Let's talk about mediocrity

One of the reasons the creative output in most places that have a creative department, is totally forgettable is due to one thing:

Fear.

Fear of taking a risk, fear of getting it wrong, fear of getting it right, fear of standing out, fear of failure, all those fear reasons.

So what does the agency produce instead?

Mediocrity.

When you have too many people trying to second guess the target group, when you have too many people who have to "weigh in on the creative" whether they have any training or not or because their title or their culture is the "it takes a village" mentality (which is the worse), what gets produced is: mediocrity. And mediocrity translates to invisible. 99% of all creative I see is mediocre at best.

And it's because marketing and creative are afraid to take a risk. People have forgotten what it is to listen to their inner voice. People that have the talent and training to strive for great creative solutions are reduced to order takers by inept marketing people who wield way too much power. And believe me, it doesn't take much to beat a creative department into submission.

I see it over and over again.

When an agency or group is overloaded with account service and keeps creative people enslaved to their Mac's, this is a sign that everything is out of balance and nothing really break through will come from this model.

When I read articles in AdAge and Marketing and all the trade pubs about "the death of creative" or " why is nothing notable coming from the creative side" ... this is why.

Is it any wonder, that the "new" silver bullet is social media (a p.r. function) and all the other new digital and mobil tactics?

Everyone has pretty much given up on "the message" and gone with "the medium" as the new creative....which is also absurd...

Regardless of the tactics...if you produce mediocrity...you send out mediocrity...and the perception is mediocrity....every time.

Creatives...it's time to get your game on...time for a new creative revolution...which means creative people have to be strong and not be afraid to be the best and do their best...and to champion great work...in the face of great odds and in the face of people who can't see great work...it is our job to stop being willing to accept mediocrity as the best we can do.

Mediocrity is meaningless. Mediocrity is where people who are scared seem safe and invisible

and not answerable to anyone or anything.

It's time for a new creative revolution. May Doyle Dane and Bernbach be with you.

New Year New Way of Looking at Ads

Happy New Year one and all. Let's hope this year brings some really great ad campaigns with BIG IDEAS driving the brands rather than tactical gimmicks and overdone special effects that have no reason for being other than trying to make you think they are creating an idea when in fact the overuse of special effects is to mask the fact that there is nothing really going on idea-wise.

I just finished looking at the 5 top ads that were most viewed on YOutube in 2011. I have to say, it was pathetic. One was for T-Mobile and it's no wonder they are in the toilet financially when I see the pathetic, non-sensical ads they are running. Another was for some water Jennifer Anniston was hawking and it was also just another spokesperson ad with some gratuituous b.s. thrown in, meant to be humourous but instead was humourless.

The only two that seemed to resonate with me of course was Old Spice and the Chrysler ad that ran for the SuperBowl with the tag line: Imported from Detroit....now that's a great ad.

Whatever has been put in the KoolAide, let's hope the Creative folks have figured out it causes lobotomies and they stop drinking it.

Also, it's time to mentor and guide the account groups it seems. They also have lost their way when ads of this low calibre are being sold to clients. It's no wonder clients feel bamboozled....because they are....

It's also time for agencies to start hiring people over the age of 40 to bring some refreshing ideas and real thinking to the creative table. Otherwise the creative side of the business is definitely going to become extinct...it's well on its way as it is....

Cheers and I hope to be showcasing some great work and some ghastly work this year as usual.

The best ideas...

...are always the simplest...and so is this the case for the newest from DDBLondon (of course) for

the clothier Harvey Nichols...there are no words, you don't need them...watch:

tiff bell lightbox, Grace Kelly and me...

I had a bit of a contract doing some work launching the Grace Kelly campaign for the exhibition at tiff bell lightbox in Toronto. It was my first time working for a not for profit arts and working from inside the not for profit rather than working from the ad agency side.

It's exciting to be part of a campaign of this magnitude and involved in its shape. It truly is a huge undertaking and includes all the same processes as branding a consumer product or service. What is great is seeing the campaign integrate across so many different variables. Of course there's print, radio, web and splash pages, eblasts, direct response, invitations, promotions and various phases: like pre-opening, opening, holidays, and end phases. Additonally there are banners and building scrims, and elevator doors and a myriad of other smaller venues to get the messaging out.

The subject matter, Grace Kelly, would seem a slam dunk, but the other consideration is reaching a new, younger target group of people who may not know who Grace Kelly is. She died in a car accident 30 years ago, so for much of our younger group, she was gone before they were born. Plus, she didn't have a long movie career. Most of her life was spent as a mother raising a family and representing her husband's tiny country of Monaco as their Princess. So it wasn't like she was a powerful Princess. Her power lie in her beauty. And that she truly was.

We were fortunate to have some incredible photos to choose from. And the campaign photo we chose, is absolutely stunning.

We created two separate window scrims. One announcing the exhibition and in the same vein as the main campaign, but we also created a scrim of old Toronto newspapers, with every article on the papers about her wedding. Instead of still photos, the photo areas have been cutout and using flat screens her wedding is projected and the newspapers look like the magical newspapers in Harry Potter movies. People love to stop on the sidewalk and watch and read the articles.

The exhibition is on until January 22 and it's very interesting. It's gotten great revues and well worth an hour or so of your time. It's at the tiff bell lightbox in Toronto at King and John Sts.

open everyday except Mondays. Check it out.

Sanders/Wingo

Sanders/ Wingo is a smallish agency in El Paso and Austin Texas. They handle a great roster of clients like :

State Farm Insurance, AT&T, El Paso Electric and a small artsy movie theatre called Alamo Drafthouse (it's embedded below this post as an example of their work). This regional agency embodies the philosophy that ads don't have to hit you over the head to be memorable. They believe the people the ads are directed to are the real creative directors, that being in touch with people and insightful about the human condition, is a higher place, where all people strive to be. Besides the screechingly funny spots for Alamo Drafthouse, they further prove their abilities to be quintessential with a promotional video for the Convention Visitors Bureau of El Paso. In the 4 or 5 minutes there is one sentence: "Can you still get someplace real in America" and from there you are taken to a visual slice and dice of all the usual shots you always find in most CVB promos accompanied with a southwest influence, of course. HOWEVER, there is ONE HUGE difference: they took those standard stock shots and did amazing, impeccably timed editing to a BRILLIANT, EMOTIVE AND EVOCATIVE music track. By the end of it I am dancing. And they are making trips to the podium.

I love this agency. They do fresh, original, tasteful work. The idea is king and you know this by the lack of big production values. It's their level of thinking, their level of writing, their level of ideas, their use of strong emotive music and even more brilliant is their use of holding back, that answers one of their main criteria: "is it magical".

Check them out: http://www.sanderswingo.com/

Don't Talk - Angry Voicemail (Uncensored)

Walmart does it right with the Martin Agency

Walmart's ad campaign from the Martin Agency is fabulous.

The series feature a few seconds opening with several items. Some I am sure, are shown and mentioned because alone, they don't constitute enough revenue to get a commercial, but as part of a group they warrant a see and say (which is very clever on the agency's part). So items relevant to the story coming up are featured on the checkout belt before the spot begins. Then we get the scenario for using the items by kids ages oh 4 to 7 I would guess. The 3 spots I have seen so far have been charming. One for skin cream, one for fabric softener and laundry detergent and another for a chain saw and shortening.

The thing about Walmart and its ads is they are such a huge chain, with many years of advertising behind them from every agency known to man. Some are good spots but none have been great, until now. I can only imagine how difficult it is to sell in anything charming or funny to the boys from Benton. But Martin Agency has managed to do it. And to incorporate the co-oping of products relevant to these spots upfront is a brilliant way to answer what I am sure was probably a strategy "must have" seamlessly into the spots.

What is also great is the directing. Whoever is handling the shoots for these is a genius. The kids are really natural in their delivery. Which is what makes these commercials so very special.

The tone, the attitude, the delivery, the writing and art directing are bang on. Kudos to the Martin Agency who has shown us that having a behemoth account like Walmart doesn't mean you have to give up and sacrifice great creative, which every other agency that's ever worked with them has done.

Being The Yardstick

Finding an agency home is a gruelling process even at the best of times. When you are a candidate that is toyed with and held up as the yard stick against which others are measured, it becomes almost unbearable. Agency owners do this all the time. They really have no intention of hiring you. Never did. But they will do a phone interview or two just to get an idea of how you think, what you think, your take on their shop, the future of the ad game etc. etc. Meantime, their old buddy from agency X is really who they intend to hire. And it was a done deal even before the agency owner picked up the phone to talk to you. But the rub is; you don't know that until after the fact. They lead you on. They let you think there is a real chance of a position, maybe even a partnership. But that is their game. And these guys must all go to the same old boys school because it is becoming more and more frequent. And it stinks. Some even have the gaul to tell you that after keeping you on the hook for a week or two, never returning an email inquiry about the status of the position or having the decency to call and tell you in person that they've hired their old pal, that if their old buddy doesn't work out, they'll give ya a call. Wink wink, nudge nudge. Right. You can fool me once.

Discover Card - Peggy Customer Service #1

Discover Peggy

On the flip side of my last entry, there is the wonderful campaign created by the Martin Agency for the Discover Card. It is a series of TV spots with a spokesperson called "Peggy". But Peggy isn't your ordinary hawker. The Martin Agency creatives obviously have tapped into a few of the consumer's biggest gripes about credit cards: 1.) the rewards systems 2.) customer service and 3.) replacing a lost card and on and on and on....Peggy can address all these problems and more....and so she/he does with brilliant writing, fabulous acting and a charming set. These spots can't help but make you smile and better yet, colorfully tap into the consumer's imagination of who is really on the other end of their customer service calls. This is brilliant, charming, memorable and has all the right stuff that great advertising is all about. Cudos to a big agency that sold this to Discover Card. There is still a small light out there in the distance...