This Week in Strategy: Have you tried blindfolded archery? You don't know what you're missing!
Hi Strat Pack,
Friends of the newsletter know that I have huge affinity for Sesame Street's ability to be right at the intersection of the beating pulse of pop culture and hilarious cookie-related antics. Without further adieu, I present Sesame Street: Respect World where we get to see Evan Rachel Wood and Jeffrey Wright chow down on cookies...but only after learning an important lesson.
Hard Pivot: have you heard about the plandid? Me neither. But this pose is almost certainly dominating your Instagram feed. “The plandid is like a newer, hotter version of the selfie on Instagram. With so many Instagram influencers having personal photographers or ‘Instagram husbands’, it’s easier to post a full body photo of yourself that looks effortless,” said Taylor Loren, marketing manager at Later, a leading Instagram marketing platform. Click through to this article if, for no other reason, that 3 out of the 6 people in this article (including the author) are named Taylor.
Before we jump in, a note from the editorial board:
Guys, putting this week's issue together was tough. It seems like a lot of the thought leadership this week was focused on the things that are not working in our industry: brand purpose gone awry, overwork, and adtech's penchant for misusing data. So it might seem that this week's content is darker than usual. I'm sharing this not to bring you down--I actually think creativity in advertising is primed for a comeback--but to show you the cracks and flaws so that we can fix them. So the first few articles are harsh. Read them, internalize them, then beat them.
Alright, stop trying to figure out how to get Cookie Monster to do a pop-culture vignette with you and let's jump right in.
The one thing to read this week
1) Woke-washing: how brands are cashing in on the culture wars [The Guardian]
Brands are increasingly flirting with the realm of politics. When Marks & Spencer launched its LGBT sandwich – basically, your classic BLT with some gay guacamole thrown in – [the author] was asked by ITV’s This Morning if I was offended by the sandwich. How did we arrive at a point where sandwich packaging is debated on daytime TV?
You don’t have to have digested Karl Marx’s Das Kapital to recognise that companies are driven by the profit motive, not changing the world. But can advertising ever have an ethical dimension?
Sophie Lewis, chief strategy officer at VMLY&R London, says we should not dismiss the intentions of companies out of hand. “I’m largely inspired by Emmeline Pankhurst’s motto of ‘deeds not words’. I’m a great believer that when brands ostensibly take on a social purpose, they have to be clear about their role and right, and they have to work with integrity and consistency,” she says. If a brand’s commitment extends just to communicating, she argues, rather than considering how it does its own business, it is liable to be caught out. If a brand does manage to do it, “then it can be very powerful both as a cultural change agent, but also as a driver of business growth. Because, let’s be honest, most businesses exist to make money and grow.”
If you boil it down to its very barest, then, absolutely, advertising is about increasing the value of a brand so the business performs better. But the question is whether that can exist alongside being genuinely good things.
Capitalism has proved its ability to adapt: at a time when so many younger people quite legitimately feel that the economic system doesn’t work for them, big business appealing to their sense of idealism is a savvy move. So while I am still not going to get angry about a sandwich, I am not going to start pretending it will change the world, either.
BONUS OPPOSING VIEWPOINT: A Brand’s Cultural Relevance Is Almost as Important as a Strong Image, Study Finds [AdWeek] “Not just that consumers are OK with it, but consumers think it’s important for being involved—giving back, philanthropy,” Kara Manatt, svp, intelligence solutions and strategy at Magna Global said, pointing out that the survey found that 58% of consumers agree that brands should be philanthropic. “A lot of consumers expect it for brands to be involved. One of our recommendations, as brands plan when targeting younger people, they do need to keep culture in mind.”
I'm going to come clean with you. I think this is all over the place. And I tend to agree with The Guardian that "deeds > words" when it comes to philanthropy. But this research was commissioned by an agency. And when you ask a butcher what to eat for dinner, he's going to recommend steak.
2) This LinkedIn Post from Ian Sohn, President of Wuderman Chicago [LinkedIn]
I never need to know you’ll be back online after dinner.
I never need to know why you chose to watch season 1 of “Arrested Development” (for the 4th time) on your flight to LA instead of answering emails.
I never need to know you’ll be in late because of a dentist appointment. Or that you’re leaving early for your kid’s soccer game.
I never need to know why you can’t travel on a Sunday.
I never need to know why you don’t want to have dinner with me when I’m in your town on a Tuesday night.
I never need to know that you’re working from home today because you simply need the silence.
I deeply resent how we’ve infantilized the workplace. How we feel we have to apologize for having lives. That we don’t trust adults to make the right decisions. How constant connectivity/availability (or even the perception of it) has become a valued skill.
I'm equally grateful for the trust/respect my peers, bosses and teams show me every day.
Years ago a very senior colleague reacted with incredulity that I couldn’t fly on 12 hours notice because I had my kids that night (and I'm a single dad). I didn’t feel the least bit guilty, which I could tell really bothered said colleague. But it still felt horrible.
I never want you to feel horrible for being a human being.
3) Helen Edwards: Vision and purpose should stand above commercial considerations [Marketing Week]
Where we are now: marketers scratching their heads at the intensifying debate and wondering aloud whether the crafting of a ‘brand purpose’ really will help them grow market share. The answer is simple: it’s the wrong question. It’s like asking whether taking up yoga will make you richer.
Vision and purpose are weighty statements that should reside at the highest levels of the corporation and stand above commercial considerations. In truth, few marketers get the chance to influence the very soul of an organisation at a moment of change. Rightly, such opportunities don’t come up too often.
You might be asking, how do I fill in the ‘noble purpose’ box on my sub-brand strategic framework? Answer: don’t. Try instead for a ‘brand point of view’ – a less elevated statement that should link to, but not simply replicate, organisational purpose and values
Far more often, marketers will be custodians of brands owned by corporations with a statement of vision or purpose somewhere in the archives. They should dust it down, blow away the cobwebs and ask how it might serve as deep inspiration for their approach to innovating for, and engaging with, today’s consumers. They will find this authentic fusion of inner truth and outer manifestation professionally satisfying. And justly so: it is what we are here to do.
4) We don’t understand how dangerous we are [Warc]
Written by Bob Hoffman, the AdContrarian
The current online adtech ecosystem is based substantially on the collection and deployment of data about consumers. As a result, advertising — which used to be about imparting information — has become in equal measure about collecting information. It has become a vast and inescapable network of tracking, surveillance, and spyware.
Let’s have a look at how the shift to the current data-obsessed system of adtech has affected advertisers.
Waste: The ANA (Association of National Advertisers in the U.S.) says that of every online ad dollar spent, only 25¢ reaches consumers.
Fraud: It was reported recently that online ad fraud has grown to an astounding $50 billion. No one knows the true extent of fraud (only the crooks who are bad at it get detected) but all experts agree it’s massive.
Public disdain: Doc Searls, author of The Intention Economy, says that ad blocking has become the largest boycott of anything in the history of mankind.
Brand safety: I’m sure I don’t have to tell you about the scandals regarding advertising for quality brands winding up in horrifying places.
Corruption: Kickbacks, payoffs, FBI investigations, grand juries, and threats of jail time to social media execs have all become part of the daily reporting about online advertising.
Do we really believe that Pepsi has data that Coke doesn’t have? Do we expect that McDonald’s doesn’t have similar data to Burger King?
The amount of data we collect is meaningless. Ask any major marketer and you’ll hear that despite our addiction to unbridled data collection, advertising effectiveness is generally believed to be at all-time lows.
The current model of online advertising - based on tracking, surveillance, and massive data collection - is only 20 years old. But it is already far beyond its sell-by date. It is a ridiculous anachronism, born in a naive era of digital utopianism, and now absurdly outmoded, dangerous, and unsuited to its purpose.
5) Quick Hits: A few articles that are concise, important, interesting, impactful, and I'm not going to write long descriptions for them.
I'm testing out adding longer blurbs to the links. Do you like it or should I go back to brevity? Please let me know!
‘Effectiveness in context’ is Peter Field and Les Binet’s latest foray into the IPA Databank in their quest to help create greater understanding amongst marketers and brands about what makes marketing truly effective. [IPA Effectiveness Works] The only reason this isn't the one thing to read this week is because it's a video. It's long (50 min) but brilliant. I saw Binet & Field present this deck, and it's so useful. Best part: Slides attached (or if you're in a rush, just download them here)
Dave Trott: Efficiency vs Effectiveness [Campaign Live] Take 90 seconds and read this. And ask whether your team effective, or just efficient
Steven Pinker’s 13 Rules for Good Writing [OpenCulture] If you write nothing else, you write a lot of emails. This is great advice for everything from briefs to creative to email subject lines.
Data viz is the new branding. Just ask Pentagram’s latest hire [Fast Company] Dumb headline, but good article. The need to digest vast amounts of data into easily consumable nuggets is only going to increase. "[There’s a] need to shift from a one-way conversion, from brands collecting and using data we provided to them, to brands giving us measurable value back to us in the process.”
Contextual Targeting’s Coming Renaissance [Mighty Hive on Medium] Contextual targeting to date focused mostly on simplistic objective attributes (e.g., “travel”) that are easily understood by computers. However, advances in AI now allow software to process and understand the subjective (moods, emotions, attitudes, aesthetics — the elements of human psychology that form the basis for successful advertising). Software that can make sense of nuanced “shades of grey” will give marketers completely new tools and territory to explore.
Exposing the black hole of online video advertising [Campaign Live] Four percent of video ad viewing took 26% of video adspend; the other 95% of video ad viewing took 70%. The average cost across TV advertising (linear and VOD) for 30 seconds is just over £6. For non-broadcaster online video, it goes up to a whopping £45. So, the potentially brand-unsafe, often small-screen, often partially viewable world of online video costs advertisers seven times more than TV. This doesn’t sound like value for money.
And who could forget your Agency hate read of the week...
Omnicom’s Peter Sherman: We want to connect, not collapse our agencies [Digiday] The sheer volume of marketing jargon alone tells me that this person has not left the rarefied air of the holding company C-Suite in a long long time.
6) Department of Great Work
This week, we're takin’ care of business
Lacoste Launches New Wave of Endangered Animal Polos for Species Preservation Campaign [Little Black Book] 3,520 polo shirts for 3,520 endangered species. BETC marks International Day for Biological Diversity with Lacoste and the International Union for Conservation of Nature
Lacoste Depicts Love's Destruction in Epic Ad From BETC and Megaforce [Muse by Clio] Two from Lacoste this week, I know! "Crocodile Inside" went live yesterday and will appear on TV, in theaters, in-flight, on digital and on social. Iterations go from six seconds to 98 seconds.
This surreal sculpture traces the movements of Adidas' top soccer players [AdAge] Really cool scuplture from Iris following the trademark trademark runs of Lionel Messi, Roberto Firmino and Bernardo Silva—to promote Adidas Nemeziz 19 boots in London.
‘Welcome to WeTransfer. Please Leave.’ Roxane Gay Narrates the Service’s Ode to Life Offline [AdWeek] The poetic spot from Noble People urges creatives to escape the captivity of screens. As an aside, Roxane Gay constantly talks about her anonymous Nemesis on Twitter and it's one of the best things ever.
Monoprix Takes Us Back in Time to 'Humanity's First Queue' for Fast Pass Promotion [Little Black Book] Tapping into the universal hatred of waiting in line, this is a clever, and cleverly emotional way into a very functional RTB.
Heinz Ketchup Appeals to the Beer Crowd With the Perfect Visual [Muse by Clio] For this year's Victoria Day, Heinz Ketchup and agency Rethink whipped up a clever ad for a day when beer is on everyone's mind—a clear reference to Corona and its famous lime-wedge-in-the-bottle. The line at the bottom reads, "Eat responsibly."
Swiss airline brings vertical AR cabin views to web ads [Mobile Marketer] The work isn't going to win any Lions for creativity but this made the list because the whole experience is contained within the web ad. Which means that if you do accidentally tap on it, you might check it out
Department Bad Work (What can I say, I was inspired)
Why would you fill a bunker with hundreds of bags of Cheez-Its? [The Goods - Vox] One reporter's take on the new American tradition: brands simply cannot launch new products anymore without someone bending over backward to create the most bizarre Instagrammable “experience” possible.
7) Platform updates
Couldn't think of a clever sub line this week. Sorry!
Spotify begins testing its first hardware: a car smart assistant [The Verge] It's called Car Thing! That's incredible!
Mobile ads must work in under a second [Warc] Typically, a brand will have approximately 0.4 seconds to make an impression on handheld devices, the study asserted – a timeframe that is shorter than for ads running on desktop. “We might think too simplistically that [mobile and desktop] are probably much the same. But, according to this research, they’re not.”
Snapchat Employees Abused Data Access to Spy on Users [Vice] Uber called it ‘God Mode’. Snap calls it ‘SnapLion’. A not-so-friendly reminder that we do not own the content we create, or even the actions we take in apps.
LinkedIn Follows Facebook's Lead with New Ad Transparency Tab on Pages [Social Media Today] I still don't think LinkedIn should have moved from Likes to the whole suite of reaction emojis, but what do I know...
Facebook Outlines Key Tips on Creating Effective Ads for Both Stories and in Feeds [Social Media Today] Even if it might look familiar, it's a useful refresher
Google rolling out mobile search redesign with black “Ad” label, favicons for organic results [Search Engine Land]
The Walled Gardens Are Eating Open Programmatic – Here’s How They Do It [AdExchanger] Spoiler alert: they do what every other programmatic platform is doing, they just have more scale
Social Media Basics: The Correct Image Sizes, Dimensions & File Types to Use [Red Website Design] A useful one-stop shop for specs
Instagram’s IGTV copies TikTok’s AI, Snapchat’s design [TechCrunch] IGTV has ditched its category-based navigation system’s tabs like “For You”, “Following”, “Popular”, and “Continue Watching” for just one central feed of algorithmically suggested videos
Instagram unveils curated @shop account to showcase online merchants [Mobile Marketer]
Phew! That was a marathon, not a sprint. As always, the full archive is available here. Was this email forwarded to you? Drop me a line and I'll add you to the distro.
Now that's a full email. Thanks for sticking around as always. Have a great weekend!