livingbrands

The value of inconvenience

Just came across this comment in Kalle Lasn's book, Culture Jam, on one of the central issues facing Western consumerist cultures...

"When everything is at hand nothing is ever hard won, nothing ever satisfies. Without satisfaction, our lives become shallow and meaningless...we embrace the value of MORE to compensate for lives that seem somehow LESS...Plenitude feeds malaise as it fills the stomach."

Does make you think, when pretty much every client you talk to has choice and/or convenience in some form at the heart of their offer. But though this is what people may say they want in focus groups, and though it may make 'sense' given the 'pace of modern life', could it be that the very things which are theoretically satisfying are actually reinforcing deeper emotional dissatisfaction.

Rather than giving people 'everything' they could possibly want, and making their lives 'easier' in the process, maybe engineering in (or just allowing) some scarcity and inconvenience might have its benefits; not inconvenience in a 'bad service' sense, but more making people work a bit so that they end up feeling more satisfied (and more loyal) as a consequence.

Premature Ideation

Definition: a condition suffered with persistent regularity by comms agencies in general and planners in particular. Or, to put it another way, it's that old chestnut of giving stuff away for free (should we or shouldn't we?).

Take a meeting from yesterday. I had, if I say so myself, a pretty good idea for a new distribution innovation; it would be unique in this particular market, highly relevant to the audience, and the client was in a position to exploit the opportunity in a way none of their competitors could. And, like good agency people the world over, premature ideation struck: in a fit of enthusiasm, I shared the idea. The client was interested, and said they would think on.

So, regardless of whether it ever sees the light of day, my point is this: how would I have behaved if working for, say, a management consultancy? Because the other important thing to mention is that this client wasn't one we're working with currently. We hope to do so in future, but no contracts have been signed and no money has changed hands.

I can't say for certain, but my guess is that the Management boys and girls would have behaved very differently. They may well have charged for the meeting. And I'm sure they would have stayed pretty much silent on the ideas front. They would probably have then gone away for 6 weeks, before returning with a 200 slide presentation, concluding with the same distribution idea. Oh, and an invoice for £60k. And without necessarily saying HOW to actually do the idea (we did that as well!).

OK, so that's probably being a bit unfair on consultancies. But the fact remains that agencies don't do anything like this; we blurt ideas out left, right and centre, giving it all away for free. Is this good or bad; is it part of the service, and what makes us fun and exciting to work with (not something you could probably accuse Mckinsey of), or huge great big missed opportunity? And the answer is...?

FutureScope 54

Just to let you know, the latest edition of my trends newsletter is now out: "emerging trends, new ideas and general thought stimulation"...or so it says on the cover.

Brand reinvention

Feel a bit lazy reporting on something that was already reporting on something else. However, think it's worthy of repeating (again).

So, as Lacoste manages to bring itself back from the brink, here are some useful lessons for any brand a bit past its sell by date that wants to rebuild relevance without a knee-jerk, gratuitous leap into the world of 'yoof' and 'cool'...

1. History Can Be Made Relevant to Today: your 'story' is one of your most potent equities. And your story is, by definition, not one anyone else can tell. So what's your story and how can you make it compelling to a new audience. In the case of Lacoste, it was established by Rene Lacoste, a brilliant French tennis player, who in the 1930s, won three French Opens, two Wimbledon championships and two US Opens. Lacoste are proud of their history and don't try to hide it.
2. If You Have an Iconic Identity, Use It: what easily recognisable brand icons do you own, even if currently languishing in the marketing 'attic'. Could be something to do with the product, packaging or advertising, but whatever it may be it could have the ability to cut through the brand clutter, and offer a short cut to brand associations. Lacoste's crocodile is one of the most widely recognised brand identities in the world, and even when 'uncool' that's still worth its weight in gold.
3. Seize Relevant Trends: there are always trends. And lots of them. So be aware what's happen around you...and beyond the 'in' trend everyone's saying hot if that doesn't work for you. The next hottest, or even the luke warm, will still probably let you tap into a big audience. And who knows, that may well turn the heat up for you. For Lacoste it was the return of the "prep".
4. Don't Be Scared to Innovate: A problem for classic brands, is that they are scared that they will loose their authenticity if they innovate. But this is the path of stagnation and death. if you know your story though, and know the truth of who you are and what you stand for, innovation that builds on your heritage and extends it into new areas is easy. Lacoste weren't afraid to evolve their iconic shirt, to appeal to a new generation of women.
5. Patience Pays: when turning things around, small steps can sometimes be far more effective and profitable than trying to do everything over night (and probably failing...expensively). Lacoste has opened just 46 stores since 1995, but has enjoyed slow and steady growth, and built a solid brand foundation for the future.
6. Scarcity Adds Value: similar to the above. But any profitable incremental sale is a step in the right direction. And sometimes, the right thing can actually be to cut sales, ditch the stores and consumers that are holding you back, and start again. When Robert Siegel took over Lacoste in 2002, the first thing he did was to cut back on distribution, taking the brand away from mass retailers like Macy's.

HMV: Be Inspired

Our first work for HMV has just broken. It will, I'm sure, be termed a bit 'obvious' in some quarters. People with no soul I would say! And as one marketing director put it (although not one we work with currently I'm sad to say): "very iconic. Simple and understated. A fantastic example of ‘less is more’."

Basically, the work does exactly what was asked of it: put HMV back in touch with its roots, and claim the emotional high ground in a market that has become almost entirely functional; a traders paradise.

Executionally though, there's a lot more going on than is imediately obvious. Despite its simplistically, the campaign is a catalogue of firsts in terms of the material used and what we've done with it. So much so, it met with a cast iron 'it'll never happen' within the industry when HMV first mooted the idea to their partners. And it was only thanks to client commitment, and much hard negotiation on their part, that it ever got off the drawing board.

Built round the suitably nebulous, but highly emotive and eminently flexible idea of inspiration, there are 2 main strands to the campaign...

First off, Be Inspired takes classic, iconic images and clips and, by turning them B&W and adding a hint of pink, puts HMV at the heart of these moments. Just the fact we've been allowed to do this says as much, I think, about how close HMV is to the heart of music and film as the ads do themselves. Can you imagine Warners letting just anyone play around with the Wizard of Oz, or Bowie being happy with a paint job for Aladdin Sane from Tesco?

Here's a couple of print executions (click to get em big)....

And you can see the TV ads here and here (together with a one-off commercial for hmv.co.uk).

The second key strand of the campaign is My Inspiration and, as a fan, I'm probably even more excited by this.

The concept is again very simple: take some famous names (and emerging talent), and just ask them what their inspirations are (all executed in the HMV black, white and pink again). We've featured David Bowie and Razorlight so far. Ozzie is in Kerrang! this week (naturally). And there's with more to follow on shortly.

What about TV? Well, logistical nightmare it may be, but if we get the ideas off the ground they will be genuinely stunning.

Anyway, now that it's up and running, the labels, studios and artists are dead keen and want to get more involved. For example, you can see what Bowie has to say on the news pages of his official website (there's news items on September 6th and 9th).

Do what the Government says

Some rather entertaining public information films from the 1970s: the era when we trusted the Government and did what we were told!

Mainly focuses on road safety, from which we learn 2 key things...

1. George Lucas was right to not let David Prowse be the voice of Darth Vader
2. There's something rather creepy about Alvin Stardust (all black gloves and sideburns) giving road safety advice to young girls. Maybe something to do with his later reinvention as the Child Catcher in the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang stage show!

Blogvertising

I've noticed that whenever this blog gets a plug from Russell Davies I get a huge spike in hits (so thanks Russell).

Maybe there's a bit of an opportunity for him here: a nice little side line in paid for blog comments. Which also suggests some more terms for the blogging lexicon: is that 'blogvertising', or maybe 'blogvertorial'?

And there might even be an IPA Advertising Effectiveness Awards paper in it as well somewhere!! There's always a big short term blip, but also a definite step change in on-going readers as well.

Cool science stuff

(Well done to Doug for spotting this great site. Tasty Research is a compendium of scientific research. But never fear: it's all interesting, rather left field stuff. Perfect for us planning types.

Because it's something I've been thinking about recently, I will use the same example as Doug: 'Third Places' in a digital world. Using massive multi-player games as the example, the research (from the Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication - Hmmm, very specky techy!) suggests 8 characteristics that define a good Third Place...

• Neutral Ground: Individuals are free to come and go as they please. In on-line games, players are not obligated to play; joins and quits are not significant events.
• Leveller: An individual’s rank and status in society are not significant. As in the culture of early video game arcades, “It didn’t matter what you drove to the arcade. If you sucked at Asteroids, you just sucked.” Players on on-line games use a separate avatar unrelated to their real life person, and social status is rarely invoked.
• Conversation is Main Activity: In third places, conversation is the main activity that the individuals participate in. While debatable as the main activity in on-line games, players would not disagree that conversation plays a crucial role. Often, conversation drifts to real world discussion such as personal life, politics, culture, etc.
• Accessibility & Accommodation: Third places are easy to access and accommodating to individuals. On-line games allow players to log on and off at will and there are always players on-line. Activity occurs throughout all hours of the day.
• The Regulars: Regulars are those who give the place its character, and attract new individuals. Guild members, who form a clan to play the on-line game together, and squatters, who stay within an area of the game, are the regulars of the on-line world.
• A Low Profile: Third places are characteristically homely and without pretension. The population of on-line games follow a parabolic curve; after the onset of players following the release, the regulars remain while many move on to higher profile games.
• The Mood is Playful: The general mood of a third place is playful and witty. Players in on-line games crack jokes during heated battles, perform goofy actions with their avatars, and mock each others’ appearances. Rarely are players overly serious about game matters.
• A Home Away from Home: Rootedness, feelings of possession, spiritual regeneration, feelings of being at ease, and warmth. On-line games possess a homely atmosphere where players notice others’ absences and makes the overall feel of the game “warm”.

Actually, interesting and useful as this is, I do also wonder what impact digital community and Third Places will have on the 'real' world. Starbucks, in many ways the originator of Third Place thinking, is very much a solo affair - the oasis of calm in a busy day for the individual.

But given the rise of everything from Myspace to World of Warcraft, where interaction with others is key, I wonder whether we will see a reinvention of the real world Third Place to be something more social.

In a micro-planning-blogging context, Russell's Breakfast Club is doing this (and it actually ticks every one of the boxes above - and on that basis it probably shouldn't 'belong' to Russell but to everyone who goes...which is probably how Mr R would see it). But maybe there's an opportunity for, say, bars or pubs to reinvent themselves along these lines. Obviously, they do this to a certain extent already. But this is still more about getting drunk with a few mates, or pulling a specific individual. So what about something that is much more explicitly a social environment; a real world Myspace?

Let our kids be kids

The hot debate in the British media at the moment seems to be the 'death of childhood' and what we should do about. This was kick started by a letter to the Daily Telegraph last week, signed by everyone from Jonathon Porritt to Philip Pullman. Subsequently, other figures like the Archbishop of Canterbury of joined in.

At one level, it could be all too easy to criticise this as middle-class nannying, a desire to return to an idealised world that never ways. This is particularly the case given that some of the comments are maybe a little naive, as John Griffiths suggested in his post yesterday on Rowan Williams' call for all advertising to children to be banned.

At the same time though, we shouldn't be too quick to reject the thoughts of those who are maybe less 'expert' than us (intellectual snobbery and elitism spring to mind). A lot of true things can be spoken from a position of naivety.

So whilst there are some aspects of modern life that aren't as bad as all that for kids (the central theme of Steven Johnson's Everything Bad Is Good For You), there are clearly other aspects that no sane adult can view as good and healthy (the sexualisation of young girls for instance). Similarly, whilst the Daily Telegraph letter writers may be overly nostalgic for the world of Ovaltine and Enid Blyton, as John puts its, I think it's equally true that the technorati can fetishise technological development and see no wrong in it.

And despite being someone who works for an ad agency, the argument that because we live in a materialist, consumerist society our children need to trained in the ways of materialism and consumerism so they can cope, doesn't wash with. To switch to another contentious issue, that's like saying because of climate change we need to train our kids to live in warmer weather rather than train them to be more energy efficient. It's also fine to say 'let them eat cake' when you have the money to consume. But most don't, making the pressures on children and their parents to buy stuff just another cause of broader social deprivation and unhappiness. Kids will have enough opportunities to consume throughout their lives; they don't need to start the moment they pop out.

As a parent, I find myself agreeing with Micheal Morpurgo, children's author and ex-Children's Laureate, when commenting on why he endorsed the Telegraph letter...

"Kids cannot go out and play because you mustn't talk to strangers, you mustn't play in the street, you mustn't go near water. We're surrounding children with the anxieties that we have about the world, although this is the safest time we've ever had. As a result) they retreat into the house, where entertainment now is vastly more interesting than it ever was. We cannot do anything about the speed of life. We cannot turn clocks back or any of that nonsense…(But) we really need to give them the time and the room to grow. And while activities such as computer games can be sophisticated and creative, children need ‘real’ play rather than virtual tree-climbing or virtual conker-playing. I think scarred knees are rather good."

And as someone who many people will see as part of the problem, I do very much feel challenged to grapple with this problem; to sift the nannying middle class neurosis from the genuine truth of how childhood is being eroded to the detriment of children.

And to be open to the fact that the role played by advertising may well play its part in this.

Be provocative

Interesting piece over at Creating Passionate Users on the difficulties of engaging people given the sheer amount of life stuff that is competing for our attention nowadays.

As it says, "the secret is to be more provocative and interesting than anything else in their environment".

And here are some suggestions CPU makes for how to do it...

1. Be Visual: Pictures are more important to the brain than words, and unless you've already got their attention and are a good enough writer to paint pictures in their head, you'll do better with visuals. The more stimulating the better...(And this) doesn't have to be pictures of naked women. Your brain can't help it, so let yourself off the hook.
2. Be Different (break patterns and expectations): as long as we're doing what everyone else is doing (or what we have always done), the brain can relax and think, "Nothing new here... whew... what a relief, that means I can now go back to scanning for something that is". Ways to be different include doing the opposite of what you normally do, or doing something expected in a different domain, but which is wildly unique in yours.
3. Be Daring: you know the story on this one--being safe is often incompatible with being provocative.
4. Change Things Regularly: this is about continually breaking your own patterns. Consistently shaking things up whether it's look and feel of your website to the product itself. (Obviously the definition of "regularly" and "things" varies dramatically depending on the type of product or service).
5. Inspire Curiosity: humans often find puzzles and even questions irresistible. Just try to walk by a TV playing a quiz show and not think about the answer to the question you heard walking by. How many times have you watched to the end of a movie you didn't particularly like, just because you had to find out how the story ends? Our legacy brains love curiosity because it usually means more learning.
6. Pose a Challenge: the level and nature of the challenge work only if they're within boundaries that work for your audience, of course. Ask me to solve a calculus problem and I'll keep on walking.
7. Be Controversial and Committed: take a stand. Mediocrity is not a formula for holding attention.
8. Be Fun: remember, brains love fun because fun=play, and play=practising-to-survive. Nor does fun have to mean funny. Chess can be fun but isn't funny.
9. Be Stimulating. Be Exciting. Be Seductive: keep in mind that seduction does not have to mean sexual. A good storyteller can seduce me into sticking with the story. A good teacher can seduce me into learning. A good software app can seduce me into getting better and better.
10. Help them have Hi-Res Experiences: this gets back to the notion of being-better-is-better. The more your users know and can do, the higher resolution experience they have. Whatever you can do to give them more expertise will help keep them interested in wanting to know and do more. But they need to be up the skill curve before this really kicks in, so we must do whatever we can to help get new users past the rough spots (i.e. the "suck threshold").

A little recent example of the benefits of being provocative is our new Mattessons commercial, which ticks a few of the above boxes. Only a couple of weeks in, and sales are already up 30% and rising.