TWIS: If it weren't for court dates, I wouldn't have any dates at all

Hi Strat Pack,

It's Easter! It's Passover! Which means that I hope you have the day off and are doing exciting fun things besides reading strategy emails. And yet here we are.

So I came across this article: Instagrammer Couple Faces Censure For Dangerous Photo Of Woman Dangling Off Pool (yes of course they show the photos) and like you I was appropriately aghast. People are going to kill themselves all for a good gram. But then I saw the photo. And another example. And you know what? They're really cool photos. So now I'm torn. Because I get it, you know? #noragrats

But more importantly, Quartz at Work came out with this bomb: What your laptop-holding position says about you. They nailed me. And I am 100% guilty of the Children's Toy carry more often than I should.

Alright guys, stop messing around trying to spin your laptop on one finger like a basketball (aka The Jordan) and let's jump right in.

The one thing to read this week
1) A Good Insight is like a Refrigerator [Jeremy Bullmore - WPP Advisory Board]
Please read this. Its a 3 page pdf. Print it out. Leave it on your desk. Use it to write better briefs.

Not all insights are equal. They come in two very different styles and with very different values. There are low-potency insights and there are high-potency insights.

Consider Theodore Levitt's oft-repeated phrase "People don't want quarter-inch drills. They want quarter-inch holes". This is a high-potency insight.

What if instead we said, "Product satisfaction arises less from inherent construction and performance than from consumers' internalised perceptions of personal utility." This is built on the same truth as Levitt's but it a much less engaging way. "Product satisfaction arises less from inherent construction and performance than from consumers' internalised perceptions of personal utility" is a low-potency insight.

When searching for high-potency expression of sometimes complex insights, it's a great deal more fruitful to accept the limitations of language; and to agree with Arthur Koestler when he says that "Words in themselves are never completely explicit; they are merely stepping stones for thought." (It's a wonderful sentence that; not only an important insight, but an elegant example, in itself, of the very truth it contains.)

High-potency insights, because of their immediacy - because they evoke as well as inform - behave like the best viral ads on the internet. They are infectious; we only have to hear them once to remember them, to apply them, to pass them on to others. By contrast, the low-potency insight sits there sullenly on its PowerPoint slide, moving absolutely nobody to enlightenment, let alone action.

High-potency insights stay close to the original meaning of wit: communications of great economy achieved through the use of unexpected associations between contrasting or disparate words or ideas.

So why is a good insight like a refrigerator?

Because the moment you look into it, a light comes on.

2) Mark Ritson: Accept it, people hate ads – yes, all of them [Marketing Week]

I’m sure you’ve heard a version of this: “People don’t hate advertising. They hate bad advertising.”

As it turns out, that's patently untrue. Kantar put out a representative study asking how people feel about advertising. They were asked which statement they agree with: they dislike it generally; it does not bother them; or they like it generally, it can be enjoyable. In the US a grand total of 12% of the population surveyed said that they liked advertising. The other 88% either said they didn’t give a toss or they disliked it. And even that is probably overstating it. Asking if they like ads generally and then adding ‘it can be enjoyable’ is a lousy question Kantar, sorry.

Why is this important? Because when you start believing advertising is liked you start making ineffective ones as a result. If you understand your ads are hated, ignored, despised and avoided you create ones that work within those limitations to do what they must do. If you think you are making welcomed pieces of content then your output becomes as addled and mushy as your mindset.

Accepting that people dislike advertising is not a negative thought. It’s a realistic one. And once you embrace realism – like any aspect of actual market orientation – your advertising improves.

Addled brand managers want to promote a brand purpose of relieving societal friction; consumers just want to stop the buttock-chafing when they go to the gym. Brands are little, little things. Realism is the route to better brand management and more success.

And the same goes for advertising. People hate it. Good ads. Bad ads. All ads.

3) 'Why I write fake online reviews' [BBC News]

We already know that half of the internet is fake. But apparently most online review are now fake too. Very quick, interesting piece on why people write online reviews. And why this approach works in businesses' favor.

In his spare time and to supplement his income, 44-year-old Iain Taylor says he writes fake reviews online in exchange for money and free products. "I have written reviews from numbing creams to eBooks to downloadable independent films," he says. "I think it's bad - but I think everyone's doing it," says Mr Taylor, describing himself as "cynical". He says writers are paid to buy the product and then leave a review, meaning the review can be verified.

Online reviews work because people try to take an "effortless route" when they have to make decisions. When it comes to purchasing, especially for items which are easy to buy, we expect this level of convenience and ease. Part of that expectation is met by peer reviews… we can outsource our decision-making.

Above a certain threshold, people will go for a slightly lower rating. A product with more reviews but a 4.3 rating was more popular than the same product with fewer reviews and a 4.4.

Interestingly, there is a certain leniency we give to bad reviews. We tend to distrust perfect ratings because it looks too good to be true. A five-star rating is less worthy than a 4.8 or 4.7.

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

Ad Industry and Commercial Actors Union Agree on New Contract [Wall Street Journal] Boring but important. The updated contract, which still needs to be ratified by union members in the coming weeks, includes alternative packages that let advertisers pay a flat fee to run campaigns featuring union actors for up to a year. The new options ease the burden on advertisers and agencies that currently pay usage fees that accumulate over time
Amid Ad-Industry M&A, Omnicom Says It Isn’t Looking for Big Deals [Wall Street Journal] On the Publicis's purchase of Epsilon, John Wren said, “They don’t have anything from what I can observe that’s unique or so proprietary.” (Decent shade for an earnings call.) It’s better to rent data than own it anyway, Omnicom’s CFO said.
Soundless video ads require a rethink [Warc] My favorite passage: “Current practices frequently treat soundless advertising as an afterthought.” The best-case scenario? A director considers it while filming. The worst? A “junior staff member” makes post hoc edits to an ad with this notion in mind." I don't have access to the JAR so I can't read the underlying article. Do you? Let's talk. (note: this is for pre-roll, not social, even though we could almost certainly improve there too...)
Why brands shouldn't forget to be likeable [Northern Planner] It's not enough to get people to buy you, eventually they have to like to buy you. This is why tech companies all end up investing in emotional brand campaigns. They eventually realise that disrupting the market only gets you so far. Eventually you'll mess up, and someone will disrupt you.
Frogs in the well: How creative agencies could get a lot more creative [LinkedIn] There is a Korean proverb that says “the frog in the well never sees the ocean”. If you spend all your life in one place you don’t get to see the depth and breadth of everything the world has to offer. The author asserts that creative agencies are currently acting like that frog.
Ad land’s obsession with youth will come at a cost [Marketing Week] Maybe I'm posting this because I'm in my early 30s and assessing my future. Maybe not. Who knows anymore.
Thinking Of Going In-House? Think Again [MediaPost] Your Friday afternoon hate read. "Personally, I have never seen creative talent run to the client side of the business". Go fuck yourself. [I work in-house]

5) Department of Great Work
Some really great work this week. Let's take a look

A Lonely Potato Finds Love in This Super Sweet Heinz Canada Ad [Little Black Book] I don't know why I always open with the tear jerkers. But I do.
PANTONE Redefines Femininity With Fun Palette Celebrating The World’s Women [Design Taxi]
HBO summons ice dragon for 'Game of Thrones' Snapchat lens [Mobile Marketer] I don't even watch Dragon Show but this is great.
Taco Bell and dancing street gangs fight the limitations of Taco Tuesday [AdAge] I imagine that was a fun headline to write
Ads We Like: Apple says not to mess with Mother Earth with action-packed iPhone film [The Drum] Done by Apple's in-house agency.
'OfficeUS Manual' [Behance] This isn't advertising but I love it and so should you. It's a guide to the American architectural workplace as documented through the everyday protocols, policies and procedures of architectural offices over the past 100 years.
Chiang Mai's Canned Air Is an SOS from Those Trapped in North Thailand's Smog [Little Black Book] from JWT Bangkok
Grey Goose encourages consumers to celebrate all moments in life [Campaign US] I like it! From MullenLowe

6) Platform Updates
Guys. A lot happened in platforms this week.

Instagram bug showed Stories to the wrong people [TechCrunch] Oops.
TikTok brand safety status under threat after platform fails to eject online predators [The Drum] Not great!
How Snapchat Aims to Re-engage Teens and Brands [R/GA Future Future Vision] Spoiler Alert: It's gaming
Facebook is working on a voice assistant to rival Amazon Alexa and Apple Siri [CNBC] Zuck is so thirsty for our data.
Google’s Next Big Money Maker Could Be the Maps on Your Phone [Bloomberg] They're going to put so many ads in that thing.
Podcast advertising boosts interest in brands [Warc] Like no duh. But now there's data!
15 Months of Fresh Hell inside Facebook [Wired] Scandals. Backstabbing. Resignations. Record profits. Time Bombs. In early 2018, Mark Zuckerberg set out to fix Facebook. Here's how that turned out.

Phew! That was a marathon, not a sprint. Now that's a full email. Thanks for sticking around as always. Have a great weekend!