The Goat That Ate Its Own Legs

I wrote a post a couple of months ago about ad people who have written books.

Well, now we have a new name for the list.

Alex Burrett, formerly top radio producer at BBH, has written what sounds like a cracking book of short stories called My Goat Ate Its Own Legs.

Characters in the tales include the ex’s of both God and Death, a dog addicted to cocaine, a couple who literally merge through the intensity of their mutual lust, and another who eat their kids. Plus the goat that ate its own legs.

The cover has a bite chewed out of it. I like that.

A Terrifying Counter-Theory

A colleague has just sent me this oldish but influential article on Low Involvement Processing, by Robert Heath.

The article makes two main conclusions: one good for us, one terrifying.

The good one is that Heath believes emotional advertising is far more effective than rational messaging.

"I believe... the majority of successful UK advertising campaigns... do not succeed by getting over rational performance-based messages, but by building up simple yet potent associations and linking them to brands."

We can all be happy about that, can't we? No more 'science bit' that the client makes us put in and is delighted with, and which everyone else completely ignores.

However, the reason Heath prefers emotional advertising is because he reckons ads are 'low involvement processed', i.e. consumers aren't paying active conscious attention to ads and so don't pick up facts and rational stuff, but do pick up feelings and associations.

And the conclusion we must draw from that is it doesn't really matter whether your ad is 'noticed' or not.

We all talk constantly about the need to 'stand out', 'get noticed', 'get talked about'.

I've even written about how there's no point doing an ad that looks like something people have seen before, since they'll just screen it out, in the same way that early man screened out 'that rock' and 'that tree', and would only notice 'holy shit, a sabre-toothed tiger' things he had not seen before.

But maybe being noticed doesn't matter, as long as you create the right associations.

I'm reminded of this piece by Jon Howard that talked about an ad for Amoy sauce which generated virtually no awareness, but a big sales uplift. The ad was 'invisible', but worked.

If true, this is all a bit worrying, isn't it?

"They're feral, cruel and ruthless"

Director: Jeff Labbe; Copywriter: Scamp; Art Director: Scowling A.D.; Creative Director: Nick Gill

This piece of film we made for children's charity Barnardo's was released this morning; it's had coverage on BBC Breakfast TV, the Today programme on Radio 4, and others, which I'm delighted about.

I've always been interested in language and use of language, so it was gratifying to get an idea out which is on that theme.

Here's the link to the BBC's online coverage, plus they've opened up a forum on the subject, which has attracted over 900 comments (as at 11.30am). Obviously not everyone will agree with what we're saying, but it's great to see a proper debate about society's changing attitude towards children.

The Science Of Having An Idea

I've written before about How To Tell If You've Had An Idea in which I described how my own (regrettably rare) 'lightbulb moments' feel like a mild electrical shock in the brain.

Now a wonderful New Yorker article from July 2006, sent to me by Johnny Cleaver, sheds some scientific light on the question.

It's largely an interview with Mark Jung-Beeman, a cognitive neuroscientist at Northwestern University, who has spent 15 years studying exactly what is happening in the brain at the 'moment of insight.'

His observations include these:

1 Solving problems with insight uses a complete different part of the brain than solving problems with analysis

2 The sensory areas of the brain go quiet just before an insight, as the brain diverts its considerable computational powers to focusing on the problem

3 Insight nearly always follows a feeling of impasse, comes suddenly, and is preceded by a massive spike of electrical activity

Does this tally with what it's like for you? And I'm curious to know how many times a day/month/year do you experience this moment of insight?

You can read an extract of the article here, maybe the whole thing if you register.

First Presentation of Atheist Ads

I met Ariane yesterday, organiser of the atheist bus campaign, to talk about what they might do next.

I was lucky enough to be able to show her what I think are some very interesting ideas... produced by you lot.

I haven't attached names, since many prefer to remain anonymous.

But we had over 100 submissions in all, from Melbourne to China to New York. Thanks everyone.

Everything was looked at, discussed, and helped hone our thinking, so if you don't see your ad up here, that doesn't mean you didn't make a contribution. You did.

Let me know what you think of them...

Two excellent new TV ads today

The John Lewis Christmas ad continues the fine work Lowe London has been doing on this brand.

Clarity, purity, emotion... built on a first-class present-shopping insight.

Top work.

It's also notable for apparently being the first UK advertiser to use a Beatles track.

Secondly, the new Toshiba ad.



A cynic might say there's no idea. There isn't one.

But I think this will still work. The technique is so gobsmackingly amazing that even though I didn't really glean anything from the VO, the association of the word 'Toshiba' with this piece of film has shifted my perception of the brand.

And the fact that it was by Grey makes me feel a bit strange. I might have to go for a lie down.


P.S. There's still time to vanquish God. Click here.

I Believe In Advertising

Dodge Avenger. Buy one get one free.
Great story in The Guardian on Saturday.

Apparently the motor trade is in deep doo-doo - to the point where one car dealer actually reduced the price of his Dodge Avengers by 50%. And even then, his stock wasn't moving.

But when he had the idea of offering the cars on a Buy One Get One Free deal - he got 22,000 customers.

That's right. The exact same product. At the exact same price.

It was purely the way the offer was marketed - the power of words - that generated desire.

And that's what we do, ladies and gentlemen. That's what we do.


P.S. In keeping with today's money-off theme, a friend of mine has set up a company selling British wool and sheepskin clothes called Woollen Salmon. Their whole collection is knitted by small family-owned companies within the British Isles.

As an ex ad-person, she is offering ad people a 20% reduction. Just go to their website and enter the code AD01 to get the discount.


P.P.S. Keep the atheism ideas coming in. We've had loads of great stuff, but there's still time - the first meeting is Wednesday.

Advertising For Atheism

The remarkable Ariane Sherine is organising an atheist bus campaign, which has already generated loads of PR (just try Googling 'atheist bus campaign').

And she has already raised upwards of £50K to fund the execution you see above.

I've offered to help her out with some other ideas.

And I'm asking Scamp readers who are free of the God delusion to help out too.

Are you a Planner? Maybe you could contribute a cool strategy.

Creative? Write us an ad. Do it up in photoshop if you like, but a scamp is fine, or even just a headline. Obviously this isn't a BBH project and there's not going to be any money for anyone at any stage, but you'll get full credit.

You can make a suggestion in the comments on this post, or e-mail me something at simon dot veksner at bbh dot co uk.

Or go to a separate site I've set up called Advertising For Atheism, where I'll be putting up some of my and anyone else's ideas.

If a few of us get involved, I'm hoping the crowdsourcing thing could be really fun. Don't you think?

I've had a go at writing a brief, so here it is below, but if you want to suggest a better one, then feel free.

First presentation is on Wednesday.


Atheism Brief

BACKGROUND
Even in the 21st century, religion still has a big hold on people. Religious fanatics around the world kill thousands every year. Millions of people live in countries with oppressive faith-based regimes. Bishops get an automatic seat in the UK legislature. And state-funded ‘faith schools’ are allowed to discriminate in favour of religious pupils. Meanwhile, churches and evangelist groups (‘The Alpha Course’) are advertising for recruits. Where is the voice promoting rational, science-based atheism?

THE OPPORTUNITY
The British Humanist Association has raised over £50K to fund a campaign promoting atheism. The subject of our ads should probably be religious belief in general, rather than any religion in particular. But if you do mention a particular religion, it would seem to make most sense to reference Christianity, since this is by far the most widespread religion in the UK.

OBJECTIVES
Get PR. The campaign has already had great coverage in the media (try Googling ‘Atheist bus campaign’), and will hopefully get even more when we launch. An ad with real insight and bite will be more likely to get PR.

WHO ARE WE TRYING TO ENGAGE?
We’ll never reach the religious fanatics, and there’s no point talking to existing atheists. We should aim at the (very large) group in the middle – reasonable, intelligent people who were probably brought up with a bit of religion, and haven’t really questioned it since. We need to move their dial.

WHAT IS THE SINGLE THING WE WANT TO SAY?
There is no God.

SUPPORT
Fossils. Empirical science. The presence of ‘evil’ in the world contradicts the Christian notion of God as omnipotent and beneficient… more at RichardDawkins.net, especially the Debate Points section.

TONE
Plain and factual might work. But then again, nothing undermines more effectively than humour. It’s open.

MANDATORIES
1) Idea must be cheap to do
2) In terms of media, it would be good to do bus-sides because bus-sides have already been announced. But we could propose an alternative use of their money if we had a great idea for a different medium.
3) The ASA code says “Marketing communications should contain nothing that is likely to cause serious or widespread offence. Particular care should be taken to avoid causing offence on the grounds of race, religion, sex, sexual orientation or disability.”

We Made A Difference

He didn't just have amazing oratory, an army of volunteers, and the advantage of representing the opposite party to George Bush.

He also had some truly kick-ass comms.

Like this

(10 million views)

This

(12 million views)


And perhaps especially this

(4 million views)

Makes me proud to work in advertising.

Do The Test - The Sequel

Agency: WCRS
Creatives: Kit Dayaram & Tom Spicer
Director: Chris Palmer

I hope this one can be judged as an ad, without the whole originality/non-consultation hoo-ha thrown up by the last one.

And judging it as an ad, it's pretty damn good. The country-house murder scenario is pulled off with aplomb. The bit where the ***SPOILERS changes are revealed END SPOILERS*** is genuinely intriguing. And crucially, it passes the 'do I want to watch that again?' test.

My only gripe is that surely they could have cut one of those supers at the end.

However, as with all sequels, there's one burning question we need to answer: is it Godfather 2, or City Slickers 2?

Guinness 'Horses' or Cadbury 'Trucks'?

I reckon it's Sony 'Paint'. Which was slightly less good than Sony 'Balls'... but still ended up being one of the ads of the year.

Is Copywriting A Bit Like Poetry?

That was the question posed by a Radio 4 documentary broadcast yesterday, entitled 'Beanz Meanz Rhymz'... which included a brief contribution from me and Scowling A.D. (should be available here - our bit is at 25 mins in).

The presenter concluded there ARE similarities between copywriting and poetry, since both deploy a similar armoury of linguistic weapons, including rhyme, alliteration, rhythm, metaphor, simile and compression.

Most contributors agreed that these techniques help advertising messages penetrate the cranium and stay there. However, some of their examples ("You'll wonder where the yellow went when you brush your teeth with Pepsodent") were archaic.

So my contribution was to suggest that while you & I may remember tons of jingles and slogans from our childhood, the adults of tomorrow won't. What sticks in their heads is more likely to be the visual extravaganzas of Cog, Balls and Gorilla.

Or am I wrong?

Stress Poll - Result

I don't know what to make of this poll - maybe a planner can help me interpret the data. (Sorry for all the mean things I've said about you, guys).

It's a strangely equilibrious (is that a word?) chart. Few of you feel either totally chilled or totally stressed-out. But few want to describe themselves as 'average' either. Maybe I should re-run this baby when we hit the middle of the recession...

Previous Polls

Dear Client, We Work Hard For Your Money

Ogilvy Athens unaccountably removed their beautiful song from YouTube, despite the worldwide acclaim it received (still available here though).

And McCann's Manchester took their wonderful video down less than 8 hours after I posted about it.

So now I wonder... how long will this sumptuous re-working of Donna Summer by Mindshare remain live for...?

The Barry & Troy Show

Today I've added a link on my blogroll to digital creative team Barry & Troy.

They've done this drawing of Wolverine on the shitter, which I like.



And Superman reading a book.

Are You Wasting 10,000 Hours Of Your Life?

There's been much coverage recently of Malcolm Gladwell's new book Outliers, due out in a couple of weeks, which outlines his theory that the secret of success in any discipline is simply to put 10,000 hours into practicing it.

Russell posted something on this a year ago.

Namely, that Gladwell's 10,000 hours principle is wonderfully reassuring for violinists or chess players - their job is the same today as it was 10 years ago, and they'll be doing the exact same thing in 10 years' time.

But what about us?

Our business is changing fast. Are you spending 10,000 hours becoming an expert in something that won't even exist in 10 years' time?

Soho, Lunchtime Today. The Recession Has Officially Begun.

For those of you tuning in from outside the UK, Greggs is a notoriously inexpensive sandwich retailer.

But you know what? I think the midday moneysavers in this picture are over-reacting, because I don't believe downturns actually affect individuals that much.

Sure, they affect companies. Agencies will have less business, and so are forced to fire people. But assuming you don't lose your job, that means you have roughly the same amount of work as before, doesn't it?

The First Christmas Ad Of The Year Has Arrived (And It's Actually Good)

I've reported before on the alarming news that CHI have begun to make good adverts, like Drench and 'Tide'.

But now they've only gone and made a good advert for Argos. (Not on YouTube yet. Click here to see it.)

That, my friends, ain't easy. Especially considering it's the fucking Christmas ad, for God's sake.

Maybe I'm a sucker for the Hammer. But that isn't the only reason I like it. I'm also a sucker for solid product benefits ("we're a straightforward place to shop") delivered with solid entertainment.

It's no Gorilla or Snowplough.

But lest we forget, this is what the Argos christmas ad used to be like...

Friday Poll - Life In The Ad Mines

Last week's poll reveals that the majority of us are having lunch outside the office just once a week or less. A staggering 29% are little more than drones, eating lunch 'al desko' (thanks anon) every single goddamn day.

So it seems appropriate that, as suggested by "J", this week's poll should be about stress.

How stressed are you in general at work? Vote now, in the right hand corner of this blog.

And let's discuss it too. Are we all pansies, considering the worst that can happen to us is maybe we get a paper-cut, or sore eyes from watching YouTube all day?

Or are deadlines-of-death, Planners who put three separate adjectives in the 'what is the single most important thing we want to say' box, and people who should have been butchers not marketeers, all a legitimate cause of frustration?

Write your view in the comments.

Previous Polls

Campaign 'Big' Awards

I wasn't there last night - tummy bug. What was the ceremony like? Any thoughts on the winners?

"This Is The Way To Integration" - Come On, Sing It With Me

Wedding dad dancing. Mild sexual harassment. Behold a self-promotional video from McCann's Manchester (thank you, anonymous contributor) that gives Ogilvy Athens a run for its money...