I'm a big fan of Cameron Crowe films and re-watch them quite often. I just think there's something extra connecting with his films and the proud Gen Xers among us...
There's a great moment in Almost Famous when 15 year-old aspiring journalist, William Miller, is trying to interview the band members of the 70s rock group, Stillwater. After some lengthy and rather non-meaningful answers by the band about what music and rock n' roll means, Russell Hammond, the lead guitarist, pulls the kid aside and says:
"Look, it's not what you put in, it's what you leave out."
Comedy, to be appreciated, must have contact with the audience. This we
all know, but sometimes forget. By contact, I mean that there must be a
familiar, sub-conscious association. Somewhere, or at some time, the
audience has felt, or met with, or seen, or dreamt, the situation
pictured. A study of the best gags and audience reaction we have had,
will prove that the action or situation is something based on an
imaginative experience or a direct life connection. This is what I mean
by contact with the audience. When the action or the business loses its
contact, it becomes silly and meaningless to the audience.
That's incredible, isn't it? What makes it even better is that it's made out of paper. The artist is Jeff Nishinaka.
UNICEF created a Dirty Water Vending Machine that was placed in Manhattan to raise awareness of poor water conditions throughout the world--in a very visceral manner--while collecting donations.
I am always a huge fan of simple, thought-provoking print, like this for 95.3FM by Three Drunk Monkeys/Australia. To be general, radio stations typically aren't known for producing great advertising for themselves, so this campaign definitely stands apart.
Now that looks like a good pen. From Pilot and Grey/Barcelona. See more of this campaign here.
The flow of this site for TauaDesign is simply fantastic. So clean and intuitive. You know it's good when you dig the journey from click to click...
Apple's strategy has always been to "unleash human potential." And there's probably some filmmakers out there who don't know they're filmmakers until they start shooting with their iPhone 4. So, for all those folks out there who might just discover that they're filmmakers after all, we now have The iOScars.
This is the second time in as many weeks that skateboarding has made IOTW. This week it's Coke and Publicis/Mojo/Sydney. A very cool production for Burn Energy Drink/Europe who also has a very cool web environment worth checking out.
If you work in advertising (especially account management or brand strategy) I think you'll find reading Tolstoy'sWhat Is Art? a valuable use of time.
In this relatively short book the author of War and Peace and Anna Karenina articulates a guide that helps distinguish between what is indeed "art" and what is not.
As you can imagine, it sparked lots of debate and criticism in the early 1900s upon release but it's a fascinating read with Tolstoy's key definition of art coming down to this:
To evoke in oneself a feeling one has experienced and having evoked it in oneself then by means of movements, lines, colors, sounds or forms expressed in words, so to transmit that feeling that others experience the same feeling--this is the activity of art.
I like that.
What it's basically asking is: Did the artist communicate with clarity that which was intended?
Tolstoy's definition preceded film... But this is probably art:
Moving beyond art, I believe the same guideline should be used today when we call something "creative" in marketing. Labeling something as really creative is, of course, an accolade for the idea. Is it creative? Well, are we clearly and concisely conveying our intentions?
This sure did:
But we use the word 'creative' all the time. Perhaps too much. We just all assume everyone universally knows what it means. What Is Art? talked about this tendency too...
As is always the case, the more cloudy and confused the conception conveyed by a word with the greater self assurance do people use that word pretending that what is understood by it is so simple and clear that it is not even worthwhile to discuss what it actually means.
Isn't that the truth when you think about it? "Cool" immediately comes to mind. (A good definition of that can be found here.)
Anyway, I revisited What Is Art? after I read Newsweek's much forwarded article, "The Creativity Crisis," which is simply the best article on creativity I've read in a very long time.
The first key takeaway from the article is their rather simple definition of creativity: the production of something original and useful.
Excellent.
But I'm really interested in how that definition turns the corner to define creativity in marketing which is why I loved the second key takeaway from the article: that creativity is about problem solving.
And the good news about that is, interestingly, the process of creative problem solving can be taught and practiced. It's a way of thinking that engages both sides of our brain, not just the right hemisphere.
From "The Creativity Crises":
...When you try to solve a problem, you begin by concentrating on obvious
facts and familiar solutions, to see if the answer lies there. This is a
mostly left-brain stage of attack. If the answer doesn’t come, the
right and left hemispheres of the brain activate together. Neural
networks on the right side scan remote memories that could be vaguely
relevant. A wide range of distant information that is normally tuned out
becomes available to the left hemisphere, which searches for unseen
patterns, alternative meanings, and high-level abstractions.
Having glimpsed such a connection, the left brain must quickly lock in
on it before it escapes. The attention system must radically reverse
gears, going from defocused attention to extremely focused attention. In
a flash, the brain pulls together these disparate shreds of thought and
binds them into a new single idea that enters consciousness. This is
the “aha!” moment of insight, often followed by a spark of pleasure as
the brain recognizes the novelty of what it’s come up with.
Now the brain must evaluate the idea it just generated. Is it worth
pursuing? Creativity requires constant shifting, blender pulses of both
divergent thinking and convergent thinking, to combine new information
with old and forgotten ideas. Highly creative people are very good at
marshaling their brains into bilateral mode, and the more creative they
are, the more they dual-activate...
So taking all of this in, I'm currently thinking about creativity in marketing as: The creation of something original and useful that successfully solves a business problem.
I dunno... I may not like that next week but I'm going with it today. After all, a recent IBM survey of 1,500 CEOs identified creativity as the No. 1 “leadership competency” of the future so it's good that we all try and concisely define and understand what creativity means in 2010...
Four things particularly worth spending extra time with this week...
Old Spice/P&G and Wieden+Kennedy for the social media banter with @OldSpice. The agency created 186 videos in 48 hours where the Old Spice Guy directly responds to @mrskutcher, @Alyssa_Milano and more. Read Write Web had a great post about the goings on including how the agency worked directly with social media strategists during production. Lots of mainstream media coverage too.
Here's Demi's video...
And I particularly dig the shameless cross-promo:
On a totally different emotional note, Ogilvy/Johannesburg really makes you think in this execution about...
This is simply brilliant... if you're selling Molecular Biology, why not create the smallest brochure in the world? This idea from Uncle Grey for Denmark's Aarhus University helped increase applications by 67%.
Love this superbly-produced gem from Cutwater and Ubisoft. And that song ("Down in Mexico" by The Coasters) will pleasantly stay with you all day...
For other great creative marketing ideas worth noting feel free to check here.
It's estimated that 700 million watched yesterday's World Cup final.
It's also estimated that of the many marketers who associated themselves with the event that Nike came away with the most buzz and success.
Adidas was an "official" sponsor. And did well. Nike was not. But the latter enjoyed double the share of buzz associated with the world cup: 30% vs. 14%.
"Write the Future" is, of course, an awesome idea.
First off, the launch TV was wonderfully produced.
Secondly, the web presence was engaging allowing for discovery, customization, and the potential for immediate consumer feedback.
But most notably, "Write the Future" championed something that is a grounding principle of Campaign Planning: it was a campaign idea that embraced both one-to-one media (in this case Facebook/Twitter) and mass media (in this case TV) at the same time. They worked together but they didn't need each other to convey the point and motivate people.
Well this week you have to be sure to check out several things when you have a moment...
First is Battle of the Cheetos from Frito-Lay and GS&P. It's fun and those familiar with web production should be impressed by the production. There's a pretty cool integration into Facebook, if you're so inclined, and despite all that's going on the site remains all about the product. And that music will stay with you all day.
Dixons and M&C Saatchi/London won some accolades at Cannes for this campaign. But I hadn't seen it until this week. So here it is. Amazing how something can feel so 1965 but at the same time be so relevant for 2010.
Here's another great ad from Pacific Blue Cross and DDB/Canada. I just love terrific print... the simple, "made you look and think," instantaneous presentation.
"Life in a Day" is an excellent idea from Google. To visualize one day's worth of activity, on July 24th, everyone is invited to submit imagery that will be cut together into one big creative piece. Ridley Scott (director of Gladiator, Thelma & Louise and many more) is producing.
Here's an extremely clever way to target singles by Neu.de, an online dating site: place single socks at the laundromat.
Another innovative guerrilla idea. This one, from Vampire Diaries and Coleso BBDO, can be found at gyms, offices and other public places in New Zealand.
And here's another one from the same agency for Alzheimer New Zealand:
Levi's 'Go Forth' campaign is terrific. The latest effort from W+K focuses on the workers of Braddock, PA, an area that's struggled recently. The work combines toughness with social good. Check out the brand's Facebook page for more.
Okay, so I confess... I don't love this ad from Rockford, but I do love the line: "The world you dream of is not much different from the world you have."
Marcus Thomas is a fellow MAGNET Global partner with Drake Cooper. They do great work over there as this idea for Black Flag showcases.
Amanda alerted me to this great idea by Chipotle. Check out the progress here.
Finally, it's hard to follow up something that won the Grand Prix at Cannes. But this is a mighty fine sequel from P&G and W+K. Swan dive!