling point, so let's see how they compare.

First up is Staples, with a script that has "first draft" and "will this do" and "I really haven't made any progress since I left college, have I?" written all over it. Clunky exposition and a total absence of wit are the chief ingredients. This ad *might* have been produced by McCann Erickson, but I can't be sure. Once again, the duds seem to find their way onto the internet as poor orphans, unwanted and unloved.

Meanwhile, DDB London produced this spot for Kwik Fit, and stands up reasonably well to the client's imposing heritage in the ad world. The take on the concept is believable and the voice over explains the story in a way that is far less contrived than the tortured dialogue and Staples. The acting and editing, too, are a class above.

Students? Really?

Look at the fucking size of their lounge!

(Taken from AMV BBDO's ads for BT - which to be fair are a hell of a lot less annoying than these kind of set-ups can be.)

Precocious kids in ads

Getting a child to play an adult role can be a bit of a fallback technique in TV adverts. At its best, it can be done with charm and wit, as Vauxhall did not so long ago, in one of my favourite ever adverts:

Lately, there's been a little rash of them. Here's Tesco with a Mother's Day themed ad by the Red Brick Road, including a boy doing a disconcertingly good impression of Mrs Overall's voice:

JWT pitch in with this slot promoting Harvester restaurants:

And lastly, this BBH slot for Waitrose. It's not quite the same theme as the others, but close enough:

All of them pretty decent ads, though I think the Harvester one stands out. The Heston one seems just a little rushed, like it's the 6th in a series of 10. The Tesco one seems to be going for "kids acting adult and posh", but the overall impression the boys give is, well, pretty much one of inevitable homosexuality. Nothing wrong with that, but a bit distracting. The Harvester ad, in the meantime, feels like just a little more effort has gone into it, and keeps the tone fresh and down to earth.

Find the agency that made this gash...

My usual procedure when analysing ads goes something like this:

See ad / respond with delight or revulsion / find ad on YouTube to post / find information from Campaign or other site to see which agency made it / post blog.

But for this Lynx advert, I seem to have drawn a blank. No-one's owning up to it. I'm going to be nice to BBH again and assume they didn't make this. Partly because if they did make it, it would be credited somewhere, and also, it would be quite possibly the worst work ever to emerge from the agency. My guess is that it's in-house, but I'd be interested to see if anyone knows.

Unfunny, badly acted, inappropriate music, a jarring pack shot with no relation to the ad, it's a mess all round. It's like the client told the agency "we want synergy with The Lynx Effect brand, but we need to differentiate too. So make it like it, but shit".

I love you really, BBH

Yesterday, I blogged about an advert for Dulux that I erroneously credited to Glue Isobar - turns out they're actually just handling the digital, and the TV ad was produced by BBH.

Which is nice as it redresses the balance after I was so critical of their Guardian ad, and gives me the opportunity to say that I think BBH are a great agency who have produced and are still producing absolutely inspirational work. They just drop the ball occasionally.

Dulux shag (and dog) story

I do rather like this ad, made by Glue Isobar [EDIT - actually made by BBH, see here for more]. It shows perfectly how advertising can demonstrate how their product fits, practically and emotionally, into ordinary people's lives.

The editing is great too - the change of pace when the door opens and closes is beautifully done, and adds just a little hook that makes the ad more attention-grabbing. And the story arc is neatly bookmarked by the painting red over white at the start and painting white over red at the end, as childish concerns obliterates marital lust.

What Dee and Ady taught me

First off, an apology. This blog was required of me by my school, so I apologise if it comes across like one of those awful student blogs that is clearly a mandatory requirement of passing the course, complete with a clunking "what I learned" section at the end.

Last week was the deadline for the D&AD student awards. I managed to get an entry away before the deadline - with my partner Olly we've entered the "Peace One Day" brief, which asked us to find ways to raise awareness of International Peace Day, which is on September 21st. Look, I'm raising awareness even now.

The first thing that I learned is that D&AD operate with a level of control and paranoia I haven't experienced since I had a call from the Disney trademark infringement department a few years back. To be fair, their staff are lovely, but their rules and regulations are remarkably stringent. For example, you can't use any copyrighted images without permission except those of the sponsor - and as ours involved suggesting a corporate tie-in, this meant half our time was spent on the phone begging them to let us use their logo.

My belief in the strength of creative partnerships was reinforced considerably. More than any other project we've worked on, where very often the idea has been mostly down to one of us, this was one that we could never have produced without each other. The strategy - finding ways in which the themes of peace and conflict can be found in our everyday life - was mine. This then inspired Olly to have an idea - which I then researched and suggested an improvement to, including the name. And then we pushed the idea forward together.

You have to learn to be careful when asking for advice, because you can easily lose sight of the objective - winning the award. We spoke to a very helpful industry insider and used many of his technical hints, whereas the creative advice suggested was more appropriate for a business pitch rather than an awards entry.

And lastly, I learned that Olly Wood is the most talented, dedicated, and reliable Art Director in the known universe.

Thanks. I'll be gushing or sarcastic about another advert tomorrow.

O2 stalking me over the weekend

On Friday I posted about a particularly aggravating ad from O2 that had polluted my consciousness.

The thing is, in bringing it to your attention, I wanted to find a clip, so I searched for it on YouTube. Then I wanted to find out the agency so I did a search on Google. Finally, I posted it here on Blogger, which is linked to my Google account.

It may be that only one of these was picked up by the ad servers. Maybe it was all 3. But the result was, the fucking ad kept following me around over the weekend, every time I tried to watch a YouTube video. I started making screenshots after a while...

I did so much skipping I felt like an 8 year old girl by Sunday night.

O2 - could be the longest minute of your life

Well sometimes I analyse ads on their business strategy, sometimes on their execution, or the acting, or the overall creative strategy. Other times I might take an amateurish look at the behavioural economics employed.

I'd like to give this advert, by VCCP, the same courtesy. But I can't get beyond the first 10 seconds without the single thought "oh God please just make her shut the fuck up" overriding all others in my mind, and blindly reaching for the mute button like an asthmatic for their inhaler.

This may be one of those occasions where I'm on my own. But is there really anyone who would hear the winsome trilling about "ticky-tacky boxes" and think to themselves "ooh, this is an advert I'm going to pay attention to right until the end"?

Mameshiba - don't eat cute beans

This, like much that comes out of Japan, is frankly weird. But it's also wonderful - and it appears to be the work of an advertising agency alone, made for no other purpose than to sell merchandise.

Mameshiba, produced by Dentsu, are a series of animated beans - with dog faces - that somehow prevent themselves from being eaten by sharing unusual trivia. Here they are...

And here's what they do...

We're currently working on a brief for Sherbet Fountain so the emphasis is on finding something to entertain kids and adults alike. I'm not sure something this surreal would quite work for the British market, but I'll be pleased to create something with half its charm.

D&AD Awards / Creative Circle Awards

Today Molly (just about) finished our entry for the D&AD student awards. We're feeling pretty good about it, we've had some great feedback from mentors at the school, and we've tweaked just about as much as anything will take being tweaked.

Due to D&AD rules, I'm not a liberty to show you the idea until we know whether it's won or not. But it was interesting to note that the advice was either given, or had to be taken, in two ways. Firstly, in terms of what you would do if actually approaching the client, and secondly, how you would convince an awards judge to put you through.

Which raises the question of what extent I might end up doing that as a creative professional. I'm not the first person to ask it, but it's a timely one, as the Creative Circle Awards are descending into booze-soaked chaos at the Roundhouse as we speak.

I haven't had chance to check through all their winners, largely due to their website's flashy but frustrating (ok, just plain fucking stupid) interface, but the Gold of Golds for John Lewis (by Adam&Eve) is fully deserved. And you can bet that the creatives' focus was aimed fully at the needs of the client.

But then there's work like BMB's ad for Thomson's Holidays, which won a Gold. I've critiqued it before, and the disconnect between the well-spoken, precociously articulate boy and his well-dressed family, the luxurious locations, and the instagram-y filtering on one hand, and the type of low-cost mass-market holidays that Thomsons sell on the other, still persists.

It feels like an advert the agency made for themselves, not for their client and certainly not for the audience (unless the creatives genuinely thought families watching the X-Factor were going to be captivated by a bit of cod philosophy over a piano re-working of The Pixies, in which case, can I have their jobs please?).

I have no problem winning awards. I just hope never to win an award and be ashamed of it.

The best ad on TV so far this year...

...and I can't find any bloody video of it.

It's for Virgin Media - and it's not really an ad at all, but a guerilla takeover of another (willing) brand's ad. You see the start of another advert (Yeo Valley and Citroen have so far been involved), but it is constantly interrupted by a buffering symbol.

The ad then asks viewers why they put up with buffering online when we wouldn't on TV. It's a very simple idea, and plays cleverly on the mental frames we apply to different viewing experiences.

But most importantly, there were 3 of us in the living room when it came on, and as soon as the buffering symbol appeared and the music stalled, the advert had our undivided attention. And that's a huge achievement.

I believe credit goes to the media agency fifty6 for this one. Nice to see creative ideas not just coming from the agencies.

Otrivine: Art Direction by Harry Beck

Another one raised by a friend on social media, commenting "Hi Ad agencies. When putting together a campaign to go on the Tube, a variation on the tube map is a *fucking lame idea*".

He has a point. I wouldn't be so utterly opposed on principle to including tube map elements, it'd have to be done a whole lot better than this. It's pretty clear that no thinking went in to the message they wanted to get across, or the branding, just "let's use the tube map". And it doesn't work anyway, as a blocked nose is usually in the latter stages of a cold, after sore throat, sneezing, feeling ill, etc.

The strapline - "a fast way to unblock your nose" utterly betrays the lack of brand thought. How does that stop me buying Sterimar, Olbas Oil, Vicks, Sudafed, etc?

Saatchi and Saatchi Switzerland were apparently responsible for this mess. The sad thing is, I imagine them being quite proud of it.

Against The Grain - another look at THAT Guardian ad

Yesterday I wrote about BBH and my somewhat tepid reaction to their new Guardian ad. It was written in a hurry, and though I stand by my general opinion, I perhaps should have concentrated more on the faults of the advert and less on the part only relevant to the industry. Also, the criticism of them for using Ringan Ledwidge was on reflection unfair - and I hard to find fault with someone who names their production company Rattling Stick.

Anyway. What want to talk about today is conformity and peer pressure, because it seems that some of the theories explained in "Nudge" by Thaler and Sunstein might easily apply to the discussion of the advert yesterday at the School of Communication Arts. A couple of quotations...

"People become more likely to conform when they know that other people will see what they have to say".


"Because people do think that everyone has their eyes fixed on them, they conform to what they think people expect".


"If the confederate [someone infiltrating a group discussion in an experiment] spoke confidently and firmly, his judgement had a strong influence on the group's assessment".

All of this was relevant yesterday, when we were presented the advert in School at the morning Town Hall. By the time we saw it, there was a weight of opinion that it was good. And the initial overall reaction of the assembled students was "it's great".

Did every single student really like it? Or was it because we've been conditioned to automatically think of BBH's work as good, because of their previous excellent work, not to mention Sir John Hegarty's generous support for the School? I think it's certainly telling that when I rather short-sightedly praised their "Aviators" advert, it was just after being shown it while visiting the agency, one day before it was released publicly, by a very proud employee.

And did it make a difference that Marc, the Dean of the School, who showed us the work, is undeniably a confident, firm, and convincing speaker - and had already tweeted his approval of the ad the night before? And once some students had expressed approval, this combined pressure on anyone with a contrary opinion to keep it to themselves was enormous.

And what's equally interesting is that it was only after one person (who happened to be me, another confident speaker) spoke out against the ad, and a mentor from a well-known agency who I won't name expressed some agreement with my views, that the balance started to shift, and at least two other people were emboldened enough to voice mixed feelings about it.

This isn't about who was right or wrong. For me, it was simply a neat demonstration of how a group consensus can be created or changed not just by persuasion and evaluation, but by what was - even if not intentionally - a psychological power struggle between two individuals.

And if this makes morning Town Hall at the School of Communication Arts sound like a particularly tense scene from 12 Angry Men, then all the better, I say.

Why I'm not that fussed about BBH's Guardian ad

It's the talk of the town right now. There's no doubt that it's beautifully made with a lot of wit and great attention to detail. But it's left me feeling a little cold, for various reasons.

Firstly, there's always the sense that BBH ads will always be greeted with great fanfare, regardless of the quality. It's almost as though there's an expectation that they'll be great, because of their big successes, and we all gather round our TVs like it's Princess Diana's funeral all over again. I know this because I wrote favourably about their BA ad when it came out, but now I think of it as overblown and self-satisfied.

There's also the additional worry that some elements look rather reminiscent of BBH's campaign for Google Chrome, and Ringwan Ledwidge almost seems like a default choice of director now. It's just getting a little bit "BBH house style".

The second objection is that it doesn't just carry the simple emotional weight of The Guardian's iconic "different points of view" ad. We have an instant emotional response to the image of a skinhead running at you, and to the twist that he's actually helping you out - which you will never get out of a slightly contrived take on a fairytale. In fact I'm struggling to remember what the "twist" in the BBH ad actually was.

The BBH ad takes 4 times as long to get across a message less effectively. And if you look at the Guardian page introducing the advert, it's clear they were looking to promote the idea of "open journalism" - whereas this advert mostly shows the news being reported in the normal way, and other people commenting on it - just as top-down a system as it ever was.

The "different point of view" ad was made by DDB in 1986. I just don't think we'll be talking about the 3 Little Pigs ad in 2038. And that's because this ad targets your brain where the skinhead ad gets you in the heart and in the gut.