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'

LIVE BROADCASTING. BEYOND ONLINE ADVERTISING AND INTO CULTURE.

KFC, Gaming and Grime. At first glance these may look like three separate entities, but look a little closer into youth culture today and you will see that they are inseparably tangled together. Grime stars love gaming; they love talking about it online and they love writing music about gaming.

The gaming elite have reciprocated this inter-genre love; KSI - gamer and most influential YouTuber in the UK - has even collaborated on grime tune ‘Lamborghini’ with P Money, which has amassed more than 61m views. Where you find grime and gaming, you find KFC mentioned constantly, both in lyrics or proclaimed as the ultimate fuel for gaming on social chatter.

This blossoming friendship between two of the biggest and hottest UK cultures has been played out publicly across a combined social network that reaches approximately 60% of the UK’s 16-24s.

This is the age group that is leading the charge against online advertising, with nearly half (47%) using adblockers - up 15% in a year.

They also make up a sizeable proportion of the fast food category.

With traditional OLA declining in reach (with questionable effectiveness), we wondered whether live broadcast, connecting straight to the customer, could offer us a marketing opportunity?

The objective; to famously enforce the existing cultural associations between this demographic, eating occasion and KFC. At a fraction of the price of TV.

On the 27^th November, KFC hosted a gaming tournament that saw the biggest names in grime and gaming battle it out for a lifetime’s supply of KFC

By shortcutting traditional media, KFC reached 87% its target audience, with the live stream reaching 2.7 million people. What’s more, 77% of all comments expressed joy.

The long term effect of this broadcast is yet to be measured, but we are already planning no.2. Why? Because although adblocking may never quite reach the 100% of millennials that AdBlock Plus believe they can, we believe that building KFC’s broadcasting power for longevity will deliver substantial returns.