3 questions and answers about the advertising industry in 2021

Most ads are destined to become irrelevant and be mercilessly skipped by consumers. The reason is the lack of "highlights". Take movies as an example. "Soul", which has achieved both good reputation and box office success, was directed by Pete Dogg, chief creative officer of Pixar Animation Studios. He said that during the entire film creation process, only 20% of the time was spent on thinking of ideas, and the remaining 80% of the time was spent on studying how to attract audiences to continue watching.

1. Why doesn’t anyone see your ad?

Most ads are destined to become irrelevant and be mercilessly skipped by consumers. The reason is the lack of "highlights". Take movies as an example. "Soul", which has achieved both good reputation and box office success, was directed by Pete Dogg, chief creative officer of Pixar Animation Studios. He said that during the entire film creation process, only 20% of the time was spent on thinking of ideas, and the remaining 80% of the time was spent on studying how to attract audiences to continue watching.

Yes, today's audiences are extremely easily distracted, and they watch movies while holding their mobile phones. "Detective Chinatown 3" was rated 5.7 on Douban, but this did not prevent Chen Sicheng from taking huge amounts of money from the audience's pockets. I have to admit that Chen Sicheng knows too well what kind of sensory stimulation the public likes: fighting, reasoning, spoofs (including bad taste), beauties, handsome guys, villains, clowns, the second dimension, Tokyo style, Japan's five major stars...all the big and small attractions can be obtained for just a few dozen dollars. Just like the tour group that travels across six European countries for 6,000 yuan, the people who have just achieved a moderate level of prosperity are powerless to resist this.

Let’s take a look at how excellent brands design “highlights”.

For super-rich players like Tesla, the focus is on the courage of their boss Musk. Musk claims that he "does not advertise and does not spend money to buy consumer favors." He does marketing with the spirit of "The Expendables." For example, launching his own Tesla convertible into space using his own rocket; announcing amazing plans such as immigration to Mars, brain-computer interface, Starlink, and super high-speed rail; and the two most expensive fireworks during the recent Starship test flight. Publishing these ideas is itself the biggest advertisement and the most powerful marketing. Many people buy Teslas just to donate money to the human migration to Mars. Of course, if you dare to dig such a big hole for yourself, you have to fill it with tears.

Ordinary wealthy players such as Nike and Volvo have launched the Meteor Star move. Having celebrities alone is not enough. To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the launch of the JUST DO IT slogan, Nike appointed "National Anthem Gate" player Colin Kaepernick as its spokesperson. He refused to salute the national anthem for opposing racial discrimination and was severely criticized by Trump. I have always felt that many brands are wasting money by hiring celebrities to endorse their products. They simply let the celebrities appear on camera and shout a few slogans, show off their beauty, and give the audience the impression that "this celebrity is here to make money, and this brand has a lot of stupid people and a lot of money."

An example of a company that makes great use of celebrities is Volvo Trucks. Their philosophy is that “celebrity are to be abused, not used as vases”. Action film actor Jean-Claude Van Damme's signature move is a mid-air split. Volvo Trucks approached him to film the viral video "The Great Splits". My jaw dropped when I heard Enya's music Only Time gradually playing.

Smart players like Apple rarely use celebrities because they think their own products are the most popular stars. They like to use top directors. Domestic big names such as Chen Kexin, Jia Zhangke, and Wang Ziyi, as well as foreign Oscar-winning directors Spike Jonze, Theodore Melfi, and Ridley Scott have all been recruited by Apple. With the support of top directors and an international team, Apple's advertisements have achieved widespread screen-sweeping effects. For example, Homepod’s dancing feature is extremely creative and well-executed, and has become a masterpiece that CMOs of major companies around the world focus on studying.

Frugal players include Google, Uniqlo, etc. By focusing on product-driven rather than marketing-driven development, marketing expenses may not necessarily be exaggerated. They believe in the idea of ​​"small but great" and like technology-driven creativity. They believe that technology is like magic, which makes the audience stunned and unforgettable. In order to show the artificial intelligence muscle of its DeepMind department, Google created "Afa Dog", which first defeated South Korea's Lee Sedol and then China's Ke Jie. Mainstream media around the world reported the news of the human's defeat for free, with almost no advertising costs. I have always believed that Uniqlo’s most successful marketing is the many digital experiences created for them by the Japanese independent creative agency Projector, such as the globally popular Uniqlock and Uniqlo Calendar, which are smart, cute, and highly viral.

In my opinion, smart players and frugal players are worthy of learning from for companies. Marketing is investment, which emphasizes input and output. In a healthy business era, it is impossible for brands to get something for nothing, but they can cleverly create "highlights" to achieve the goal of investing 100 yuan and making 1,000 yuan or even 10,000 yuan. Brand owners and agencies should post this sentence on the wall, "Why should people watch your ads?" Du Fu's works are classics because "if his words are not shocking, he will die". How "shocking" can your advertising content be? Recently, NASA announced that it will cooperate with Tom Cruise to shoot a movie in space. The earth can no longer contain Tom Cruise's madness - this is the amazing highlight of the film.

2. What does the new generation of teams look like?

Let’s talk about the old success model first. Almost all traditional agencies have a planning toolbox, which they regard as the golden rule and a guide for taking exams. After receiving the new briefing, the employees believed that as long as they followed the instructions, they would be able to land smoothly in a distant place full of gold, just like a pilot following the operating manual. Today, it seems that these toolkits benefit agents far more than they benefit businesses. For agents, picking drugs according to the order can reduce a lot of trial and error costs, improve efficiency and save expenses; it can also be used as an image project to create a "professional" and "sophisticated" impression for customers. But for enterprises, it is like looking for new continents along an old map. How far can you go? If the goal is “innovation that breaks the rules,” then you need to adopt new approaches that let your imagination run wild.

This new approach is to “begin with the end in mind.” Throw away all the rules and aim for the brand’s destination (e.g. increase awareness, improve image, increase sales). As for how to get there, the project team decides on their own without restriction. A team that can meet the requirements of this task must be extraordinary.

The team is composed of self-igniting talents. This kind of person can self-ignite not only because of their sense of responsibility, but also because they get triple pleasure from it. The first is that ideas are realized (Maslow’s fourth level of needs for esteem), the second is that ideas change people’s hearts and change society (such as Nike advertising promotes the global sports trend, and Apple’s advertising inspires the public to fall in love with innovation, corresponding to Maslow’s fifth level of self-realization), and the third is to get paid, and if you do well, you can live a decent life. Those who pursue these three pleasures will inevitably take the initiative, go all out, and give the company the greatest return through bold ideas.

The team is made up of innovative thinkers. Special emphasis is placed on young people. First of all, young people are the main force of consumption; the marketing department of our customers consists of more and more people born after 1995. It’s usually not wrong to use young people to solve young people’s problems. Secondly, young people are particularly brave and can come up with new ideas “regardless of the consequences”. If they mess up, the worst that can happen is that they can go home and inherit hundreds of millions. Finally, young people are curious and have a strong desire for knowledge. Nowadays, knowledge is updated very quickly, and everyone is like the people on the roof of the Indian train, and they will fall off if they are not careful. Obviously, young people can sit more firmly on this train.

The team has a global vision and technical thinking. Whether it is production capacity output, brand output or cultural output, this country needs more capable hands to lend a helping hand. Don't chase the wind, because when the wind stops the pigs will fall down. Follow the momentum, because momentum is irreversible. The country's move towards the global is an irresistible trend. How to better utilize global resources to serve enterprises and nations? The first requirement given to the team is "cognitive globalization". The fundamental reason for the conflict between China and the United States is that technological progress poses a threat to each other, leading to an imbalance of power, so it must be contained, but such containment is bound to be futile. We have everything we need: market, capital, talent and policies. No one can stop our technological development. The second requirement for the team is "innovation in technology".

3. What are the winning factors of a brand?

I think it is a fusion of art, culture and technology. At a symposium held by a major technology company, when asked why Google is so admired, my answer was that Google has feelings. For example, although it is a technology company, it has vigorously developed the Google Arts & Culture platform. We collaborate with more than 1,200 international museums, galleries and cultural institutions in 70 countries and regions to enable people to easily access art and humanities from around the world through digital technology. Google understands that technology is cold and only art and culture can touch people's hearts.

Since the 1960s, agencies have begun to partner art directors with copywriters to strengthen the "art" of brand communication, and brands have begun to integrate art into humanities. The Think Small of Volkswagen Beetle is a classic among them. In terms of humanities, the film aimed to counter the social atmosphere of greed for big and more in the United States at that time, and made anti-routine appeals; in terms of art, a large amount of white space was left on the screen, and the product was reduced to a very small size, which was contrary to the usual practice of large products.

In the early 1980s, the advertising industry introduced strategy departments to strengthen research on consumers/customers, making the humanistic context and artistic style in advertisements more targeted. These moves made the 1980s and 1990s the golden age of the advertising industry, giving birth to countless classics. Apple launched 1984, Nike released Just do it, MTV brainwashed people with I want my MTV, and McDonald's broadcast the Cradle Baby TVC.

In the new marketing era, the most scarce practitioners are interdisciplinary talents in art, humanities and technology. Artificial intelligence, 5G communications, cloud computing and big data, as new infrastructure, are bound to greatly change the landscape of people's work and life. The government is vigorously promoting the integration of technology, humanities and arts, and the public is also happy to see it. In the 2021 Spring Festival Gala, innovative art forms such as robot cows and cloud shooting were very popular and received rave reviews. This is a good indicator. We should encourage traditional advertisers to deepen their understanding of new technologies; we should also try to find talents from technical professions who love art and humanities. Refik Anadol is someone I like very much, a generalist with a wide range of knowledge.

At the end of 2020, Bill Gates recommended a new book on his blog, "Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World." The book issues a warning: “In a world of uncertainty, reliance on expertise from a single field…can be disastrous.” This applies to the marketing/advertising industry. Generalists master knowledge of art, culture and technology, constantly expand their understanding of all aspects of everything, and master a wide range of skills. When it comes to a brand problem, he can propose solutions from multiple angles, which can potentially create miracles.

VUCA, this imported word is a very appropriate footnote for this era. VUCA is the abbreviation of Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity, which refers to volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity. How to deal with it? Advocating generalists, encouraging cross-border cooperation, and pursuing diversity are the operational postures that an excellent agent and an excellent marketing department should adopt.

Author: Xiaoa Random

Source: HelloAdams