Here Be Monsters|blog

new ads coming your way soon #10

A coffee cup pixel picture. As seen on the streets of San Francisco, soon to be seen in a commercial or press ad for McDonalds coffee or Starbucks, no doubt with the line about 'our coffee being a masterpiece'.

well worth reading

Paul Isakson, updates his presentation. My favourite quote is probably, A revolution doesn't happen when society adopts new tools, it happens when society adopts new behaviour.

Isn't that exactly the problem with most agencies/clients right now? They all seem to be adopting the latest technology but they don't seem to be changing their behaviour one bit.

What's Next In Marketing And Advertising (2009)

View more documents from Paul Isakson.

new ads coming your way soon #9

Now you see me.

Now you don't.

And again, Now you see me.

Now you don't.

The hidden art of urban camouflage, more from here. Oh, it'll probably be used to high-light sloppy teenage bedroom behaviour. Storage solutions even.  Or maybe a promotion along the lines of hidden surprises in store etc. etc.

Whatever it'll be the idea will undoubtedly deserve better.

Gotta love VCCP

It's one of those campaigns people either love or hate, but everyone's noticed regardless. It's also become part of the wider culture. Why? Well apart from the freshness and attention to detail and downright lunacy of the idea they've also added some smart touches to give the campaign some more depth.

Stuff like showing bloopers and getting Aleksandr, the main character/spokesman, interviewed by the press.

Long may it continue. Big props to Compare the Market too.

You can see the ads here, naturally.

A slightly interesting aside are these ads, alongside the bloopers. Pity they didn't make them smart. Competitive business, insurance comparison.

Great tone of voice for a charity ad

So, nice to see a charity doing something a little different. No less effective for it in my book. I find a real energy in the piece too.

Unfortunately, no idea who did it either. Sorry

Top post from the main man, Rory.

Speaks alot of sense does Rory Sutherland of O&M. But don't take my word for it, read this quality post on his Campaign Blog.

Can a brand offend?

 
One of my many theories, I have one on pretty much everything by the way, is that we in comms who write comedy as a means to sell consumers stuff need to look at the wider, broader spectrum offered by comedians and not jut look at ads for guidance. Obvious one that I know, so why the hell doesn't the average creative bother then? I blogged about it here.

I also believe that there are 3 stages in the life of a brand's brilliant voice. 1) The creation of something original, thus creating stand out  2) The copying by many, thus making it trite and ubiquitous 3) A strong reaction against it, which is normally the opposite to it, and is implimented by an equally talented company, but not necessarily in the same sector.

So, if we take the the once brilliant and much copied (badly) Innocent drinks, where life is good in whimsical, middle England's very own Nappy valley. When it came out it was inspired, it connected in a way that most brands didn't (and don't) and success followed. (phase1)

Then came the many imitators. (phase2)

So what of phase 3?  Well I'm coming to that.  If my theory is right then we could soon see a brand soon that deliberately provokes it's audience/consumers with it's anger and bad-temperedness. It's already happened in the wider spectrum of comedy where to offend is the material de jour, (So with two theories combining I had to post, right?)

I even wrote  a blog to experiment along these lines - until I forgot my password which was then sent to an email address that I no longer have access to and so haven't been able to contiue with, which really, really pissed me off, I can tell you. Anyway I digress.

Should a brand talk to it's consumers like a Jack Dee or a Ricky Gervais? I believe 100% yes,but only if it's as brilliantly written and presented as guys like this. So that means a probable no then.

Only time will tell.

Chocolate wars

At times like this a more aggressive approach to your competitors might just work.

A little vindication, perhaps?

I was listening to the Radio 4's Front Row programme the other day, Russel T Davies was on talking about drama. For him the new drama is reality shows. He even went further and said that the piece of drama that had impressed him most recently was the Susan Boyle saga.

He went on to say that he wasn't just talking about her coming on stage and belting out her song but the way in which her story was played out afterwards keeping her in the public's mind for weeks.  He had real admiration for the people behind it.

For me, the most impressive drama has been the Katie/Jordan V Peter split. Don't get me wrong, I'm no fan of them or their desperate desire to live their lives in the public eye, but I do think that like Paris Hilton, they have shown those of us in the comms industry much in the way of how campaigns can be structure and played out in the future.

And I'm chuffed to bits that Russel T Davies thinks along similar lines.

What can bloggers learn from The Apprentice & Eastenders?

I’ve been working up this theory on writing for blogs to support a presentation and possibly create a new revenue stream for us.  So I thought I'd share my thinking with you guys see if anyone wants to contribute.

It’s about blogging - I'll share my thoughts on tweets later - and how brands should approach it in a more focused way

Right now brand blogging in the UK is in its infancy and because it’s cheap and quick and readership numbers are currently relatively small for most brand blogs, it gets treated with more contempt than this years BB contestants.

However, a quick glance across the pond will tell you that that doesn’t have to be the case. In fact a well-written, focused blog that serves and articulates a purpose, one that rewards readership can and does deliver a meaningful relationship that can be incredibly valuable to the brand.

But, this will not happen if you treat it as a freebie bolted-on to the main campaign because, well it’s cheap, trendy and so now, and that’s the kind of brand we are, so why not do it? Plus there’s a box here I have to tick, right next to the iphone app and the facebook widget. And, anyway, isn’t that what interns are for?

So the outcome is something that resembles a personal diary packed with minor milestones such as –

The sun is shining today, so why not go out and buy one of our new limited edition range of choc-ices. There are 3 to choose from lemon and lime, mango and multi-berry. Hurry and do let us know which one is your favourite. Yummy.

All written by someone who loves to replace full stops with :-) and can’t wait until a computer allows them to dot i’s with smiley faces.

The alternative to this, of course, is the dullard who thinks people love to read instruction manuals about products.

In short then, the kind of thing that no sane person can tolerate. And so a self-fulfilling prophecy that blogs aren’t important or effective.

And so, the next campaign gets the same blog treatment.

Now consider an alternative approach. Consider one where a blog is given a real purpose or positioning in a campaign, with a real benefit to consumers and is skilfully constructed and written by someone who understands narrative structure and the power of the written word.

What would that look like?

Well, I think a blog closely resembles two modern day narratives. Those of a reality TV show, like say, The Apprentice and that of a sitcom or soap.

How so, you say?

Well, a reality TV series is built around a script that is flexible enough to incorporate the unpredictable, the reality element, it doesn’t dictate the outcome but does add structure and order where there possibly isn’t any.

Characters are selected based on their personality traits and assigned a potential role in the series (the fool, the bitch, the quiet one who will flourish etc).

These roles are then clearly defined in the early stages and reaffirmed in subsequent episodes. So the dimwit character is edited to confirm his dimwittedness, the nasty bitch has only her bitchy acts included in the final edit and so on. Now established these characters can play their role in a pre-determined - albeit loosely plotted - script that has been drawn up from the beginning.

A manipulation of  reality, but a reality none the less.

Having become familiar with the characters we the audience can sit back and enjoy the drama unfold, safe in the knowledge of who is who and how they will react in certain situations.

Not too dissimilar to characters in a sitcom or soap. 

In this genre the characters have clearly defined personality traits that don’t change. It’s one of the few genres where this happens. Normally in a film or other drama, the lead character goes on a journey, a character-arc that changes him/her in some way forever. The workaholic at the beginning of the film discovers the importance of community and/or family. The idealist gets dealt a blow by fate preventing him from escaping his past and leaving him resigned to accept his lot etc.

But not so in the world of Soaps and Sitcoms. The reason they don’t change is because familiarity is what makes a soap a Soap, a sitcom a Sitcom. Dell Boy has to always chase the dream of being a millionaire, it’s that that determines the comedy. He can never become one nor can he change and discover less materialistic goals.

Likewise, Phil Mitchell of Albert Square is doomed to forever be the violent petty criminal he is. So, whatever situation he finds himself in he must act accordingly – not for him the enlightenment of learning the power of arbitration and peaceful compromise.

The reason both of these genres follow this path is because of why they are viewed and their relationship with the viewer.

They rely on repeat and frequent viewing, so they need to be consistent - people enjoy and need this familiarity, it allows them to build connections and feel a sense of loyalty to the characters.

And these character can’t be too complex and instead need to follow a simple human desire or personality trait because these genres also need to stand alone as pieces of entertainment and drama in their own right, so that infrequent or new views can easily grasp what is going on and quickly decide for themselves whether this is something for them.

What does all this sound like from a user experience, well to me, blogs.

So, before establishing a blog, define it’s role, define the narrative arc - what’s it’s purpose, what is it offering, what’s the story (know the beginning, middle and end). Establish who the characters are (people or product points) and what their role in the story is.

Oh and finally, give it to a writer. Someone that wants to write and who understands these things (which is why we have been quietly recruiting screenwriters, gag writers, comedy writers, journalists and novelists to write treatments and plot narratives for clients blogs).

Then you might have a blog that will attract considerable loyal readership who will engage and return to it time and time again and share their experience of it with others  – much like a good Soap or Sitcom

If this does or doesn’t make sense, or you want to challenge it some more, or you fancy joining the writers’ database, feel free to get in touch.

And now, just for fun and as way of a thank you for getting to the end, a completely unrelated video clip, other than featuring Alan Sugar, I present Cassetteboys best

New ads coming your way soon #8

You can just see it now. Everything from computers, phones, games manufactures, insurance, even a COI excerise more campaign, all joining the race to use this first.

The photographer is Christophe Beauregard. His aim is to explore the ways in which technology has shaped our body language “to the point of creating new codes, new signs.” By removing the physical gadget from his photos he leaves just the interaction.

More here.

What the !?

Matthew Robson, he of the youthful features and studious haircut has apparently enlightened Morgan Stanley's media and internet research department (no less) with a sage like report on how the youth consume media. This report is full of such pearls as -

Teenagers rarely listened to regular radio because they preferred stations without the adverts and could stream their own choice of music through services such as last.fm.

Teenagers favoured the social networking site Facebook over Twitter, because it was a better way of keeping in touch with more people.

Stephen Fry is not particularly cool. Also, for the cost of one tweet you could send quite a few text messages.

Teenagers do not use Twitter. They realise that no one is viewing their profile, so their 'tweets' are pointless.

Teenagers increasingly watched television when they wanted – because of the advent of BBC iPlayer, Virgin Media and Sky – and hardly ever bought newspapers.

Teenagers are very reluctant to pay for a newspaper (hence the popularity of freesheets such as The Metro," he wrote.

Teenagers still favoured the cinema, for the experience rather than watching a particular film, while virtually no young people would pay for music. They are very reluctant to pay for it (most never having bought a CD) and a large majority (80%) downloading it illegally from file sharing sites."

And finally Teenagers found online advertising "extremely annoying and pointless" and tended to ignore traditional billboard advertising.

Now, either the Banking world is so out of touch they're on their way on mass to see Michael Jackson at the O2 tonight, or this is PR bollocks. And if it's the latter, going public disclosing how utterly inept you are might be something you should  probably keep quite.

Then again, we are talking about the people who believed loaning money to people who could never afford to pay it back.

The world has gone mad.

Anyone planning on staying up?

Well not for another 100 years anyway.

Writing comedy

There was an article in The Guardian at the weekend, featuring Paul Fieg sharing his wisdom on comedy writing. It was pretty lightweight if I'm honest but there was still one or two gems of wisdom which would benefit any copywriter about to  tackle his/her next script

Stuff like:

There are so many comedies that portray people living in the suburbs as living ridiculous or hypocritical lives. But I grew up in the suburbs of Michigan in midwest America and tend to think that everyone is just trying to get through life as best they can. You don't have to sneer or poke fun at them to get a laugh."

"A great comedy is about real characters who make you laugh because you appreciate their personalities and how they react to particular situations. They have to be believable human beings, not just vehicles for gags."

"If you're trying to make a great comedy, most of your time and effort should go into casting. Find the right actors and let them do their thing."

Once again, I'm reminded of a particualr bug bear of mine. The lack of time and effort that contemporay ad agencies spend on the craft side of what they do. And yet, this is for me is where the effort needs to be applied especially now, especially the written word.

I get down from my soap box now, before this becomes a full on rant

You can read the full article here.

The bad old days

The sun is shining in Soho, Shoreditch and Hoxton. And the Cannes hangovers have finally gone away. Yes, all is well in the world of advertising. So let's take a quick peak at our embarrassing past. 

Makes you want to wash with caustic soda and a wire brush doesn't it?