whizdumb

Chocolate rants are yummy

Jon Stewart becoming one of the most trusted men in America has certainly not been lost on the traditional news networks. They've been trying to figure out how to deal with it.  One outcome of this soul searching has been CNN's venture D.L. Hughley Breaks the News. For a news network like CNN it's kind of funny, but when you hold it up to a broader competitive set like the Daily Show or the Colbert Report it has its work cut out for it. The network's straight laced DNA comes through. How about this description of the show from the CNN website: "Sometimes you just have to throw up your hands and laugh at the news!" Well golly me, I can't wait to do some laughing!

Compare the show with the relatively new Chocolate News with David Alan Grier. I think his monologues alone are some of the best news comedy out there today. Each episode begins with a pull-no-punches rant, a racial talking-to that taps into a fundamental truth (with a few harmless stereotypes). Here's an example:

Chocolate NewsWednesdays 10:30pm / 9:30c

First Black President?

Joke of the Day
Stand-Up Comedy

Get Funny Ringtones
More Funny Videos

So naturally this gets me thinking. Why does so much of brand marketing have to be positive and aspirational and happy? Why can't more brands be more raw, truthful, even angry? Wouldn't we love them for it?

For some time planners have argued that the best kind of reactions to brand communication are those that polarize. That you should never aim for consensus around a brand. That universal liking is worse than a room half full of lovers, half haters. That in the end it's energy that counts.

I agree. That's why I'm guessing Chocolate News is not going to garner a giant following. For me that's all the better.

Rant on, D.A.G., rant on.

Ten things

1) I haven't posted for awhile.  Shame on me. Getting settled in a new job and new apt in NYC while trying to be a good husband and raise a toddler is no excuse!  How does the saying go... "To be a writer, write."  To be a blogger, blog.

2) The streets here are full of scents.   Well, stenches actually.  This is something I'm still adjusting to.  I often catch myself holding my breath as I pass a pile of trash or whatever (though usually the source is unseen) only to find no relief when I pass it.  Especially lately as the summer air is thick and hot.  I imagine what things would look like if I could see scent. There would be colorful clouds hanging in the air everywhere. 

The most vivid may be right outside the building where I work.  There is a service entrance that houses and dispatches hot dog carts.  All day long the carts are coming and going, refueling and as many of us suspect, dumping their used hot dog water into the gutter somewhere.  Some say the puddles glow at night.  I wouldn't be surprised because the place smells awful. The kind of thing that inspires thoughts of becoming a vegetarian.

3) Am I the only one who thinks, "Is it me or is that PowerPoint projection a bit out of focus?"

4) I got a new TiVo and have been exploring new content. There's a feature where you can download loads of video content from the web.  It's slightly strange experience to lean back on your couch and watch things throught the TiVo menu that you'd normally watch online.  Stuff that would never make it to broadcast or even cable television, such as the Cranky Geeks show or a cheesy New York Times Vows video.  But I love it. The Long Tail in top form.

5) I am not a religious person but I absolutely love living across the street from a beautiful church and hearing the bells ring every 30 minutes.  The picture is from my home office window and the belltower is out of the frame to the right.

6) Facebook's mobile application for BlackBerry is solid.  A simple, fast, elegant alternative to their mobile site.

7) Groceries? Dry cleaning? Kitty litter?  Yeah, they'll deliver that. The other night I ordered Indian food and it was in the door 18 minutes after I called. 

8) Living in a much smaller space makes you reassess your relationship to objects.  I'm much more reluctant to buy something now because I know I'll have to find a place for it.  On the flipside, I'm selling and giving away things like mad in order to lighten the load.  Say no to paid storage...  give it away!

9)  Podcasts have become my commute media of choice.  I have to walk ten minutes, take the train (standing room only) for another ten, then walk another ten.  It's just not conducive to reading.  And I've found that when I do listen to music it is nearly impossible to find a genre that doesn't seem to perfectly accompany a walk through the city.  I guess it's a kind of aural adaptation.  Sound and sight are such strong senses that our mind melds them together.  Perhaps with so much stimulation here visually, the brain picks out the bits that go well with the music.  I don't know.  But it always sounds and feels like a good combination.

10) I feel better already.  The next time I have blogger's block I'm going to just list ten things on my mind.

And I thought I was a dork...

The Wall Street Journal wrote a piece recently highlighting the role of psychologists in agencies.  Some of whom literally wear lab coats to work.

"Ms. Haverty, who works full-time for the Boston agency of Havas's Arnold, where she occasionally walks around in a lab coat..."

I knew an agency could be a field of dreams for a psychologist but that may be taking it a bit far!

The piece followed the development of a bland television spot for Ocean Spray (the cranberry people).

What's interesting to me is what isn't in this piece.  The whole article reflects a pretty dated understanding of how advertising is studied today.  Scratch that, it's even bigger - how communication works today!  The dusty experimental designs of quantitatively testing advertising are flawed.  They are based on a linear understanding of persuasion and are overly reliant on simple comprehension and recall.  This in turn encourages more aggressive messaging and repetition which are extremely blunt instruments in today's cluttered marketplace (the piece even mentions that Millward Brown's objective of testing was to simply know how well the ad is remembered). 

There are emerging methods of understanding people that are more nuanced and interesting than those profiled in the article.  For instance, there is no real mention of engagement or social connections or any of the real trends in the industry (soon I'm going to post something more on engagement; I saw the head research guy from ARF speak recently and would like to share some notes.) 

And the role of non lab-coat-wearing resident planners (yes, like me) on nearly every major advertised brand doesn't seem to be on the radar screen.

I guess we should give more consideration to Lab Coat Fridays?

Full article here: Agencies Don Lab Coats to Reach Consumers - WSJ.com.

Drifting Dove

Like nearly everyone else, I loved the Dove Evolution spot for its strategic bravado and clever execution.  Now Dove has an anti-aging product called pro-age.  They're even showing focus group clips of the polarizing reaction consumers had to the spot, and they've titled the segment "The Debate Begins".  Most planners will agree that the best creative has a polarizing reaction.  To be neither loved nor hated by anyone is an express train to Blandville.  But I'm not sure many planners have recommended showing the actual consumer clips on the brand's website.  But in this case it actually works.  Dove continues to break new ground. 

Which is exactly why I was so disappointed by Dove's attempt to ride the consumer generated content wave with this dozer.  What went wrong?  All the consumer creativity Dove could source resulted in a spot that takes their campaign progress back to the CPG dark ages.  And the production looks like an in-house videomatic a creative intern shot on a Wednesday night.  Yuk.  It makes the so-so $12 consumer created Doritos Super Bowl ad look like a Clio contender.

Guerilla scare

The folks over at Adult Swim promoted their show by pasting a bunch of these LED-lit versions of the character Err around Boston and nine other cities (the show's website describes Err as one who "may come across as angry and rebellious to some.  But everything he says and does is right.")

A couple artists got arrested for installing them.  They said they worked for the NY based guerilla agency Interference. I found this interview with Sam Ewen, Interference CEO, from 2001.  He talks about other stunts that have gone wrong.

There's a YouTube video of the installation.

And apparently Duracell batteries truly are Trusted Everywhere.

I can only hope that one day a piece of marketing that I've worked on ends up being labeled as a 'suspicious device' and gets blown up by a bomb squad. 

Missing in action: Dick Clark's dignity

I was sure last year would be the last, but no. For the love of all that's holy, somebody please force this man to retire!

Update 1/15/07: Looks like Dick Clark's people took down all videos. Here is the wiki link.

Good things

Well it's a new year and I've been thinking a lot about brands, sustainability and purpose lately.  There is actually a strong case to be made that companies and consumers are ahead of agencies in bringing it to the forefront.

One indicator of this: Fleishman-Hillard did a study on corporate social responsibility that highlighted the sleeping giant of relevance that is purpose-driven propositions.  It's good to see. 

A few other bites:

Wal-Mart's big push on sustainability.   The scale of it is pretty amazing. 

The compact fluorescent light bulb as a revolutionary icon.       

A reality TV show on HGTV featuring environmentally conscious celeb Ed Begley.

And a new magazine called GOOD.  That's the cover of their second issue.  I really like this one.  It's started by Ben Goldhirsh, Albert Gore (Al's son), and a number of other smarty pants rich kids just out of college. 

They're going against the tide by starting a new magazine but they've got a lot of ideas and an underserved market of people who want to connect to these issues on a lighter, more creative level. 

As an example, in their first issue they commissioned WK12 to visually bring to life the essence of America.

The spread below was part of the result.  A brilliantly simple play on royal crests depicting selected bits of genius and gusto that dot America's resume.

The magazine goes on to write about everything from prefab houses and organic chefs to couch surfing and the growing acceptability of plastic surgery.

They demonstrate that a social conscience need not be a burden avoided by the masses; it can be fun, creative and curious.   

The interesting thing about all these 'purposeful' things is that they amount to a sentiment larger than green and sustainability.  You could say that purpose is the umbrella that houses everything from global warming to breast cancer (in my opinion product (RED) is the best example so far of the sweet spot). 

As a planner this is exciting to me...  while purpose is not a new value to people, it is ripe to play a more legitimate role in brand-consumer relationships.