Malahide Castle just outside Dublin

April Fool's joke by BMW.  Quite an expensive joke as the media space is half-page four-colour in national newspapers.  Presumably they are aiming at brand awareness.

But what caught my eye was the castle in the background.

This is Malahide Castle just outside Dublin.  It is owned by the Republic of Ireland government.  Therefore it is extremely unlikely they would fly British flags (which look dropped in).

The account exec on this job was not paying attention.

They need to tell the world

One has to commend food retailer Iceland for the integrity of their products.

I was amazed to read that their own-brand food has no additives, no MSG, no GM ingredients, no mechanically recovered meat, no trans fats, no horsemeat etc.

And yet all their advertising seems to focus on how cheap the products are.

I would guess that they do the marketing in-house (and get it right) but give the ad campaigns to an advertising agency who are full of idiots.

These are ethical products.

They need to tell the world about them.

Not hide them away in an A5 three-colour text-and-logo flyer.

Prada

I was struck by the disdainful arrogance of these Prada mannequins looking down contemptuously at the passing shoppers.

Prada clothes are supposed to give women power.

The brand was most influential in the 1990s, but is still culturally significant (if Mozart operas are costumed in Armani, one can imagine the Ring Cycle in Prada).

Voice-over

Max Beesley probably provides the most reassuring male voice-over in television advertising.

I keep trying to analyse why.

It's not accent (as Joanna Lumley proves in the female category).

It's a complex, beguiling, subtle voice that combines a suppressed lyrical element with the force of authority.

It is the sort of voice that people follow.

John Simm is second, but second by a long margin.

The ubiquitous Stephen Fry voice-over has a contradictory effect - it is an attractive voice but is "like the sweetest honey, loathsome in its own deliciousness".

Cheltenham & Gloucester fixed rate mortgages

Really like this ad for Cheltenham & Gloucester fixed rate mortgages.

There is nothing tricksy or show-off about this.  It is a simple idea beautifully executed.  Lovely muted colours.

The ad is basically selling "peace of mind".  We see the home-owner hugging a mug of coffee and smiling as she directly looks at the headline.  A beatific light bathes her in warmth and happiness.

Everything about this is lovely.

No idea who does their advertising - I suppose I could look it up, but I am in a rush.

Awareness of "the Games" is currently overwhelming

Less than an hour until the Olympic opening ceremony (which I am apprehensive about, since it is promising us a "vision of what it means to be British today" - presumably thousands of choreographed Heath & Safety officers).

Awareness of "the Games" is currently overwhelming.

Some examples:

Above:  this e-mail pinged into my computer today, with lots of "must have" merchandise.  The style of the Games is deliberately kitsch, and no attempt has been made to achieve timelessness.  I don't mind kitsch, but whoever did the logo has produced something so horrible it is beyond comment.

I am not being anti-Games.  I want them to go well.  But whoever did the logo needs to go in the stocks and have rotten fruit pelted in their direction.

Above:  in Asda this evening the staff were in Team GB t-shirts, and Olympic-themed items were everywhere.  Everyone seemed to be rushing, presumably because they wanted to get back in time to watch the Opening Ceremony.  On impulse I bought these Olympic caramel shortcakes - I guess they are own-brand as there is no logo on them (apart from the 2012 logo).

 


















Above:  I was intrigued by this e-mail campaign for Damart.  Their customers tend to be elderly and price-conscious, so you would think they would be the last people to spend discretionary income on souvenirs.  What possible motives might they have to allocate some of their pension money on these items?  Elderly people tend to be isolated and lonely so possibly they will respond to an invitation to "join in".  They also have low self-esteem, so the idea that being British is fabulous will make them feel good.  It is also nostalgic in style, which again would appeal to this demographic (no trace of the Olympic logo - this is a "Jubilympics" range).

Body fascism

The London Olympics are due to start this Friday.

This is an opportunity to ask a before and after question:  how will the United Kingdom be changed by the Games?

From an advertising point of view I think we are about to enter (have already entered) a sustained period of body fascism in which models with unattainable physiques are used to sell products, places, things.

Above:  for instance, a near-naked Adam Senn has been featured for some months to advertise the Dolce & Gabbana Sport fragrance.  Everything about this ad is heroic - full page, full colour, colossal creative impact.  The subliminal message of the ad is that you only have to splash on some of the magic liquid and you will also be transformed into a perfect physical form (without the tedium of doing any exercise).

There was something about the composition of this image that seemed familiar.  And then I realised that this is an updated version of Guido Reni's St Sebastian.  Considering this appeared on the back page of the Observer (one of our most atheist newspapers) this is a very seditious campaign.

Above:  Guido Reni's St Sebastian.  One of the most complex and influential paintings of the Rennaissance.  Not just a religious image, but also claimed by others (see http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/features/arrows-of-desire-how-did-st-sebastian-become-an-enduring-homoerotic-icon-779388.html).

Above:  the Guido Reni painting has inspired artists as varied as Yukio Mishima (left) and Pierre et Gilles (right).

Starbucks has been heavily criticised

Advertisement for Starbucks in the Great Workplaces supplement given away free in yesterday's Guardian (but not a Guardian publication - it is published by an organisation with the unsettling name Redactive Publishing).

The advertisement celebrates the Starbucks "blend" of employees.  A range of Starbucks paper cups is displayed, most of them with a name written on the side - the implication is that these are the names of Starbucks employees.  The names are:  Bob, Gemma, Liz, Daniel, Laura, Dave, Ben, Katie, Hayley, Amy, Sophia, Jonathan, Matt, Rich, Mark, Sarah, Tom.

These are all English names.  There are no names such as Lukas, or Jolanta, or Svetlana, or Aminah, or Sharik, or Ohin, or Zahire, or Cheng, or Suhrita.  The implication of this advertisement is that Starbucks in the United Kingdom only employs English people.

Unfortunately this is a lie.  Starbucks has been heavily criticised for employing a migrants - to the point where it is very unusual to find a non-migrant Starbucks employee.  The correct PR response to this criticism is to apologise publicly and say what steps are being taken to put things right.

The absolutely wrong thing to do is to issue an advertisement telling lies.

The Advertising Standards Authority requires all advertisements to be legal, honest, truthful and decent.

Complaints about untruthful advertisements can be made to the ASA on-line here:  http://www.asa.org.uk/Complaints/How-to-complain/Online-Form/Step1.aspx

The Starbucks marketing director is listed as Brian Waring.

Not sure who did this ad.  Their agency is listed as Kitcatt Nohr Digitas but I am not sure they were responsible.  The ad is so amateur they could have done it in-house.

The Eurozone crisis from a PR perspective

I think it is a mistake to regard the Eurozone crisis as a purely economic issue that can be rationally analysed in economic terms.

As well as a political project and an economic project "Europe" is also a PR project.

Therefore it makes sense to look at the Eurozone crisis from a PR perspective.

The people driving the PR project are the Germans.  The primary force between the EU's ever-closer political and economic union is the unstated (but nevertheless frantic) desire by the Germans to create a benign identity for themselves.  "We are not the monsters who walked the earth 1933 to 1945" is the message they want to project, and they will pay any price to keep the PR campaign going.

Therefore it is reasonable for the members of the Eurozone to ask the German taxpayers to pay for their PR campaign and their transformation from "bad Germans" to "good Europeans".

One can sympathise with the German predicament, but in PR terms I think the Eurozone is a good deal for them.

Greater Britain?

Further to yesterday's post, I glanced at the Matalan summer catalogue.  It's just out this week.  Matalan is a fashion retailer. 

I stopped to look at this double-page spread in the Men's section.

On the left you can see "Sam", "Liam" and "Max" in One Directionesque repose.  In this contrived shot the target demographic looks early 20s, probably C2 social group (Matalan is low cost fashion), too cool to be interested in issues of state governance.  On the opposite page is a selection of "Rule Britannia" summerwear aimed at this demographic.

Look carefully at the right-hand page.  You may need to click on the image to see it properly.  Among the Union Jack flip flops, flag tab polo shirts and flag print swim shorts is a t-shirt featuring a lion's head and the slogan Greater Britain.

Greater Britain?

It has been a long time since the concept of Greater Britain has been espoused.  Probably not since the 1951 groundnuts scheme in Tanganyika.  "Wider still and wider" as a conceptual idea has not been popular among young fashion-conscious men since the Delhi Durbar of 1911.

But these things do not happen by accident.  Attitudes to these designs would have been tested and re-tested among focus groups long before they made it into the Matalan summer catalogue.  Especially in these hard times valuable catalogue space will not be allocated unless the product managers are sure the items are going to sell on a large scale.

Which must indicate society is changing.

Not everyone is going to like this.  

Stuck with a reputation

Above:  in yesterday's Guardian Hugh Muir apologised for inadvertently making an anti-semitic remark.  He used the phrase "Jewish political establishment" without realising that the proponents of the Jewish World Conspiracy argue that the political establishment is controlled by Jews.  It was gaffe, he told us, and should not be taken seriously.

Above:  in the same newspaper "comedic" Charlie Brooker continued his "joke" that David Cameron is a shape-shifting giant lizard.  Presumably he would tells us he is unaware that the wacky theory "the world is controlled by  shape shifting giant lizards" is a euphemism for "Jewish world conspiracy".  In any case, he would no doubt inform us, it is his job to "push the envelope" and say outrageous things and challenge orthodoxies etc.

Above:  and it was not long ago that Mehdi Hassan wrote in the Guardian that David Cameron's great-great-grandfather was a Jewish financier.  What possible relevance does someones great-great-grandfather have?  I know I have written about this comment before, but it still sticks in my mind.

I am not Jewish.

My great-great-grandfather was not Jewish.

However I do work loosely in "PR" (with all that the inverted commas imply) and I know that this is not good in PR terms.

I do not know who advises the Guardian on PR (or perhaps they are one of those foolish companies who think they are above PR).

But let me give the Guardian some free PR advice:  many more of these comments and you are going to get stuck with a reputation.    

Trust on the economy will be given to the party with a simple and convincing argument

On Question Time last night the economy was discussed.  A member of the audience likened the government's management of the economy with the management of a household budget (the "live within your means" policy of Margaret Thatcher).  This idea was endorsed by government minister Caroline Spelman on the panel and was applauded by a large section of the audience.

On one level it is not possible to compare a western industrialised economy with a Micowber-run household budget.  A national economy is too complex to be run on simplified lines.  There are too many paradoxes and subtleties.

However the "live within your means" argument is one of the great political communications of the modern era.  From a PR point of view it reduces economic policy to a concept that can be understood by ordinary people (and it has the added bonus of being not entirely untrue).  Such is the power of this message that it cannot be refuted, it can only be replaced by a more effective message.

Labour countered the household budget argument with simplifications of their own.  They were spectacularly successful with "No more boom and bust".  This delivered the trust of the people for the eleven years of the boom, and the argument only really came to grief when the bust arrived in 2008.

So I think we must conclude that the next election will be won by the party most trusted on the economy, and trust on the economy will be given to the party with a simple and convincing argument that is familiar and logical (being logical does not mean it has to be right).

To attempt to argue the merits of the Keynesian theory or the Austrian school will simply bamboozle most of the electorate.  What is really being said with complex arguments is "trust me I am an expert" or "trust me I am a politician" or worst of all "trust me I am an expert politician".  A party going into the 2015 election talking about endogenous growth theory is asking to be punished.

The Coalition is winning the argument on the economy because they have the best interpretations of the economic situation ("Labour maxed out the national credit card" or "We are clearing up the mess Labour left" or "There is no money left - they told us this in a letter from Liam Byrne").

On that basis I think the "live within your means" argument of running the national economy has a lot of life left in it.  "If you are in debt you need to stop spending" is deceptively alluring.  I don't see Labour coming up with anything (so far) that is even close to challenging it. 

Dolce & Gabbana advertisement

Fabulous Dolce & Gabbana advertisement in yesterday's Guardian. 

Everything about this ad works - the position (inside front cover), the size (half-page), the use of full colour.

Above all, the creative impact is superb - brave and confident use of a wonderful photograph combined with the Dolce & Gabbana logotype (nothing else!). 

There are so many ways in which this photograph works, but I am particularly impressed by the figure of the woman.  I have no idea who the photographer is, but I would guess he is an Italian fully cognisant of Renaissance iconography.  This is a classic "madonna", and the gaze of her sunglass-shielded eyes is one of rapture (note the tiny starburst in one of the lenses, as if she is exhibiting the Stella Maris).

Above:  detail from Guido Reni's painting Disputa "the spotless Virgin in glory adoring the name of God".

All desire (sexual desire, material desire, desire for power etc) is supposed to be sublimated desire for the presence of God (did EH Gombrich say that? I can't remember).

Above:  recently I read Richard E Spear's book on Guido Reni and his work.  For all his prurient speculations about Guido Reni's sex life it is a very dull book and towards the end I was just skim-reading.  I bought the book ages ago and it became lost under heaps of other books so that I have only just worked my way down to it (published in the mid-1990s it was in pristine condition and still shrink wrapped).

What do "Planners" do all day?

When I first started work at a London ad agency as a trainee copywriter I had only a hazy idea of how all the departments fitted together. New Business and Accounts were fairly obvious, but "Traffic", "Account Handling" and "Studio" were more nebulous. Especially I did not understand "Planning".

What do "Planners" do all day? You might think they have a master strategic role planning all the work of the agency, but you would be wrong. Planners actually seem to have no real power, and no defined area of responsibility.

One day a very senior director explained to me why agencies (the good ones) have Planning departments.

In the old days, by which he meant the 1960s and early 1970s, most of the clients were Sales directors. They were people with lots of authority to take decisions, were usually risk-takers, and wanted big campaigns to stimulate sales.

Dealing with these clients was easy.

Then from about the mid-70s onwards clients developed marketing departments. As well as the Sales director there was also a Marketing manager sitting in on client meetings. Agencies began to meet resistance to the big simple campaign ideas and an increasing emphasis on customer research, customer attitudes, even customer complaints about the product.

Therefore agencies developed Planning departments. The role of the Planners was to match the marketing people for each client, try to understand how they looked at the world, and to overcome any objections they might have to the agency's pitches. This often meant doing the client's marketing work better than the Marketing manager concerned.

From the late 1980s onwards the position changed again. Human nature being what it is the Marketing managers got lazy and often expected the agencies to do most of the marketing work and come up with most of the marketing ideas (which they then claimed the credit for when internally reselling to their boards). The best use of Planners was to integrate them into the account handling process so that the clients became dependent on them and could not easily switch agencies without experiencing a significant loss of marketing expertise.

But this is just one agency. Every agency is different. Planning is no doubt a continuously evolving process.

Black XS L'Exces features punk star Iggy Pop

Paco Rabanne's new commercial for Black XS L'Exces features punk star Iggy Pop.

I'm sure they have researched the market and tested the concept and talked through endlessly all the various scenarios.

And I understand they want to attract a young audience by being shocking.

But if I asked you the simple question:  "what does punk rock smell like" what would you say?

Iggy Pop himself is no doubt a very clean and fragrant person.

And  I know many agencies discount the idea of subliminal impressions.

Nevertheless I come back to the question:  "in your mind what does punk rock smell like" ?

"Steampunk"?

Above is a screen print from the BBC website.

Watching Andrew Neil's Sunday Politics earlier today I noticed the programme's logo.  It is actually a logotype with a font that must have been especially created for the programme.  Is this font "steampunk"?

They need to refocus by placing the customer at the centre of their attention

I don't often go into Tescos, but on a recent visit I noticed that the checkout assistant no longer hands you a receipt when you have handed over your money.

Instead you have to take the receipt from a dispenser at the end of the checkout.

Why have the stupid idiots done this?

They should be seeking to maximise interaction with the checkout assistant, who is representing Tesco and MUST say a proper "thank you" (and perhaps smile if they feel like it) when a customer has just spent £80 or £100 on their weekly shop.

Now the assistant just expects you to go away at the end of the transaction and by the time you take your receipt they are already directing their attention to the next in the queue.

Tesco recently reported a fall in sales and its worst performance in twenty years - they need to refocus by placing the customer at the centre of their attention.

This ad for Gucci is for their new shop in London

This ad appeared in The Times yesterday.

It's a fabulous print ad, full page and full colour (in what is still a mainly black and white publication).

Advertising depends for its effectiveness on repetition ("repetition builds reputation"). Consumers buy from brands they trust. Consumers trust brands that are familiar. Therefore to get consumers to buy from your brand all you have to do is make your brand name so ubiquitous that consumers are very familiar with it and start to trust it. That is why even companies with an awful product offering can manage to keep going simply because they have a big familiar brand. Unfair I know, but it is the way the human mind works.

The problem with repetition in advertising campaigns is that consumers can become bored of seeing the same old ads all the time. The repetition principle will still work, but the brand personality might pick up undesirable attributes such as "boring", "samey" and "tired". The job (part of the job) of the creative department is to encode the ad with so many intriguing and enticing narrative and design devices that you can look at the same ad twenty times and still see something new and interesting. Many of these devices are likely to be subliminal, so you may not see them at first glance (and may not even see them after careful study). But subconsciously you will see the colour interactions, the choice of fonts, the layout, the narrative (all ads have a narrative, whether deliberate or not), the art historical style, the multiple layers of meaning etc. A really great advertisement is one you can look at time after time and it still has an impact on you.

This ad for Gucci is for their new shop in London. But they do not show the shop. They do not even show the things you can buy in the shop (I would guess the Gucci dress in the ad is haute couture rather than off-the-peg but I might be wrong about this).

So what is going on here?

The photography is superb. A print ad is static and two dimensional, but this image has a shimmering dazzling quality that appears to move. The use of shadows gives the image a wonderful sense of depth and realism.

Whatever Hadley Freeman might tell you, people who buy fashion (real fashion, not High Street stuff) are sophisticated and well-educated. Often they have studied art history. So can we detect any art-historical references at work here? My immediate thought on turning the page was to visualise the 1926 painting La Belle Dame Sans Merci by Frank Cadogan Cowper. Also the shimmering quality (which first attracted me to the ad) reminds me of the post-Impressionist work of Henri-Edmond Cross, particularly his ground-breaking Apres-midi a Pardigon (probably my favourite painting of all time, even though I don't really like the post-Impressionists). Obviously these references might be accidental, but they work for me, and indicate the creative thought that has gone into the art-direction of the ad.

Strong sense of narative in the ad.  Why is this young woman sat on a stone bench in the hot afternoon sun?  Who is she looking at (those eyes have an almost cruel intensity)?  Her mouth is slightly open, as if she is gasping with the emotions she is feeling.  And yet she holds herself absolutely rigid as if she has calculated the best angle she wants to be seen from.  She looks very uncomfortable (in more ways than one), but her beauty and the beauty of her Gucci clothes, outshines even the Bougainvillea flowers tumbling over the wall behind her.

I also like the way the text in the ad is subtle and understated, almost apologetic.  The Gucci brand name is overlaid in white so that it does not compete with the main image, the text about the shop is at the foot of the page - it's importance is indicated by the fact that is is on the central axis, but you have a look carefully to see it. This is presumably because messages we discover for ourselves are more compelling than the messages that are shoved in our face.
 
Despite what I said earlier about the repetition principle, it is unlikely that this ad will run as many times as it deserves.  Probably just once or twice in a limited number of publications.  This will be the fault of the client - very few clients have the courage or nerve to repeat ads sufficient times so that they really begin to deliver.
 
The designer (who I suspect is a genius) has compensated for this limited media repetition by producing an ad that you want to look at again and again.

The new Sainsbury's Live Well For Less print ad

I really love the new Sainsbury's Live Well For Less print ad which appeared in the Independent today.

There's so much in the ad to enjoy, not least the use of a double-page spread to give us a fabulous photograph that is a genuine work of art.  You could look at this photograph many times and still see new things - the sense of balance (the upright posts subtly matching the father and son); the different textures (wet pebbles, grainy wood, bleak sea); the wonderful muted colours.  The sense of encapsulated narrative is also absorbing.  Why is this father and son on a deserted beach together (divorced father given access? unemployed father with time on his hands? busy father simply taking quality time with his son?).  Why have they gone to this wildly beautiful pebble beach instead of somewhere more sandy and more commercial?  What is the meaning of the faraway look in the father's eyes?

On a conceptual level I like the implied offerings in the copy - the idea that less is more (always a powerful proposition), the ethical subtext (no cheapo pork and chicken from ultra-cruel factory farms), the advice that we already have the things we most want.

If I were to be critical I would say the orange text is a bit hard to read.  Also the trendy steel thermos flask looks a little out of place.  But these are tiny points - the ad is virtually perfect.

I think the ad agency that did this was AMV/BBDO - can't find the name of the photographer.

Norwich & Peterborough Building Society

Norwich & Peterborough Building Society is turning out to be the nastiest most intrusive and high-handed "bank" I have yet experienced.

Not only did they write to me some weeks back telling me that I was not using my current account enough therefore they were going to impose a monthly fee.

Now I have just received this e-mail telling me I have to inform them of my mobile telephone number so they can pester me with automated messages about "security" and "authorisation" (which basically means that the self-appointed busybodies at Norwich & Peterborough will enliven their dead-end jobs by being as obstructive and unco-operative as possible while pretending that they are acting in my best interest).

This is a mutual organisation remember.  They are owned by their members (which includes me).  But their customer service and the way they talk to people (all channels - telephone, printed communications, e-mails) is unbelievably bad.

I know something about Norwich & Peterborough Building Society, having worked with them in the past on marketing campaigns.  They used to be very astute and customer-focussed.  Not any more it seems.