Stories, moments, people and ideas of interest from within the worlds of innovation and design, spotted and written about by Helen Walters, writer and researcher at Doblin, a member of Monitor Group. Attitude, errors and opinions all the writer's own.
Ask me anything
May 2, 2012
"I think the people behind this Popchips ad are not racist. I think they just made a racist ad, because they’re so steeped in our culture’s racism that they didn’t even realize they were doing it."
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I don’t say this often, and I don’t say this lightly, but stop what you’re doing and go and read Anil Dash’s screed, How To Fix Popchips’ Racist Ad Campaign. It’s not what you’d expect. Because it would be easy to sound off about the thoughtless callousness and disrespect of an ad campaign that for absolutely no apparent reason depicts Ashton Kutcher dressed up in vaguely Indian garb and coming out with patter that might have seemed out of place in British comedies from the 1970s (which did a lot to perfect the art of casual racism). Easy, but unhelpful. Instead, Dash takes a hard look at the culture in which this type of “creative” output was ever deemed appropriate, and has tough words for all concerned. Most of all, he pleas for all of them to avoid the usual measures of crisis management. Dash writes,
Those superficial corrections don’t change the process. Back at the office, the Chief Marketing Officer knows that all the people who hate that brand followed them on Twitter for the day to see how they’d respond, so they later crow to the CEO, “We got a 12% bump in social media metrics, looks like I get my bonus!” The PR firm says “Well, aside from the tiny minority of people who complained, we actually got a ton of media mentions, so I can still use this to pitch ourselves to our next client!” The advertising firm says, “We can still talk about making an ad that got millions of views on YouTube, and having worked on a multimillion dollar campaign for a national consumer brand”.
And the end result is, nothing actually changes.
It’s absolutely true, and anyone reading it who’s had any kind of tangential experience of content creation or advertising or marketing or design or the twenty first century knows it’s so. Sometimes mea culpas that follow such gaffes are somewhat genuine, but let’s face it, we live in a society that exploits cynicism to an extraordinary degree. This piece calls for us to be more thoughtful, to think harder, to accept our personal limitations and to be prepared to have an honest discussion about the imperfect society in which we live. It’s a beautiful, thoughtful, heartfelt piece of writing that has completely made my day. Really. Go and read it. Now.
For the slick launch of its first 2 SIM card smartphone, Samsung created a film in which they mapped projections onto a human face. It’s slickly done, though for the life of me I can’t tell what it has to do with either Samsung or its products. But, as Superflux’s Justin Pickard put it on Twitter, “Human as screen. Even as a publicity stunt, that’s legitimately crazy.”
"The Google I was passionate about was a technology company that empowered its employees to innovate. The Google I left was an advertising company with a single corporate-mandated focus."
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As Scott Crawford commented on Twitter, “It’s “Why I left the company that starts with G” day.” This piece, by now-former Google engineer James Whittaker, is hugely interesting reading and important for those interested in cultivating a company culture based around innovation. Every company changes as it grows and matures (duh), yet even those as lauded for their smarts and forward thinking as Google have to watch the little details that eventually add up to a whole that might not be quite what anyone had in mind. Whittaker’s conclusion, in particular, describes a present that is both horribly true and hugely far from Google’s initially incredible service:
Perhaps Google is right. Perhaps the future lies in learning as much about people’s personal lives as possible. Perhaps Google is a better judge of when I should call my mom and that my life would be better if I shopped that Nordstrom sale. Perhaps if they nag me enough about all that open time on my calendar I’ll work out more often. Perhaps if they offer an ad for a divorce lawyer because I am writing an email about my 14 year old son breaking up with his girlfriend I’ll appreciate that ad enough to end my own marriage. Or perhaps I’ll figure all this stuff out on my own.
Whittaker, it should be noted, now works at Microsoft.
When Mercedes wanted to promote its new fuel cell vehicle, it decided to make the car invisible. I’d say something about wishing that the wonderful imagination and effort that go into advertising such products were focused on worthier projects, etc, etc, but after two weeks of solid work-related travel, I can’t seem to muster the energy. So, enjoy the pretty project.
"Everyone I spoke with who was familiar with the project repeatedly said that Google was not thinking about potential business models with the new glasses. Instead, they said, Google sees the project as an experiment that anyone will be able to join. If consumers take to the glasses when they are released later this year, then Google will explore possible revenue streams."
— Amidst all the excitement around Google’s potential introduction of “wearable computing”, or glasses that can stream real-time information, I was struck by this comment in New York Times reporter, Nick Bilton’s article, Google To Sell Heads-Up Display Glasses By Year’s End. Given Google’s previous inability to figure out revenue streams for its ideas, this seems like a risky if somewhat predictable strategy. Business model design is just as difficult as inventing stuff, and equally important.
Fine. I admit it. This M&M’s Superbowl ad made me laugh. The good thing is, while I am clearly turning soft, I am not alone… The ad was voted ‘most loved’ in Brand Bowl 2012, where you can find all the dissection of the commercials imaginable. Meanwhile, tip of the hat to Jeff MacGregor at ESPN.com for his hilarious recap of the evening’s goings on, which includes such gems as:
“The whole thing felt like an intervention on behalf of an addiction to nostalgia. Madonna! Elton John! “Star Wars”! “Ferris Bueller”! Jerry Seinfeld! A catalog of pop culture from the last century! All of it instantly recognizable, safely predigested and perfectly harmless!”
along with the best summary of Clint Eastwood’s growly Chevy ad yet:
“The world is a frightening place, so do your duty, buy a car. Someone get me a lozenge.”
Apparently, there’s some “football” “game” happening in the U.S. on February 5th. (Also apparently, I should pay attention, because my “team,” the New York Giants, is “playing.”) That’s all as maybe, but the annual marketing hoopla is already well underway. Teressa Iezzi over at Co.Create writes a smart analysis of the thinking behind Audi’s take on vampire mania.
One for graphic design buffs: PHARMA is an exhibition of mid-20th century graphic design and advertising created on behalf of the flourishing pharmaceutical industry. Fans of some of the discipline’s true pioneers, including Herb Lubalin and Paul Rand, can feast their eyes on posters, marketing and ephemera that shows the world of corporate druggery in a nascent state. As curator Alexander Tochilovsky writes in the exhibition blurb:
“The exhibition highlights a defining change, as the marketing of brand name drugs to the consumer marked a paradigm shift in medicine away from physicians and into the hands of pliable public opinion. The actions of the pharmaceutical industry reflect both a reactive response to increased government regulation and a proactive attention to the demands of American consumerism.”
PHARMA is on show at 41 Cooper Gallery at The Cooper Union in New York City through December 3rd. Click the images to see larger scale slideshow.
Images: Top Row, L-R: Ad for Geigy, c. 1954-55; c/o Display – Graphic Design Collection. Mailer for Geigy by Max Schmid, 1951; c/o Display – Graphic Design Collection. Ad for Geigy, c. 1958; c/o Display – Graphic Design Collection.
Images: Middle Row, L-R: Ad for Dompe by Franco Grignani, 1954; c/o Display – Graphic Design Collection. Ad for Dompe by Franco Grignani, 1955; c/o Display – Graphic Design Collection. Ad for Dompe by Franco Grignani, 1954; c/o Display – Graphic Design Collection.
Images: Bottom Row, L-R: Ad for Wm. S. Merrell Company by Herb Lubalin, photo by Carl Fischer, 1954 Ad for Roche by Aldo Calabresi for Studio Boggeri, photo by Sergio Libis, 1959 Promotional mailer for Ciba by Jerome Snyder, 1950s
Brian Collins founded the Brand Integration Group (BIG) at advertising giant, Ogilvy and now heads up his own design and innovation consultancy, COLLINS:. He spoke at Design at Scale and gave an informative behind-the-scenes look at his life as a designer behind advertising lines. He concluded with a useful set of principles that we would all do well to remember:
1. Say Yes to Everything and Anything “Ad guys are good at this. I don’t think designers are. Just say yes.”
2. Ask What is the Biggest Problem This Project Can Solve? When asked to do a billboard for Hershey, Collins and team opened a Hershey store. When asked to launch Dove moisturizers in Canada, they created a global photography exhibition. There’s a fine line here, but it’s useful for designers to remember that they’re being hired for their creative input, and clients should welcome smart input that can elevate an idea.
3. Drive Story Through Everything “If you’ve ever read a story to a child, you know they’re in control. They’ll ask ‘and then? and then?’ What happens next is the story. It’s a powerful way to build brands.”
4. Persist. Persist. Persist. “I’ve had remarkable public failures, and I’ve had remarkable public successes due to working with some remarkable people.” The only thing to do is just keep on going.
Overlooking the fact that even if we could go back to the start, we probably wouldn’t really want to (it’s not modernity that’s the problem, it’s how we’ve chosen to use it) this is a beautiful piece of animation by Johnny Kelly, and an amazing cover of a Coldplay song by country legend, Willie Nelson. And, yes, it’s also a check in the sustainable cred (ad) box for fast food restaurant, Chipotle.
Good, short video interview with Goodby Silverstein’s Gareth Kay, discussing how important it is to get clients to engage on both a functional and emotional level. Yes, he’s coming from an advertising background, but the idea is applicable in many other contexts too.
Here’s a nice New Yorker piece and slideshow celebrating IBM’s one hundredth anniversary—and the birth of the company’s design consciousness. This beautiful sign, which shows translations of the company’s “Think” tagline, dates from 1930.
What’s that, you say? “You can’t put Elmo on an asthma inhaler!” “Justin Bieber’s not for wheezers!” Well, yes. But these, of course, are not actual inhalers. Instead, they are shock tactics, the currency of activist group, The Yes Men, who came up with the idea of branding inhalers as part of work with a group called Coal is Killing Kids.
The groups also produced a website, Coal Cares, which purports to be an initiative by Peabody Energy “to reach out to American youngsters with asthma and to help them keep their heads high in the face of those who would treat them with less than full dignity. For kids who have no choice but to use an inhaler, Coal Cares™ lets them inhale with pride.”
It’s a well done spoof that matches the wince factor with startling data on the coal industry, and shows how hollow some marketing rhetoric can sound. Alarmingly, the fake website is a notch above many produced by real live companies. However, as The Yes Men make clear, there are no inhalers in stock.
"Google doesn’t need all of its products to succeed because it makes 98% of its money from just one product: advertising. Yet it fails to understand the value of marketing. It’s a delightful irony."
— Tom Foreski writes Fantastic Insight Into the Closed Box Google Culture From a Recent Xoogler, based off the farewell posts of Douwe Osinga, a software engineer who recently left Google after seven years. You can read Osinga’s own posts here, here and here. Foremski, meanwhile, zones in on the irony that despite the bulk of its revenues coming from advertising, Google still doesn’t grasp the long game of marketing. “Google doesn’t seem to recognize the need for marketing around its products, it doesn’t appear to have a marketing strategy beyond launch day,” he writes.
Following on from yesterday’s report on the new documentary, Revenge of the Electric Car, which features Nissan chief Carlos Ghosn, here’s an ad that attempts to contrast the emissions-free nature of the Nissan Leaf with the pollution-spewing gas guzzlers on display at New York’s Auto Show. Only one problem: the “acrid smoke” pumped into the atmosphere by the latter appears to be drifting right across the billboard for the Leaf, meaning the contrast is rather less than clear. One for effort; zero for execution. (via Maria Popova.)
