3 FILMS YOU'VE GOT TO SEE BECAUSE THEY ARE FUCKING PROFOUND

#1 EMBRACE OF THE SERPENT

A story of colonialisiation. Questions about knowledge and progress.

Mysterious. Morally complex. Makes you think. It might give you an existential crisis. It will make you sad.

If you're looking to get sucker-punched by a film, then this is for you

#2 MACBETH

With Fassbender in the lead and Marion Cotillard playing Lady Macbeth, it's hard to imagine I will ever see this play performed with such intensity elsewhere.

With Justin Kurzel directing (of Snowtown fame) and Adam Arkapaw (True Detective) as DOP, it is a sinister and epic portrayal of madness, cruelty and medieval Scotland.

Watch it on as big a screen as you can.

#3 HOTEL CHEVALIER

Is it still unfashionable to like Wes Anderson? Well I LOVE everything he’s ever made. And if you do too but have never seen this short prelude to The Darjeeling Limited, then you’re in luck.

Featuring Natalie Portman and Jason Schwartzman but most importantly, the most drop dead gorgeous soundtrack of all time; ' Where do you go to' by Peter Sarstedt, this will be the best 10 mins of your day.

lemme know what you think @LucianTrestler

p.s. Embrace Of The Serpent & MacBeth are free on Amazon Prime.

MOST ADVERTISING DOESN'T EVEN GET THE BASICS RIGHT

This is from Claude C. Hopkins, Scientific Advertising: Being Specific, published in 1923.

Still, everyday marketing professionals decide that they have such a "strong rational product claim" that are going to make exactly such a platitude. What's more, they also decide that they don't want any creative thought whatsoever to 'get in the way' of making such a statement:

How does this happen?

Some data tells them that having the best camera is the key purchase driver.

They make a phone with a camera that they can claim is the best.

Some people in the focus group decide that this advert says, 'this phone has the best camera' most clearly and so the advert is just a picture of the phone with a generic claim. Same as everyone else's. Part of the 84% of advertising that is not remembered at all.

This happens when you don't have a basic education in how creativity and communication work. When you aren't aware of the mountains of data linking creativity to commercial return. When you aren't aware of the power of emotion over reason to drive business results. When you have no respect for the power of an idea. When you aren't even aware of some of the basics of copywriting established nearly 100 fucking years ago. 

You don't need to do a lot of reading to learn these things. And when you do, you might stop saying things and start communicating them instead.

Thoughts? Gimme a shout @LucianTrestler

HAVING NOTHING TO SAY IS A BLESSING IN DISGUISE

What's the insight?

What's the claim?

What's the reason to believe?

How did the script do in the focus groups?

What's the key message takeout?

Is it actively engaging?

On and on and on go the questions that bury us in so much complexity that we over complicate the simplest of tasks.

'Just say the brand name in a way people will remember it' is the answer to most communications briefs. It's rarely more complicated than that.

ADVERTISING IS VERY SIMPLE. It's also very hard. That is why it is becoming a pseudo-science where people hide in complexity. 

Bernbach warned against it. (thanks @rshotton)

So when you've got a product, agency and client who are free enough to just make us remember the product and the brand, amazing things can happen. 

These are two of the best ads of all time.

All the data tells us that being different and distinctive makes for effective comms.

So let's fuck off all the constraints of trying to add 'science' and get back to the art of making people remember us.

WHY EXACTLY WAS THAT AD SO FUCKING GOOD?

So often this question is misdiagnosed and ‘that tricky second album’ flops.

The drumming gorilla was all about joy, right? A big, abstract, pure expression of joy in that quirky Cadbury’s tone of voice, right? WRONG. It was all about a very specific type of orgasmic joy. The type that you can only experience after an outrageous build up. The release was the important bit there. Kind of like that release of sensory joy that can be experienced when you finally sink your teeth into that chocolate you’ve been craving. The build-up and release that wasn’t in any of their other ads.

Epic strut. That was all about a bloke dancing outrageously in public, right? WRONG. We have all imagined how awesome it would be to burst into a power walk like that on days when we are bossing life and Queen B comes on shuffle. No one has imaged expressing that feeling on the pole. Ok, very few of us have imagined that.

Understanding exactly what that feeling was that made that ad so fucking good is crucial, I would argue, in rolling out hit after hit.

The Underarmour ad with Misty Copeland (I will what I want) was all about that feeling when self-belief puts you on top of the world. Then came Giselle. Then Phelps. Each one a masterclass in spine tingling self-belief.

Our industry moves fast and naturally this means we obsess about the next big thing. And that’s a good thing. But we don’t stop to look back and reflect enough. By taking the time to ask - why exactly was that ad so fucking good? - we (especially strats rustling up briefs) can help crack that tricky second album.

As always if you found this interesting and can share a link I'll be ya best friend foreva X

n.b. this post also appears on BBH Labs with less 'fucking'