Adland (32 page)

Campaigns that play on Facebook's tendency to encourage narcissism always work well. In 2011 the Japanese agency Projector created the brilliant Museum of Me for Intel. This gathered personal information from your Facebook page and turned it into what looked like an online trailer for an art exhibition – except the pictures in the virtual gallery were of you and your friends. ‘A soaring soundtrack turns the sentimentality to max. The experience is a cross between a photo album, a phone book and a funeral. Not until the very end do you realize that it was all just an ad: “Intel Core i5. Visibly Smart”' (‘Robot cleaners and the Museum of Me',
The Guardian
, 24 January 2012).

Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram… every social network is of interest to agencies, because it offers them the chance to get closer to consumers, engaging them on an active basis in a way traditional TV never could.

Following in the footsteps of Anomaly, agencies have realized that they can create things other than advertising. Designing apps for mobile phones and tablets is one thing – but how about making gadgets? Nike already dominated the social running space thanks to its Nike+ and Nike Personal Trainer social apps (essentially: get off your butt and do some exercise so you can show off to your friends). In 2012 it pushed the idea further with the Nike+ Fuel Band, created in collaboration with its digital agency R/GA. The plastic wristband (technically called an ‘accelerometer') tracked physical movements and turned them into points – the more you move, the more points you get. These can be shared over social networks. The Nike+ Fuel Band turned exercise into a 24/7 social one-upmanship game – and it won the Cyber Grand Prix at Cannes.

Great though it was, the Fuel Band was made for just one client. Agencies have since latched on to the fact that if they design the technology first, without the prompting of a client brief, they can patent it and license it. For example, TBWA created an interactive window-shopping platform called Wi\Sh, which it showcased at the adidas NEO store in Nürnberg, Germany. Arriving at the window, shoppers saw a digital version of the store, with life-sized items on virtual shelves. A sign invited them to visit the Adidas e-commerce site on their phones and
enter a code. From that moment, items that they dragged and dropped into the basket on the interactive glass of the shop window would also appear on their phones. They could save products for later purchase, share them with friends – and of course pay for them right away.

Although TBWA's Helsinki office developed the experience in partnership with Adidas, the agency retained the intellectual property rights. Creative director Martin Mohr says: ‘We can “skin” the platform any way we like. It's a bit like a blog, where you have a basic framework that you can personalize. We can adapt this system to any brand's window.'

Mohr admits that patenting an invention was a strange new experience. ‘But it illustrates the changing nature of agencies and what they do for clients. It's not about creating advertising – it's about creating new channels. It's about building stuff.'

Shape-shifting giants

TBWA Helsinki was also behind the creation of a unit called Gamelab, which attempts to place brands in an environment that has been surprisingly resistant to them – video games. It's a vexing problem for agencies: their research shows that players actively dislike advertising in games. But Gamelab founder and agency vice-president Väinö Leskinen thinks he has the answer: ‘The brand needs to be an integral part of the game… it has to add value to the players' experience.'

The first example was a partnership in China between McDonald's and Rovio, creator of the wildly successful smartphone game Angry Birds. While dining at McDonald's, players could unlock hidden game modes and get free power-ups. It was a perfect match of gaming and location-based marketing. And it was backed by a TV spot.

Innovation is often identified with smaller, more nimble shops. But the TBWA example shows that the big, traditional agency networks won't go away – and they're all grappling with this new universe. In 2012, Sir Martin Sorrell's WPP acquired AKQA, ‘one of the last big independent digital specialists', for a reported US $540 million (‘WPP acquires AKQA to beef up digital marketing',
The New York Times
, 20 June 2012).

The advertising giants understand that they must help their clients thrive in the multi-screen world – or face uncomfortable questions
about their utility. Happily, the key to successful advertising remains unchanged.

Andrew Robertson is the worldwide CEO of BBDO. An Englishman in New York, Robertson has taken a leaf out of David Ogilvy's book and branded himself as such in his striped shirts and brightly coloured braces. But despite his somewhat traditional dress code, he is enthusiastic about technology. ‘If I could have carried my entire record collection around with me when I was a teenager, I would have done,' he says. ‘Today, that's no problem. What consumers want is access to everything, all the time. They don't even have to pay for it: you can download a two-hour movie for less than the price of a postage stamp. On the one hand, that's the single biggest threat to us as an industry, because people are no longer waiting around to hear what we've got to say. The opportunity is that if you can create content that's good enough, you can obtain face-time with consumers that money can't buy. Not only will they watch it, but they'll encourage others to watch it too.'

The answer to all this, say Robertson and his peers, is good, old-fashioned creativity. ‘Our job is to create content that captures and holds consumers long enough to provide them with a message, a demonstration or an experience that changes what they think, feel and most importantly do concerning a product.'

The most awe-inspiring medium in the world is rendered banal by content that lacks magic. For advertising agencies, then, the question is the same as it ever was: what's the big idea?

Conclusion

‘Advertising by invitation only'

T
his is the most exciting time to be working in advertising since the 1950s. During my global tour of the business, more than one person told me that the industry had experienced three revolutions: the invention of the printing press, the creative revolution – and the digital one that is happening right now.

In fact it seems to me that the creative revolution was a rather prolonged affair. After the explosion of creativity at Doyle Dane Bernbach in the fifties, the shockwave rippled across Manhattan, finally making landfall in the United Kingdom in the early 1970s. From there it travelled on to Western Europe, arriving in Latin America and Asia in the 1980s and doubling back to Eastern Europe in the 1990s. By then, the technology that is powering today's revolution had already begun to emerge. China may be the first economy to feel the brunt of two revolutions at once.

What makes advertising so fascinating right now is that nobody really knows how it will evolve. Many of the agencies described in these pages can still be looked upon as role models; others are museum pieces. Advertising's future will not resemble its past. Experts are busy tracking increasingly slippery consumers and mapping their behaviour, but their findings always come with a question mark attached. For sure there are smartphones and social media and screens everywhere, but how do these intersect and interact? The picture is still far from clear.

Agencies have accepted that they must look beyond the trusted combination of TV, print, outdoor and radio, but the range of alternatives is scarily huge. After all, a new media vehicle seems to emerge every week. A few more probably have arrived on the scene since I wrote that last sentence. Today's media landscape is not one of convergence, but of diffraction: an ever-expanding number of media options competing for consumer attention. The advertising industry is in danger of looking like a fat kid playing tag with a group of nimbler opponents who remain tantalizingly out of reach. It will end up red-faced, exhausted and undignified. What it needs
to do is sit back, open its bag of candy, and wait for its prey to come creeping back into range.

The good news for those of you who wish to work in the industry is that the collapse of old certainties has given rise to new opportunities. The word ‘communication' now covers such a vast territory that it almost defies definition. Psychologists, sociologists, anthropologists, musicologists, technology wizards and gaming enthusiasts… any or all of them might have a role to play at a modern agency.

But those with the most to gain from today's multi-channel revolution are undoubtedly the consumers. In France, ‘publiphobes' wish to rid the world of advertising. But their quixotic mission has been rendered almost irrelevant by the manifold nature of media. Advertisers can pump out as many messages as they want – we don't have to pay attention. Even better, we can invite them to send us a CV and decide whether or not we wish to interview them.

The truth is that few people expect to rid their lives of advertising entirely. A good sales pitch for a useful or attractive product will always grab our attention. But now the pitch has to be spectacularly good, relevant to our particular situation, and delivered in the appropriate way, at the right moment. It's enough to make you sympathize with the agencies.

One thing is certain: advertising is not going away. As long as somebody has something to sell, adland will always have a place on the map.

REFERENCES

Books

Brierly, Sean (1995)
The Advertising Handbook
, Routledge, Abingdon

Bullmore, Jeremy (1991)
Behind the Scenes in Advertising
, WARC, London

Challis, Clive (2005)
Helmut Krone. The Book
, Cambridge Enchorial Press, Cambridge, UK

Douglas, Torin (1984)
The Complete Guide to Advertising
, Chartwell Books, New Jersey

Fallon, Pat and Senn, Fred (2006)
Juicing the Orange
, Harvard Business School Press, Boston

Fendley, Alison (1995)
Saatchi
&
Saatchi: The Inside Story
, Arcade Publishing, New York

Fox, Stephen (1984)
The Mirror Makers
, William Morrow & Company, New York

French, Paul (2006)
Carl Crow – A Tough Old China Hand
, Hong Kong University Press, Hong Kong

Heller, Stephen (2000)
Paul Rand
, Phaidon, London

Hopkins, Claude C (new edition, 1998)
My Life in Advertising/Scientific Advertising
, NTC Business Books, Lincolnwood, Chicago

Kufrin, Joan (1995)
Leo Burnett, Star Reacher
, Leo Burnett Company, Inc, Chicago

Lawrence, Mary Wells (2002)
A Big Life (in Advertising)
, Knopf, New York

Levenson, Bob (1987)
Bill Bernbach's Book
, Villard Books, New York

Loiseau, Marc and Pincas, Stéphane (eds) (2006)
Born in 1842, A History of Advertising
, Publicis Groupe

Lorin, Philippe (1991)
Cinq Géants de la Publicité
, Assouline, Paris

Marcantonio, Alfredo (2000)
Remember Those Great Volkswagen Ads?
, Dakini, London

Mayer, Martin (1958)
Madison Avenue, USA
, Harper, New York

Myerson, Jeremy and Vickers, Graham (2002)
Rewind: Forty Years of Design
&
Advertising
, Phaidon, London

Ogilvy, David (1963)
Confessions of an Advertising Man
, Southbank Publishing, London

Ogilvy, David (1985)
Ogilvy on Advertising
, Vintage, London

Packard, Vance (1957)
The Hidden Persuaders
, Cardinal, New York

Pirella, Emanuele (2001)
Il Copywriter, Mestiere D'Arte
, Il Sagiattore, Milan

Pollitt, Stanley and Feldwick, Paul (eds) (2000)
Pollitt On Planning
, Admap Publications, Henley-on-Thames

Raphaelson, Joel (ed) (1986)
The Unpublished David Ogilvy
, The Ogilvy Group, Inc

Ritchie, John and Salmon, John (2000)
CDP:
Inside Collett Dickenson Pearce
, B.T. Batsford, London

Scott, Jeremy (2002)
Fast and Louche
, Profile Books, London

Séguéla, Jacques (1979)
Ne Dites Pas à Ma Mère Que Je Suis Dans la Publicité… Elle Me Croit Pianiste Dans un Bordel
, Flammarion, Paris

Séguéla, Jacques (2005)
Tous Ego: Havas, Moi et les Autres
, Editions Gawsewitch, Paris

Souter, Nick and Newman, Stuart (1988)
Creative Director's Sourcebook
, MacDonald, London

Stabiner, Karen (1993)
Inventing Desire
, Simon & Schuster, New York

Testa, Armando and Tsiaras, Philip (1987)
Armando Testa
(exhibition catalogue) Parsons School of Design, New York

Online resources

AdBrands (
www.adbrands.net
)

Advertising Age (
www.adage.com
)

Brand Republic (
www.brandrepublic.com
)

Clickz (
www.clickz.com
)

LexisNexis (
www.lexisnexis.com
)

Musée de la Publicité (
www.museedelapub.org
)

Shots (
www.shots.net
)

Stocks and News (
www.stocksandnews.com
)

Stratégies (
www.strategies.fr
)

World Advertising Research Centre (
www.warc.com
)

INDEX

180 agency
(i)
,
(ii)
,
(iii)

Abbott, David
(i)

Abbott Mead Vickers
(i)

Absolut vodka
(i)

account executive
(i)

account planning
(i)

Adidas
(i)
,
(ii)
,
(iii)

advertising
(i)
,
(ii)

    creative
(i)

    film directors and
(i)

    event
(i)

    expenditure
(i)
,
(ii)

    First World War
(i)

    future of
(i)

    games
(i)

    internet
(i)

    magazine
(i)

    multimedia
(i)

    origins
(i)

    posters
(i)
,
(ii)

    radio
(i)

    Second World War
(i)

    social networks
(i)
,
(ii)

    TV commercials
(i)
,
(ii)

    viral
(i)

Advertising Association
(i)

Advertising Age
(i)

advertising agencies
(i)
,
(ii)

    Argentina
(i)

    Australia
(i)

    Brazil
(i)

    China
(i)

    France
(i)

    Germany
(i)

    Holland
(i)

    Italy
(i)

    Japan
(i)

    mergers/takeovers
(i)

    South Africa
(i)

    Spain
(i)

    UK
(i)
,
(ii)
,
(iii)

    USA
(i)
,
(ii)
,
(iii)
,
(iv)

Aegis
(i)
,
(ii)

Agenzia Italia
(i)

Agulla y Baccetti
(i)

Ajroldi, Paulo
(i)
,
(ii)

AKQA
(i)

Alka-Seltzer
(i)

Ally, Carl
(i)

Almap/BBDO
(i)

Amsterdam Worldwide
(i)

AMV BBDO
(i)
,
(ii)
,
(iii)
,
(iv)
,
(v)

Anomaly
(i)
,
(ii)

Apple
(i)
,
(ii)

Armando Testa
(i)

Armstrong, Richard
(i)

‘Arrow Collars & Shirts'
(i)

Artzt, Edwin L
(i)

Asia
(i)

Asics
(i)

Audi
(i)

Avis
(i)
,
(ii)

awards ceremonies
(i)

Ayer, Francis Wayland
(i)

Ball, Hugo
(i)

Barrett, Thomas J
(i)

Bartle Bogle Hegarty (BBH)
(i)
,
(ii)
,
(iii)
,
(iv)
,
(v)

Bartle, John
(i)

Barton, Bruce
(i)
,
(ii)
,
(iii)
,
(iv)

Bassat, Louis
(i)

Bates, Charles Austin
(i)

Batten, George
(i)

Baulk, Michael
(i)

Baumgartner, Felix
(i)

Bayley, Stephen
(i)

BBDO
(i)
,
(ii)
,
(iii)
,
(iv)
,
(v)
,
(vi)
,
(vii)
,
(viii)

    merger with DDB
(i)

Bcom3
(i)
,
(ii)

BDDP
(i)
,
(ii)
,
(iii)

Beattie, Trevor
(i)

Bell, Tim
(i)

Benetton
(i)

Benetton, Luciano
(i)

Benton & Bowles
(i)
,
(ii)

Bermann, Georges
(i)
,
(ii)

Bernardin, Tom
(i)

Bernbach, Bill
(i)
,
(ii)
,
(iii)
,
(iv)
,
(v)
,
(vi)
,
(vii)
,
(viii)
,
(ix)
,
(x)
,
(xi)

Bleustein-Blanchet, Marcel
(i)
,
(ii)
,
(iii)
,
(iv)

BMP
(i)

BMW
(i)
,
(ii)
,
(iii)

Boase, Martin
(i)
,
(ii)

Boase Massimi Pollitt
(i)

Bogle, Nigel
(i)
,
(ii)

Bogusky, Alex
(i)

Bolloré, Vincent
(i)
,
(ii)

Bonnange, Claude
(i)
,
(ii)

Borsten, Eddy
(i)

brands
(i)
,
(ii)
,
(iii)

    dotcom
(i)

    Eastern Europe
(i)

Braniff Airlines
(i)

British Airways
(i)
,
(ii)

Brignull, Tony
(i)

Brodovitch, Alexey
(i)

BSUR
(i)

Budgen, Frank
(i)
,
(ii)

Bullock, Richard
(i)

Burnett, Leo
(i)
,
(ii)
,
(iii)
,
(iv)
,
(v)
,
(vi)

Cabaret Voltaire
(i)

Cadbury
(i)

Cadillac
(i)
,
(ii)

Calkins & Holden
(i)
,
(ii)

Calkins, Earnest Elmo
(i)

Campaign
(i)
,
(ii)
,
(iii)
,
(iv)
,
(v)
,
(vi)

Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity
(i)

Carat
(i)

Carl Crow Inc
(i)

Carosello
(i)

‘Cassandre'
(i)

Cayzac, Alain
(i)

Chaldecott, Axel
(i)

Chiat/Day
(i)
,
(ii)

    ‘1984' advertisement
(i)
,
(ii)

Chiat, Jay
(i)

Citroën
(i)

Clemenger
(i)

Clemenger, Jack
(i)

Clow, Lee
(i)
,
(ii)

Collett, John
(i)

Collin, Will
(i)

Collinson Dickenson Pearce (CDP)
(i)
,
(ii)
,
(iii)

    acquired by Dentsu
(i)

Contrapunto
(i)

copywriting
(i)
,
(ii)

    Italian
(i)

Cramer, Ross
(i)
,
(ii)
,
(iii)

Cramer Saatchi
(i)

Crawford, Bruce
(i)

Crawford, John
(i)

Crispin, Porter & Bogusky
(i)

Crispin, Sam
(i)

Curtis, Cyrus
(i)

Dada
(i)

Dane, Maxwell ‘Mac'
(i)
,
(ii)

Day, Guy
(i)

de Pouzilhc, Alain
(i)
,
(ii)

Delpire, Robert
(i)

Dentsu
(i)
,
(ii)
,
(iii)
,
(iv)
,
(v)

    history
(i)

    television advertising and
(i)

Dichter, Ernest
(i)

Dickenson, Ronnie
(i)
,
(ii)

digital media
(i)

Disruption Days
(i)

dotcom advertising
(i)

Douce, Jacques
(i)

Douglas, Torin
(i)

Doyle Dane Bernbach (DDB)
(i)
,
(ii)
,
(iii)
,
(iv)
,
(v)
,
(vi)
,
(vii)
,
(viii)
,
(ix)
,
(x)
,
(xi)
,
(xii)
,
(xiii)
,
(xiv)

    merger with BDDO
(i)

Doyle, Ned
(i)
,
(ii)

Droga, Dave
(i)

Droga5
(i)

Dru, Jean-Marie
(i)
,
(ii)

Duffy, Ben
(i)

Durstine, Roy
(i)

Dusenberry, Phil
(i)
,
(ii)

Eastern Europe
(i)

Elliott, Brian
(i)

EMAP
(i)
,
(ii)

Erickson, Albert
(i)

Euro RSCG Worldwide
(i)
,
(ii)

Eurocom
(i)

Evans, Lee
(i)

Facebook
(i)
,
(ii)
,
(iii)

Fallon
(i)

    Sony TV campaign
(i)

Fallon, Pat
(i)
,
(ii)

Fendley, Alison
(i)

Fincher, David
(i)

Flagg, James Montgomery
(i)

Foote Cone & Belding (FCB)
(i)
,
(ii)

Ford
(i)

Fox, Stephen
(i)
,
(ii)
,
(iii)
,
(iv)
,
(v)
,
(vi)
,
(vii)

French, Neil
(i)
,
(ii)

Fry
(i)

Gage, Bob
(i)
,
(ii)
,
(iii)
,
(iv)
,
(v)

Gallup, George
(i)
,
(ii)

Gamelab
(i)

George Patterson Y&R
(i)

Getchell, J Stirling
(i)

GGK
(i)
,
(ii)

Gillard, John
(i)

Glaser, Milton
(i)

Glazer, Jonathan
(i)

G1 Worldwide
(i)

Gondry, Michel
(i)
,
(ii)
,
(iii)

Goodby, Jeff
(i)

Goodby, Silverstein & Partners
(i)

Goodson, Scott
(i)

Gorgeous Enterprises
(i)

Gossage, Howard
(i)

Göttsche, Michael
(i)
,
(ii)

Goudard, Jean-Michel
(i)

Grey Global Group
(i)
,
(ii)
,
(iii)

Gross, Gilbert
(i)

Gunn, Donald
(i)

haiku
(i)

Hakuhodo
(i)

Hampartsoumian, Arto
(i)

Harlow, John
(i)

Harper Jr, Marion
(i)
,
(ii)
,
(iii)

Harper, Paul
(i)

Hatchuel, Roger
(i)

Haupt, Roger
(i)

Havas
(i)
,
(ii)
,
(iii)
,
(iv)
,
(v)
,
(vi)

Havas, Charles Louis
(i)

Hayward, Guy
(i)

Health Education Council
(i)

Hegarty, John
(i)
,
(ii)
,
(iii)
,
(iv)
,
(v)

Heineken
(i)

Henry, Steve
(i)

Hertz
(i)

Holden, Ralph
(i)

Holt, Dennis
(i)

Hopkins, Claude
(i)
,
(ii)
,
(iii)
,
(iv)
,
(v)

Howard-Spink, Geoff
(i)

Howell Henry Chaldecott & Kury (HHCL)
(i)

Howell, Robert
(i)

Hummert, Frank
(i)

Hunt, John
(i)

Hunt Lascaris
(i)

    African National Congress and
(i)

Ingram, Chris
(i)

integrated/360 marketing
(ii)

Interpublic
(i)
,
(ii)

J Walter Thompson (JWT)
(i)
,
(ii)
,
(iii)
,
(iv)
,
(v)
,
(vi)
,
(vii)
,
(viii)

Jacoby, Konstantin
(i)

Jesus Jeans
(i)

Jobs, Steve
(i)
,
(ii)

John Singleton Advertising
(i)

Johnnie Walker
(i)

Johnson, Carl
(i)

Jones, Colin
(i)

Jonze, Spike
(i)

Jung von Matt
(i)
,
(ii)

Kagami, Akira
(i)
,
(ii)

Kameleon
(i)
,
(ii)

Karmazin, Mel
(i)

Kaye, Tony
(i)

Kellogg, Will Keith
(i)

Kellogg's
(i)

Kemper Trautmann
(i)

Kennedy, David
(i)

Kennedy, John E
(i)
,
(ii)

Kershaw, David
(i)

KesselsKramer
(i)

King, Norman
(i)

King, Stephen
(i)

Kitchener, Lord
(i)

Klues, Jack
(i)

Koenig, Julian
(i)
,
(ii)

Krone, Helmut
(i)
,
(ii)
,
(iii)

Kudner, Art
(i)

Lansdowne, Helen
(i)

Lascaris, Reg
(i)

Lasker, Albert
(i)
,
(ii)
,
(iii)
,
(iv)

Law, Andy
(i)

Lawrence, Mary Wells
(i)

Lemonnier, Pierre
(i)

Leo Burnett Worldwide
(i)
,
(ii)
,
(iii)
,
(iv)
,
(v)
,
(vi)