livingbrands

A little tease of things as nature intended

We are rather excited about our new Richmond Ham commercial, which will be hitting a TV and computer screen near you later this week.

In the meantime, the world will have to make do with these (they are over at Facebook as well)...

Dan Wieden on the role of TV in a digital world

"Half the time people who think they know what the future is, they're just making shit up"

Some words of wisdom from the great man.

No matter how important community and relationship building is, and the vital part digital connectivity has to play in this, if no one knows who you are or why they should bother in the first place you have nothing. Yes, there's a lot of rubbish advertising out there, but what great TV does is create the context quickly and with a lot of people within which relationships can happen: startling, thought provoking, challenging work starts the conversation.

And as he says when railing against the hyper personalised one-to-one advertising that some pitch as the future, there is something to be said for the slightly one-step removed storytelling of (mass) advertising that that lets people come to their own conclusions.

Archetypal TV

It was a pleasant surprise to be contacted by the BBC about presenting my thinking on Brand Archetyping to one of the channel teams.

Which I did yesterday. And a very enjoyable session it was too (for me at least - think they felt the same!)

Anyway, I've posted this before, but it was a good opportunity to update the presentation and give it a fresh lick of visual paint. So thought I would share again...

An introduction To Brand Archetyping: using the power of archetypes to create legendary brands

View more presentations from Jon Howard

This is broken

Just came across an amusing and important talk of a few years ago from the man, Seth Godin.

Remember, if you (or anyone) say it's broken, it is.

Top Gear crowdsourcing a Facebook celebration

I'm not normally a PR whore, with requests for write ups heading straight into the bin.

But I do like Top Gear, so hey ho.

To celebrate 10m Facebook fans, the Stig blew up a caravan...

Now, with an expectation of 15m fans, Top Gear are asking those fans how they would like to celebrate the next milestone.

So if you fancy setting the next TG Challenge, head on over to Facebook and offer up your suggestions.

Terrorism is uncool

This short film, summarising the key points from last year's report by think tank Demos on combating terrorism (The Edge of Violence), is worth a view.

Their key conclusion: that most terrorist recruits are non-religious young men (who remain superficial 'converts' at best...rarely getting beyond parroting general [and often un-Muslim] platitudes), with few opportunities in life, who are initially attracted by the simple promise of fun, excitement and 'cool' (you can play with guns!).

Which is a classic 'change behaviour' strategy: get people behaving in a certain way and their beliefs will follow on.

And in light of this, Demos ask whether the best way to undermine this recruitment strategy is, well basically, to take piss and make terrorism uncool.

Which, interestingly enough, is pretty much the same approach we took here at QS with some work we did for Crimestoppers a few years ago, aimed at kids on the edge of criminality.

Carling Chrome: a great big steaming pile of advertising

I don't like slagging off the work of other agencies in public. But there is something about a lot of modern beer advertising that particularly agitates me, given brewing was the market I cut my planning teeth on back in its late 80s/early 90s heyday.

But the launch work for Carling Chrome.

My word.

And all from a brand which once set the pace in UK creativity.

How the mighty have fallen (their last ad was equally wallpapery rubbish). 

"Refreshment. Redefined" my arse. (Oh, and don't get me onto Stella's new 'heritage' direction either...altho maybe I Will)

Proof that Haribo are impossible to resist

It’s always with great excite­ment that we announce a new TV com­mer­cial for Haribo. And that’s just what we have here.

Every­one knows Haribo’s Star­mix are impossible to res­ist, and now there is sci­entific evid­ence to prove this fact!

Enjoy.

And just to ensure full disclosure up front, this was obviously inspired by Walter Mischel's famous Marshmallow Test.

I'm not usually one for commercials where someone has clearly just trawled Youtube for a technique to cover the absense of a proposition or idea. But in this case, the re-appropriation is justified I think: we wanted to dramatise the irresistibility of Starmix...and the original test could have just as easily been conducted with Haribo!

Quiet Storm gets into the research business

It is with great pleas­ure that we wel­come YouGov aboard the good ship Quiet Storm. Our first work for the cut­ting edge research com­pany is a print cam­paign pro­mot­ing its vari­ous innov­at­ive tools to the mar­ket­ing com­munity. You can have a look in a bit more detail over here.

Doing the right thing isn't marketing

Being something of an anti-hipster when it comes to fashion, I have not previously come across Edwin, the Japanese jeans brand.

But Protein pointed me in the way of this rather lovely film. Read the commentary over at Vimeo to find out more: how all the technicians are also 'engineers' encouraged to customise their own machinery, or how the water used in the dying process is purified to such an extent that fish are able to swim in it.

For me, though, the most stricking comment was this: "these elements have been in place for many years, and yet never spoken about or promoted as a marketing tool. This is because Edwin esteems this to be a ‘standard’ process. It is simply the way of Edwin manufacture and not a simple ‘marketing’ idea".

A powerful statement at a time when much of the sustainability you see in business does just seem to be there for PR purposes. But doing the right thing isn't marketing...it's just something you do because it's right.

Oh, I love the music as well.

Red Letter Days say 'thank you'

Our new commercial for the experience gifting pioneers at Red Letter Days. Rather than simply do generic shots of people enjoying themselves, we wanted to build on the emotional truth of gift giving: that we are desperate to do the right thing, something we can only be sure of when people say 'thank you'...and mean it.

Umair Haque: meaningful brands amplify human potential

Via this Fast Company article

Recording the music for Blacksticks Blue

Our recent and, if we say so ourselves, rather wonderful commercial for Butlers Blacksticks Blue was really brought to life through the music of Louis Barabbas. Thought you might be interested in a little insight into the recording process...

Certainty is the innovation-killer of our age

Just finished reading an article by sci-fi author Neal Stephenson, called Innovation Starvation, on what he sees as the death of true, large-scale, paradigm shift innovation and problem solving of the kind seen in previous, on the face of it less technologically advanced generations; a stagnation he blames on the (perceived) 'perfect' information we have in the digital age, and how the 'certainty' this delivers kills risk taking - we know everything so do nothing.

As he concludes in his final paragraph...

"Today’s belief in ineluctable certainty is the true innovation-killer of our age. In this environment, the best an audacious manager can do is to develop small improvements to existing systems—climbing the hill, as it were, toward a local maximum, trimming fat, eking out the occasional tiny innovation—like city planners painting bicycle lanes on the streets as a gesture toward solving our energy problems. Any strategy that involves crossing a valley—accepting short-term losses to reach a higher hill in the distance—will soon be brought to a halt by the demands of a system that celebrates short-term gains and tolerates stagnation, but condemns anything else as failure. In short, a world where big stuff can never get done."

More Airbnb: selling the emotion not just the functionality

So I go from knowing nothing about Airbnb to posting twice in a week.

PSFK have just written about the rise of 'community travel' which, not surprisingly, mentions the likes of Airbnb and Couchsurfing (to show no favouritism!).

They link to another Airbnb film, which sells the emotional benefit of what they offer alongside the functionality...something on-line businesses sometimes forget to do. Nice...

The Airbnb story: now to get from nothing to something

Hadn't come across Airbnb before watching this from the recent PSFK conference in New York: a nice, simple, inspiring, and in places funny story of the journey from nothing to something...

And hree's a equally engaging promothey've done which explains the Airbnb offer: makes you wonder why you'd want to do anything else...

Jamie Oliver announces his new restaurant fly posting-style

Jamie is launching his new chain, Union Jacks, in the new Central St Giles development.

Liked the fly posting-style recruitment ads, which double as an announcement and tone setter...

Yeo boys

I know it was very popular, but I've never been backward in saying that Yeo Valley's Rap did nothing for me whatsoever. I felt it lacked the insight, humour and intelligence of Toyota's Swagger Wagon, which just preceded it. And suffered somewhat from apparently being a direct lift (scene for scene in places) of this Canadian ad.

It all just seemed a bit forced, and rather embarrassing as a consequence.

But the new boy band version? I'm liking that.

For me, it's everything the Rap wasn't - it's a funny, clever, charming, well observed, well cast, and well executed parody that hits the spot in the way the rap didn't...maybe because it's been developed from scratch, rather than bolted on to a pre-existing Youtube idea (which I do think was the problem first time round). So well done all.

Blacksticks: out of the blue and into the orange

We have just started work with Butlers Farmhouse Cheeses: a family business, based in Inglewhite, Lancashire, who make premium, hand-made cheese from all-local ingredients.

Our first challenge has been to promote their flagship Blacksticks Blue brand (highly regarded by those in the know, but still unknown by most). Specifically, to get people who buy blue cheese to think beyond the boring old Stilton, and to consider instead something easier on both the palate and on the eye - Blacksticks is surprisingly smooth and creamy, and surprising orange, compared to other British blues...making it the perfect 'oh what's that' centrepiece of any cheese board.

And to do all of this on a very limited budget.

To help deliver the impact needed, and quirkiness that reflects both product and company, we first took inspiration from and then enlisted the help of musician Louis Barabbas, who has whipped up for us some musical excitement around this taste of the unexpected...

Is the Occupy Wall Street protest America's Arab Spring?

The most important US news in the UK media at the moment? The acquittal of Amanda Knox.

Which just goes to show what is wrong with the world.

Because nearly a week in, the Occupy Wall Street protests have only just come on to my radar (and by the way, I've checked the BBC news website - not a mention to be seen). Maybe it's because rioting looters are interesting, but peaceful protests against capitalism gone wrong aren't.

And what started out in NYC now seems to be spreading across the country (and internationally) in what some (maybe prematurely, but hopefully not) are heralding as a Tea Party for the left.

More power to them I say - it can only be good for the rest of us that the populace of the 'World's biggest democracy' (sic) discovers that being to the left of Hitler doesn't make you Stalin...and that unfettered, uncontrolled capitalism is rabid animal that needs putting down.

Anyway, here's rather nice film on the events...

We are experienced

 
Time to announce another new biz win for the good ship QS: after a long courtship, we have just started with experience gifting pioneers Red Letter Days. Everyone is very excited about the 'cars and spas' opportunities that will hopefully present themselves :o)

Although as anyone who knows me (and our family cars) will realise, 'fast' and 'cars' are top two words that usually go together!!

Does social media actually work?

OK, something of a rhetorical question, as I think SM does have a really important role to play in the comms mix. But I do wonder sometimes whether it's efficacy is all that many SM evangelists would have us believe.

There are a few famous exceptions (that prove the rule?), which hit big numbers. But even some of the more famous digital campaigns end up looking quite boutique if you dig into the numbers.

And that's before you get to the ones you've never heard of.

The counter argument will be that this is because these campaigns are only hitting the people that matter. But surely the whole point of social media is that (in theory) it explodes out of particular niches and across boundaries which other media cannot cross.

And even then, from my own experience, I've come across many campaigns that were spot on for me only after-the-fact (usually on marketing-related blogs!)...and I'm social media-ed up more than most.

Case in point: Al Gore's Climate Reality Project.

 

I've already mentioned it over here. And I think it's a great initiative.

But it happened yesterday. And I only found out about it today. Despite my social media use, and passion for environmental and sustainability issues, topics which I follow in some depth online.

And if I didn't hear about, how many other people missed out?

I'm sure for the people involved, it will be deemed a success (and at some level may well be). But it just leaves me questioning whether there's a trick being missed somewhere along the (on)line as far as delivering mass social engagement is concerned.

Think it's vital and the future, don't get me wrong. But we've maybe not yet arrived at the point which many think we have.

PS I also accept them many will argue it's all in how you do - do it well and it works - which I guess is a point for discussion.

Nike want to build a better world

Really like this. Corporate puff or not, it makes you want to believe. And the idea of recycling your ads to make a point about environmental sustainability is a clever one (rather than spend a truck load of cash, and expel another truck of carbon, making a new film to do the same).

Brand Republic Hall of Fame: vote Trev

Our Trev has been nominated for inclusion in Brand Republic's Hall of Fame. Vote now and give the Big Man another trophy to add to his OBE! By the way, you are only allowed one vote.

 

Give people the chance to be nice

Rather liked this as a way to start the week (via Only Dead Fish)...

Couple of lessons: 1) give people the chance to do something nice, and most probably will; 2) once people start doing something unexpected, others will join in (obviously it's all in the editing, but that's the impression you get).

PS Have mirrored this over at another of my blogs, which has been mothballed recently, in an attempt to kick start my enthusiasm! So have a look, and we'll see how things go.

Helping zombies get in touch with their natural side

Loving the announcement of our Neal's Yard new biz win in Campaign, and it's juxtaposition with the photo from the next story: natural health and beauty can even help Zombies!!!

Rather good new biz win

 

We have just started with natural health and beauty brand, Neal's Yard Remedies. An amazing business(and lovely people), and we'll be looking at all aspect: position, design, comms and activation.

All very exciting.

 

The importance of first followers

This particularly clip of a movement taking flight has been around for ages, but Derek Sivers pulls out some key quick lessons. Chief amongst them: it's not the leader of a movement who is important, but the first follower(s). Because without that initial joining in, any potential leader remains just a lone nutter...

Everything is a remix (part 3)

The penultimate installment of this very good series. Part 1 is here, and part 2 here.

(Note: it seems to finish half way through, but there's more after the credits)

...and 6 tips on creating a brand ritual that will stick

A follow up to my previous post (or more accurately part 2 of the same), as it did seem to leave one key question hanging: what is a good ritual? So here are a few thoughts on the kind of ritualistic qualities to look for...

1. Discovered (ideally): this won't always be possible, especially with a new product or brand. But it is just easier to ritualise behaviour that already exists, even if not something everyone does currently (or is even necessarily aware of), than it is to impose something completely new from on high. Ritual is about the people who do it, after all, not the brand itself. So look around: what unexpected and distinctive habits have people already adopted...even if only a minority behaviour? And how could you amplify this (without being seen to take ownership)?
2. Consistent: obvious really, as the whole basis of ritual is something which doesn't change. But this does run counter to a marketing orthodoxy that (quite rightly) places great value on innovation. Which doesn't mean ritual should be boring. But always remember: it isn't there to provide novelty. A ritual that constantly changes is just a succession of gimmicks.
3. Iconic: the best rituals aren't just about personal behaviour: they are about the (public and often famous) trappings and trimmings as well. This iconography and symbolism is often what anchors a ritual in public consciousness: take pouring a pint of Guinness, with the twin stages, the settling to black and white, and the clover leaf on top (in an Irish pub ideally) - all part of what makes drinking Guinness special.
4. Relevant: whether practical or just symbolic, people need to understand why they are doing what they are doing: cider over ice is more refreshing; 5-a-day is good for you. Ritual without purpose or explanation can just seem strange...and no one wants to look equally odd (or stupid) for joining in.
5. Easy: in some contexts, the difficulty of ritual is what's important (The Five Ks of Sikhism for instance). But brands aren't that important to people, and there are always other options. So why create barriers. The more simple and straightforward a ritual is the better: lime in my bottle of lager...why not.
6. Shareable: if a benefit of ritual is a sense of group belonging (and recruitment mechanism to that group), it's not just a matter of ease: people have to be aware of the ritual in the first place. This might involve explicit communication, via advertising or on-pack. But the best rituals are owned by the devotees, and passed on by word-of-mouth or observation. So think how to make your ritual visible, understandable and replicable.

Which is maybe all easier to write about than deliver in practice. But the principles seem relatively clear.

So, to paraphrase Field of Dreams, just remember: if you ritualise it they will stay.