Posts tagged ‘brands’
when I grow up, I want to be a Disney princess
I’m loving the Disney campaign ‘year of a million dreams’.
It’s every little (and not so little) girl’s fantasy to be a Disney princess or to swept off her feet by a handsome prince. If nothing else this campaign reminds all the thirty something yummy mummies and daddies out there (who will see the campaign in Vanity Fair, GQ, Vogue, The New Yorker, Conde Nast Traveller, Glamour etc) just what Disney meant to them and what it should mean to their children.
God knows how much the whole thing cost (6 page inserts in Vogue et al don’t come cheap and neither does hiring Beyonce, Beckham and Scarlett Johansson), but I suppose the PR payback more than covers it off.
The fantastic Annie Leibovitz shots inject an amazing combination of gravitas, glamour and even innocence to what has to be one of the biggest brands of the twentieth century.
Post Office
In his column in today’s Campaign, Russell Davies urges us all to avoid too much ‘angry blogging’ – as he puts it “the blogosphere sometimes looks like a digital version of Is It Just Me Or Is Everything Shit?”
But I can’t miss this opportunity to have a really good rant.
In my opinion (and incidentally that of my agency’s Creative-Head-of-Everything too), the new Post Office campaign sucks. Truly. I know that Mother certainly won’t agree with me since they made it. And The Independent and Gavin Gordon-Rogers from Agency Republic in Campaign’s Creative Review both seem to think that its some kind of comedy genius.
I tend to agree more with Russell Ramsey from JWT in the same Creative Review “Forgettable, except for one thing. They all manage to go straight to the counter and get served. There’s no queue.”
This clichéd, tired, badly scripted effort not only fails to get across the ‘we are a much loved national institution and are there for more than just stamps’ message effectively and memorably, it also resorts to bad jokes and celebrity cameos to paper over the cracks.
Maybe there was a brilliant idea in there that got lost in pre testing. Maybe it was the London agency bubble effect. Maybe the client wouldn’t be advised by it’s own agency.
Whatever happened, it’s a tramsmash. And to make things worse, its one that bears absolutely no relation to the sullen staff, grubby environment and ten person deep queues at the Post Office branch round the corner from work.
more avatar fun
I found more Simpsons make-your-own-avatar style fun on HP’s Gwen Stefani microsite.
This time, its make-your-own-harajuku-girl. Whatdayathink of mine?
Whispering not shouting
I’ve been to watch a demonstration by ‘horse whisperer’ Monty Roberts. Since very few of you will be planning to load a reluctant horse into a horse box or cure its phobia of plastic bags, I’ll spare you the details.
But Monty’s general philosophy of encouraging horses to want to be near you and trust you (rather than forcing them to comply) has interesting parallels with Planning.
What we’re all trying to do is encourage consumers to want to get involved with brands and businesses, to trust brands and to communicate with them. And maybe ‘shouting’ at them with TV ads and 48 sheets isn’t always the best way to do that.
Why brands should start behaving more like my Grandad
He is the only person I know of in real life (I’m obviously not counting Jamie Oliver) to use the phrase “happy days” and does so with relevancy and affection
Brands need a sentiment to own, something that is meaningful and relevant
He says what hes thinking, rather than what other people want to hear
they also need to be truthful (or it’ll come back and bite ya in the end)
He has never, ever commented on my choice of clothes, hair colour, or nail polish. But he does really like my new car.
and they need to accept their customers as they are, flatter them, engage with them, but not criticise them or try to change them (actually, I’ve riffed on this point alot more here)
