“Advertising isn’t a science its persuasion. And persuasion is an art.”Bill Bernbach, co-founder of DDB and creator of the legendary VW campaign
A planner asked me recently who Bill Bernbach was.
I said that “he invented modern advertising and the fact that you don’t know who he is should be regarded as a fireable offence”.
The Last Judgement by Rubens 1577 – 1640 So here is the idea. We love great thinking. We love great work. We believe great thinking…
I’m enlisting good women and men ‘husky’ or not for the big push, the ulitmate scrap, the conflict to end all conflicts. As we know the run-in with the management consultancies was a mere skirmish, the real deal is the mother of all battles brewing between the ad agencies and the brand consultancies.
They want our lunch and they are no bloody good at it – handy with a logo but when it comes to business changing ideas they are woolley thinkers every man jack of them and slow and expensive into the bargain. Here is my opening salvo – a letter that appeared in Campaign this week.
Brighton Pavillion, described by Lady Sydney Morgan as a ‘toyshop of royal bad taste’ and like most advertising pretty but useless.
Advertising’s ills are many, manifest and increasingly well documented. Many people out there blame the inflexibilty and self interest of the agencies (and I post extensively on this) but how about the clients? I have become increasingly concerned that the greatest threat to advertising is the way clients use it – not as a business tool but as a corporate bauble.
“Good advice is almost certain to be ignored but that is no reason not to give it” Agatha Christie.
A while ago I posted some advice for young planners that I contributed to a Romanian advertising blog. It got a few mentions out there and a nice person from the US called Stacy asked if she could use it to send to client agenices in the US – she helps train planners in smaller agencies. And I got a bit self conscious since the advice I gave was rather thin. So I have updated it – a few more pointers and a lot more context. Of course you don’t need to be starting out to find it useful but I wouldn’t want to be that presumptuous.
The ethics of advertising to children is naturally a hot topic. Who should be allowed to advertise, what should they be allowed to advertise, when should they be allowed to advertise and which advertising techniques should they be allowed to use? However, the ethics of promotions aimed at kids seems less of a debate when I think they have a potentially far more damaging effect.
My eldest son has this toy. It is a cow (I think) which normally stands erect but when you push the base upwards it collapses. It perfectly describes how I feel when I come across lacklustre or cliched thinking – flacid, deflated and lacking in the strength to perform simple tasks like standing up properly.
From now on I will submit the strategies of the moment to the Strategy Cow for her to pass judgement.
In addition this service is offered absolutely free to you dear readers – simply submit a strategy of the moment to the Strategy Cow and see what she thinks.
By the way following no popular demand whatsoever the Agrarian Ajudicator has set up shop here
I have been re-reading the Clive Challis book about Helmut Krone – Bernbach’s legendary art director. It reminded me how much better it was in reality than in my head. I encourage you to look beyond the cliche of ‘we try harder’ and engage again with the strategy and more importantly the execution of this campaign. This is advertising at it’s most effortless, most engaging and most persuasive. And look no logo – the best branded campaign in advertising history had no logos in it big or small.
Advertising really can be this easy if we stop getting bogged down in irrelevant strategic discussion, stop navel gazing, stop living in fear of the future and get back to the basics of creative persuasion.
See you on the barricades
The First World war didn’t end on the 11th November 1918. This was merely an armistice. The war ended a year later with the Paris Peace Conference and the Treaty of Versailles that followed.
I think that it is high time that the armistice maintained between creative and media agencies since our historic schism in the mid 90s be concluded with a peace conference and final treaty.
