TWIS: This year for lent, I'm just giving up

Hi Strat Pack,

Holy bananas it's March already. The good news is that I've found the perfect nightlife list for my lifestyle: Where To Go Out When You Don’t Go Out Anymore. So if you want to grab a drink between now and the next 40 years, I'll be at one of these.

Look, I need to be real with you. there are a few bummer articles in this week. Very important, but not uplifting. So, let's start on a high note. Without further adieu, I present Dogs Before Instagram. Vintage photos from the New York Times archive show the enduring power of the pooch. Burn one of those free article views, it's the beginning of the month. Live dangerously.

Alright, stop messing around on puppy instagram. Let's jump right in.

The one thing to read this week
1) When Work Tries to Destroy You [Rob Campbell - Musings of an Opinionated Sod]
Please please please read this.

I remember, growing up in the industry, that certain agencies had the reputation of being absolute sweatshops. Then my agency turned into sweatshop. Then we stopped talking about agency workloads like that.

Self care is the most important care. Our industry has a big mental health crisis lurking just under the surface. It's hard to change a toxic culture, but it's so much harder to stay in one. The rest of this summary is quoted directly from Rob:

When many talented people are feeling broken and worthless by their bosses, maybe it’s time we all take a good look at how we’re operating and what we’re asking our people to do, because if our future is dependent on showing how we can do amazing things with creativity and smarts … we’re doing a great job of making sure that stops happening.

Of course the great irony is our industry in particular is built on those people who see the World differently.

Who challenge, provoke, explore and experiment … but as adland chases money – having sold the commercial value of creativity down the river long ago – we are increasingly regarding anyone or anything that gets in the way, as our enemy, ultimately speeding the pace of our demise.

2) Why was Audi's 'Clowns' 2018's most effective ad of the year? [The Brand Gym]
Not a downer! Also please read this article if, for no other reason, you get to experience the joy of the phrases emotional sizzle and product sausage. I'm hungry.

Emotional impact is often quoted as the key to effective advertising. However, emotion alone doesn’t explain the success of Audi’s Clowns campaign, nor the other Gold Medal winners. Emotion matters, but so does motivation.

Emotional response is only part of the story. Buying behavior is actually driven by ‘motivation’: desires, goals and ‘jobs to be done’.

And here, the Audi Clowns ad also performs well (see below), by strongly activating the goal of ‘control’. “It uses clowns as a metaphor for all the idiots on the road who create risks that Audi’s technology helps you avoid,”

3) Ignore Seth Godin and his marketing fairy tales [Millward Brown Blog]
Disclaimer: I subscribe to only roughly 85% of this piece

"Story-telling will never overcome a bad experience. And I do not want a relationship with my toilet paper. This is just another Godin generic platitude that should be added to the fairy tales of marketing"

Brands tell stories in order to gain attention and, if executed right, build an affinity with the brand that will last over time. But if the brand cannot walk the talk it does not matter how good the story is, people will not give the brand a second chance, there are too many good alternatives out there all vying for attention.

To quote Theodore Levitt, "People don't want to buy a quarter-inch drill, they want a quarter-inch hole." Unless they get their hole, they just don't care about the provenance of the drill.

BONUS ARTICLE: Are Marketers Lying to Themselves? [Little Black Book] (Ed. Note: Maybe!)

We are selling stuff, that is what we are measured on. That’s okay. But does that mean that by adding a vision to it we're lying ourselves? No. It doesn’t.

It means we feel that our lives need to amount to something more than a bottom line figure. And that’s not naive, or idiotic. It’s human.

4) Quick Hits: A few articles that are concise, important, interesting, impactful, and I'm not going to write long descriptions for them.

How the CIA define problems & plan solutions: The Phoenix Checklist [BBH Labs] For every time you get a client brief. For every time you write a creative brief. I love this post from the archives (2010)
Stop Saying Ad Tech is Dead. It's Not Dead, It's Just... Enjoying a Moment of Quiet Contemplation [LinkedIn] An article about media written for real live human beings.
To save advertising we need to stop selling ourselves short. [Jordan Weil on LinkedIn] We've lot the narrative to consultancies. To Facebook and Google. Advertising needs to evolve from an industry of selling to an industry of solutions. Shameless self promotion alert: I'm Jordan Weil! This is a thing I wrote. If you haven't read it I think its worth a glance.
AICP's Creative Director Chatbot Answers Your Award Entry Questions [Little Black Book] The CD Bot will remind everyone of how to approach awards submissions from a creative director’s point of view, and further remind entrants from all corners of the industry that while advertising is a collaborative craft, it is ultimately all about the CD (according to most CDs).

5) Department of Great Work
You know what. There was some really great work this week. Let's check it out

Attention, citizens: RoboCop is KFC's new Colonel [AV Club] I prefer the two :30 spots at the end of the article to the film but it's definitely Peter Weller's voice, it's definitely off the rails insane, and I love it.
InStyle Magazine covers celebrating the 50th birthday of the best thing in the whole wide world, Sesame Street. [Instagram] 1) These are genuinely super adorable. 2) FYI Sesame street Twitter is legit amazing. 3) If you don't like Sesame Street you're basically dead to me.
This Hotel in Sweden Is Offering Free Hotel Rooms to People Who Can Put Down Their Phones [Travel + Leisure] Smart. Really smart.
Garnier Virtual Shade Selector Lets Walmart Shoppers Trial Hair Color [PSFK] The in-store pilot that lets shoppers try on over 100 hair shades
Oreo to unveil Game of Thrones ‘loyalty pledge’ in its biggest collaboration of 2019 [The Drum] The collab will play heavily into one of Oreo’s key missions – to connect people – and engage the fanatical Game of Thrones social community.
Tommy Hilfiger designs Instagram Stories templates ahead of Paris Fashion Week [Mobile Marketer] The brand partnered with mobile app Unfold on an Instagram Stories template collection, called Unfold & Tommy, which lets people incorporate the templates and other digital decorative tools into their Stories on the social platform.
Kellogg sees 18% sales bump through pilot for VR merchandising tool [Marketing Dive] Lots of VR this week, gang.

6) Platform Roundup

Serious question that I would love to hear your opinion on: Why are advertisers so quick to pull ads from YouTube but not Facebook? You could be right next to terrible content on FB, they've been implicated in a slew of privacy scandals etc, but there hasn't been really any advertiser backlash for them. Seriously, if you have thoughts, I'd love to hear them.

While YouTube and Facebook fumble, Pinterest is reducing health misinformation in ways that actually make sense [NiemanLab]
Instagram May Soon Allow You To Make Your Collections Public [WeRSM] The feature would compete head-on with Pinterest.
15 years ago Facebook was founded — and what a rollercoaster it has been. The NYT Opinion section created a friendship anniversary video for Mark Zuckerberg to mark the day. [Twitter] There are some deep cuts in here. It's good
Facebook Is Now Pitching Advertisers on TV-Style Upfront Buys for Premium Video [Variety]
Fortnite’s revenue dropped 48% in January but the lull likely won’t last long [TechCrunch] So uh yeah, I kind of decided that Fortnite is a platform now. Because....
Netflix says Fortnite is bigger competition than HBO or Hulu [Polygon]
Facebook’s promised Clear History privacy tool to launch later this year following delay [The Verge] Surprise surprise...they say the feature will harm its ability to target users with ads
Facebook won’t renew two-thirds of existing Facebook Watch news shows [Digiday] Something tells me they're not killing them because they're doing TOO good
You Give Apps Sensitive Personal Information. Then They Tell Facebook. [Wall Street Journal] I really hope you've read this already. If not, please read it.
Oh and of course YouTube is still a dumpster fire [The Verge]

Busy week! Thanks as always for sticking around. Parting thoughts of wisdom. This is the smartest summation of what ISN'T social media I've seen yet.

Have a great weekend!