Hill+Knowlton Strategies

So we near the end of the first month of 2012 – WELL DONE US. Except that Italian captain. And Tom Watson’s intern. And all those naive enough to believe that the SOPA/PIPA thing has gone away (if those words mean nothing to you then read this). And Snickers. And unwitting singers at American churches. And the Russian police. And Bayern Munich. And Uzbekistan. Everyone else, though, pat yourselves on the back – especially me, who found my very own doppelganger last week! We survived the most depressing day of the year, and from hereon in everything will be just peachy.

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Christmas advertising.  It only seems like yesterday that I wrote about it, and here they come again.  A veritable blizzard of ‘oohs, aahs’ and sharing  of the new John Lewis Christmas ad has sparked me into writing again.

Yes indeed, John Lewis has done it again.  Pulled at my heart-strings with a fab child actor, some great product on display, a lovely little twist, and  a cool sound-track.   I have to confess stopping my Sky+ to watch the ad again yesterday, and it almost set me sobbing.  Thank you Mr John Lewis, I’ll definitely pop into your fine store and purchase a few gifts this year.

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Phew. Three weeks since I last did one of these, and my word has there been a lot going on. Bankers have shut down a church (well, you know, indirectly)! The Sun gave us possibly the most tasteless frontpage in years! One of the most appalling hatecrimes of the (admittedly newish) decade was committed to little or no mainstream media fanfare! France and Germany mocked Italy’s sexually incontinent Premier! The filthy rich just keep on getting richer! And loads more besides, much of it even more dispiriting than those few links I’ve just shared.

Ignoring the fact that world is going to hell in the proverbial handcart, though, I’ve actually had rather a lot of fun (because that is obviously the MOST IMPORTANT THING). I’ve seen comedy; I’ve been to an awesome gig;I’ve been to the theatre and seen probably the most harrowing play I’ve ever seen, ever (actually, make that the second-most harrowing - this was probably worse); I’ve eaten some truly tremendous food; and I got to see a truly tremendous rapper live in a tiny venue. So, you know, I’m alright. Are you alright? I’m starting to worry.

Anyway, enough of this. Make yourself a cup of tea, settle down in a suitably confortable chair, and imagine my soothing, dulcet tones reading this out to you (and, if you like, imagine my malcoordinated body acting out every single video too. You pervert). You may want to get some biscuits too; this could take a while.

Image courtesy of Neutron, LLC

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The pretence that this blog is a weekly thing really has to stop. One month since the last one, fact fans. I’ve had THINGS TO DO. Not least going to Brussels and Croatia, where I went on holiday and did NOTHING other than read and swim and be horizontal. It was awesome, and as a result I now look less like this and more like this. No really, I do.

BUT that was then and this is now; I have returned to a world in which the internet spends all its time railing against the evil of corporations and then…er…goes incontinent with grief over the passing of the head of one of the world’s largest corporations; in which Silvio manages to somehow become even more ridiculous and offensive;  and a world in which somehow one of the members of 1980s pop combo Hue & Cry has become a consultant on games, play and ludic theory. We live in interesting times. Here are some totally insignificant bits of online ephemera to help distract you from what appears to be the total meltdown of civilisation which is going on all around us. Christ, I sound like an old man.

Socially responsible graffiti on a Croatian beach hut

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So, did anyone see this over the weekend?

Copy reads: “When we launched 15 years ago, those four words summed up what we believed in. And they still do.

“We don’t need to paint them on the tailfins, like some advertising slogan. That would just be wasting your money.”

Ahhhh….there’s nothing I love more than good old mile-high brand rivalry, fighting it out over the pages of our weekend papers.    BBH has clearly spent many many hours, weeks and months wallowing in nostalgia, crafting the detail that went into the £20 million British Airways campaign ‘To Fly To Serve’.    Thinking through all the ways to imbue their hard work into our public consciousness, right down to painting the tagline onto BA tail-fins. And then Easyjet’s agency VCCP goes and knocks up a dismissive print ad in a couple of hours. Awesome.

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I read in Marketing this week that Moneysupermarket.com is planning to present itself as a ‘big brand’ with a new big advertising campaign, and a new spot ‘Gorilla’.   I am mighty relieved that they’ve lost Omid Djalili, but am I right to be feeling just a little cynical that their agency Mother has introduced gorillas into the mix…? The ad doesn’t break until Sunday, but in case you’re dying to find out what happens, the brand character Geoff is so excited to have saved money on his insurance that he interrupts a quarrel between two gorillas and ends up chief gorilla.  Can’t wait.

The gorilla ad to beat of course, (and hence my cynicism), is Cadbury’s ‘Gorilla’.  I don’t know how Fallon sold in that ad, but it is so bonkers that it generated stacks of buzz and PR, drove sales of Dairy Milk, won multiple creative awards and even revived Phil Collins‘ career.  To this day it remains beautifully watchable.

This got me thinking about gorillas in advertising, and I was struggling at bit until I remembered King Kong.  The ultimate reference point for toughness, Mr Kong is mostly used to plug cars. Read the rest of this entry »

Guess who’s back? NO, IT IS NOT EMINEM! IT IS ME! (Though in fairness our level of musical / performing talent is comparable) Stop gawping at the back – I AM NOT DEAD! I wish that there was some sort of exciting reason for Web Curios’ long absence – an enthralling, Willy Fog-esque journey, an unexpected temporary career change, an unforeseen visit to chokey…but no, nothing so thrilling. Like Schrodinger’s Cat, Web Curios’ existence was momentarily uncertain – but now I am most definitely here. I think.

Anyway, there’s a lot to catch up on. Some people’s phones got hacked and everyone got VERY ANGRY; the most powerful man in the world turned 50; my new favourite rapper released a mixtape; I went to Boston and saw none of it (but did get to fly business class and thus received a pair of complimentary pyjamas – THANKS VIRGIN –  which was well worth the £3,000 that the flights apparently cost); oh, God, loads of things.

None of that matters, though. What does matter is that you immediately click on this link and donate money to stop people dying of starvation in Somalia. Thanks.

Frankly nothing that you’re going to read from hereon in matters one iota compared to the above, but it’s probably going to be marginally more cheering. Read on, and make your Friday afternoon of wageslavery marginally less soul-crushingly worthless than it might otherwise be.

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I read yesterday that men and women respond differently to advertising: women respond more favorably to ads with product research information, more frequent brand name mentions and various types of product illustrations or demonstrations. Alternatively, men were significantly more responsive to ads containing superiority claims.  Research is from Data Gem, more info here.

Don’t you just love a good men vs women piece of research?  It tallies well with the vanilla advertising that litters our world – ‘oooh Bodyform’ (women), ‘the ultimate driving machine’ (men).

My view, for what it’s worth, is that women (and men) respond to shock tactics.  Which may explain why London is being plastered in pants and bra ads at the moment – despite the continuing furore about the sexualisation of children.  I was visually assaulted last night by this:

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Happy Friday everyone!

This week the news that the COI is to be disbanded made me reflect on public service advertising.  There have been some incredible campaigns over the last 65 years which deserve a  bit of a retrospective.  Fortunately (or unfortunately)  Marketing Week had the same idea as me and has already published an excellent review, with some of my faves including “Charley says always tell your Mummy” – an ad that inspired a certain song by The Prodigy.

So with the weekend ahead I’ve tracked down  three road safety ads that have terrified me into never drink drinking, drink texting or even driving for that matter:

And this one, filmed in a real pub with a car hitting a stuntman at 20mph.

And finally this one (an RSI not COI ad) for teenage texting.  Our client RAC’s report on motoring 2011 released this week highlights teenage texting is becoming a major issue.

Do share your favourite COI campaigns, and next week I’ll write a more positive and upbeat post, following a few days  at Cannes Lions!

So M&S has got it’s knickers in a bit of a twist this week, with naughty Ann Summers copying its ad campaign.

Flic, who’s ex M&S thought that her former employer would laugh it off, but no, they’ve sued, and Ann Summers has had to take it down.  What a PR furore!  Brilliant antidote to all the Easter and Royal Wedding shenanigans.

Anyway it got me thinking about imitation campaigns.  Either the sincerest form of flattery, or bone laziness on the part of the advertiser/agency. Read the rest of this entry »