Take look at the following excerpt.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfAco1Vs_p8
I suddenly realised why I find this fantastically funny. It’s not the sight of Matt Lucas dressed in a threadbare pink romper suit, or the contagious laughing effect it has on the participants of the show and the audience, it was simply that the song and dance routine had no context whatsoever. Nothing about it made any sense whatsoever (if he had invented the shoe in 1942 he would have been probably 98 years old, how can anyone invent the flu etc?).
The surrealness of these massive and life changing inventions being sang about against this fabricated nursery rhyme by a plump bald comedian is so random, it’s hilarious (in my opinion).
Which amazingly made me realise how I adore this kind of random humour as opposed to the great British situation comedies.
Give me a 1-minute Monty Python sketch showing a policeman on some anonymous housing estate instantaneously accepting an offer from a passer by to “go back to his place” as opposed to half an hour of Gavin and Stacey anytime.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_pC2ToILCs
Give me Simon Cowell being strangely impersonated with his breasts protruding through holes in his tee shirt with co(wb)ells in them) as opposed to the famous “Are you being served?” series.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HHVbUa-CjQ
Which takes me neatly on to creative. Does great creative have to have a context? Does it have to come off a strategy? Does it have to be researched? The incredibly successful Cadburys Dairy Milk ad using the gorilla drumming against In The Air Tonight, was it based on any consumer insight?
The Audi TT. The only car to go into production without any research.
Tango introduced a black background on their packaging in 1992 on the MD’s whim and against all research findings. Most of England’s corner shop owners almost became millionaires overnight! How brave was that considering they were not brand leaders at that time?
Oooh Mr W you said I might be reacting to this one and indeed I am!
ReplyDeleteOf course you can't have great creative without great insight. I fear you confuse the over-reliance on focus groups to research concepts which sometimes mean they never see light of day (which I agree can be very annoying) with brilliant consumer insights that result in stunning award winning profitable campaigns.
Insight is everything.
As for Cadbury's gorilla, there's no way in my opinion that it's an example of random unconnected advertising without context. For me, it's a clever and creative expression of their core thought 'A glass and a half of pure pleasure', as is their 'eyebrows' spot
over and out
PS You know despite our differences in opinion I am as big a fan as you of marvellous Avid Merrion. (Kes Kes!)
"Their proposal was to step away from pushing the product through traditional advertising means, and instead produce "entertainment pieces" which would appeal to a broader range of consumers and spread through viral marketing'. (Marketing Week).
ReplyDeleteMarketing expert Dr Stephen Downes says:
"Oh sure, there’s a pack shot at the end with a tagline about Cadbury Dairy Milk being “a glass and a half full of joy”. So why isn’t it an ad? Well,fundamentally, because it’s not a planned and strategic piece of marketing communication. At best, you could call it a sponsored piece of entertainment— nothing more than a music clip or a quirky YouTube video “brought to you by Cadbury”. A “publicity stunt”, if you will".
Why the gorilla, why "In the air tonight", there is a randomness about it surely?
Mischievously xx
Yes it's random granted but surely it constitutes a moment of pure pleasure for both the audience and the gorilla? The drumming in the song is pure pleasure. You being a musician would appreciate that - yes?
ReplyDeleteI fundamentally disagree with Dr D - even if he is a doctor!
First of all, i'd much prefer to sit at my drums without the weight of a gorilla's outfit, most uncomfortable and certainly not a moment of pure pleasure.
ReplyDeleteSecondly.Fallon’s (Cadburys agency) planning director Laurence Green told The Independent the agency had “created a branded space in which Cadbury’s can be generous in bringing joy”. In what comes across as a masterpiece of post hoc rationalisation,
Green cited “some of the latest advertising thinking” as suggesting that
attempts to “impose” traditional components of advertising such as
“messages”, “propositions” and “benefits” can actually reduce effectiveness.
Advertising with invisible strategy and unconstrained by messages,
propositions or benefits sounds more than a little like the emperor’s new
clothes. But this “latest advertising thinking” has some very large
Australian clients calling in their agencies and demanding a “Gorilla” of
their own.
Please Lottie, admit defeat.
Ding dong, end of round One! Mr W has retired to bed poorly - an overdoes of CDM methinks or perhaps suffering from indigestion brought on by consuming too much puff from the boys in Soho.
ReplyDelete