They call it MADness...

In these modern, media literate times it’s quite possible to imagine that pretty much everything has a brand of some description. Indeed, you have a brand, and so do I – just look at your CV for instance – the qualities you express to potential employers such as diligence, commitment, an expertise in this or that are all brand values you want to present. And it doesn’t stop there of course, when it comes to matters of romance, your personality and even looks are also brand values – which in my case is dashing good looks, hilarity by the bucket load and a bank balance to shame Croesus himself.  It’s just the sort of guy I am.

So, brands are important – but who and what can capitalise on them?  Some of the earliest forms of branding were undoubtedly based on Geography. The Champagne region of France has long been associated with fine sparkling wines and the same can be said of Melton Mowbray in Leicestershire which is famed for it’s outstanding  pork pies. Quite simply, the mere names of these mythical places became a mark of guaranteed quality – and over time a brand slowly began to develop. Of course, this was never intentional or specifically owned by any one family or manufacturer but in the farmer’s markets of say, Cambridgeshire, a pork pie that had been made in Melton Mowbray the day before would be found more desirable than a similar product prepared in Cherry Hinton that morning.

Whilst this level of branding is rudimentary to say the least, it is no coincidence that both the Champagne region and Melton Mowbray have been forced to appeal to the EU to protect their brand heritage. As it stands a bottle of sparkling wine, however fine, is not Champagne unless it comes from the region and even the most delicious of pork pies is just that – a pork pie – if it hasn’t been prepared in the famous Leicestershire town. It can never be a Melton Mowbray pork pie, with all the positive connotations that come from two centuries of artisan baking.

Ignoring the differences between a fine wine and a good pork pie (which sounds a delightful combination to me), we can clearly see that regional or even more local brand values hold significant sway with the consumer. But the question is, can this concept be taken further in the modern age?

Having lived in Manchester for nearly a decade, I have fallen in love with the city and its historical fatherland of Lancashire. But of course, I have also picked up on the region’s prejudices – not least against our friendly rivals in neighbouring Yorkshire. It has, of course, been said that only two good things come from the White Rose – Yorkshire pudding and an empty bus – but I associate many great things with the county.

As a schoolboy growing up, I had a brilliant woodwork teacher whose name now sadly alludes me. (Edit: his name was Mr. Bothamley, thanks to @sjbouchard for that one) He was a gruff Yorkshireman from Huddersfield with a genius woodworking hand and he had a catchphrase that still stays with me today: “You don’t get ‘owt for nowt.” And those are some of the key brand values I associate with Yorkshire – honesty, straight talking, hard working. All excellent qualities.

So, with this in mind, I was interested to see the current campaign from Plusnet, an internet provider based in Sheffield. Their current tagline is ‘Good honest broadband from Yorkshire.’ For me, this is a stroke of near genius. The internet is almost intangible for most people, a wire that pumps information about something from somewhere else entirely. It could work by magic as far as most people are concerned, myself included.

Can Yorkshire own the internet? Of course not, but those brand values of honesty, straight talking and hard work can most certainly be harnessed by an internet provider as a mark of quality and service.  Of course, the problem with regionalism is snobbery – and the truth of the matter is that an uppity prick from Soho who works in media planning will probably turn his nose up at good honest broadband from Yorkshire, but that’s his look out. For their part, Plusnet have some of the highest rates of customer satisfaction in the business – no small feat for a minority provider of anything.

By borrowing Yorkshire’s reputation for honesty and hard work, Plusnet position themselves as a broadband supplier who cares about their customers and is determined to provide a good service. This brand position makes Plusnet broadband look as welcoming to the layman consumer as a Yorkshire pudding with a nice rib of roast beef – no airs or graces, just a tangible service that will deliver exactly what it says it will.

I should confess, I’m not a Plusnet customer myself but this campaign has made me wonder about the relative failings of my own provider. With their slapdash approach to customer service, and depressingly intermittent speeds, perhaps it’s time to give good honest broadband from Yorkshire a whirl. Of course, having set out their stall, Plusnet simply must deliver on their ‘good honest’ brand promise. Just like the pork pie lover who finds gristle in his substandard Melton Mowbray pie, regional brand values can evaporate into the ether very quickly indeed. Embracing the regional heritage is one thing, but maintaining those brand values for the use of future generations is quite another.

For the record though, I’ve never had a bad pie from any part of Leicestershire –  let alone Melton Mowbray itself.

When my Grandad was a lad growing up in Lancaster, washing your hair with anything other than Wright’s Coal Tar soap was something of a no-no. Only ladies used shampoo. For my old man growing up in Skegness, Lincolnshire, it was a bit different – shampoo was suddenly permissible. But you’d have to be something of a big girl’s blouse if you even entertained the notion of conditioning. That was strictly for her indoors. Now, when I was a lad growing up in Boston, Lincolnshire it was perfectly okay to treat your locks to a bit of the old conditioner – even if you did stick to a 2-in-1 for safety’s sake. That said, we drew the line at actually moisturising our faces. Now, that certainly was for the lasses – no bloody question.

Turn the clock forward to 2010 and not only is moisturising your face perfectly acceptable, it’s even preferable that your moisturiser of choice contains a sunscreen of some description – even in the Winter months. And this is long before we get to the frankly terrifying realms of ‘guyliner’ and ‘manscara’… indeed, it was only last Thursday that I spotted a gentleman enjoying a foaming pint of nut brown ale in the Briton’s Protection (one of Manchester’s most traditional boozers) with his fingernails painted a vivid turquoise! It’d be enough to leave Percy Sugden choking on his hot pot, although the self same observation might have left a wry smile on the face of Emmeline Pankhurst.

So, anecdotal evidence aside, what does all this tell us? Well, as time has passed and ‘men’s work’ has moved away from the mines and factories and shipyards, men have begun to take more of an interest in their appearance. Back in the day, pubs usually had two distinct areas – a lino, or indeed sawdust, covered bar for the dirty, uncouth working man, and a more luxuriously appointed lounge for the more professional classes. Of course, those days are distinctly in decline (although pockets certainly remain), leaving behind a homogenous group of men whose masculinity is no longer defined by dirt and sweat. I would wager that this, and the steady (and long overdue) introduction of women into the workplace has given rise to the modern vanity man – a class of consumer who, whilst not obsessed with their appearance, certainly want to make a good impression.

With the lady’s beauty market completely sewn up by societal pressure to meet the impossible standards of celebrity, the leading grooming brands find themselves in a dream position of being able to reach out to the great and previously untapped market – men.  

How is this achieved? Well, to put it frankly, with the subtlety of a brick. Essentially, men’s and women’s beauty products are virtually the same, albeit with subtle differences to cater for anatomical quirks between the genders. Of course, a man shaving his face will need a different angled razor to a woman shaving her legs – even if the ‘blade innovation’ is identical. But the way they’re marketed is entirely different.

Broadly speaking, if the Admen are to be believed, women want flawless results whilst men want innovation and science by the bucket load. After all, why would you shave your face with just four blades when the five blade version is diamond tipped, and reduces skin drag by 43%? For women, the cold winds of Winter increase the risk of your skin losing valuable moisture. For men? Well, it’s a much graver situation… WINTER HATES YOUR FACE!

http://www.visit4info.com/advert/Winter-Hates-Your-Face-Gillette-Toiletries-Range/87073

Yes, you heard me right – Winter, the coldest of the calendar seasons, has an unrelenting and entirely malevolent problem with your face.

Of course, this goes back to what I was saying about the Admen’s perception of what men want. Most men are not yet comfortable with going out for a drink in turquoise nail polish, but a good proportion concede that skincare has some relevance. Whilst moisturiser might seem a bit, well, gay to many men the fact that Winter literally despises your personal features might seem justification enough to bridge the biggest gap of all. Gillette, of course, are having a little fun with the sensational tone of this ad, but it undoubtedly chimes with the core message that this product will not affect your masculinity.

Gillette is an interesting brand in many ways, and their products are uniformly excellent, but their male offer centres around super amazing technical and scientific innovation. Whilst this ad might be more tongue in cheek, their courting of sports stars and frankly bizarre scientific imagery is the foundation of their brand. Take this American ad, that ran in the UK in a shortened format, for example…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04G5mJ8O-VE&feature=related

Now, what the bloody hell is going on here?! Two scientists, bussed in by helicopter, arrive at a presumably secret site in the desert only to be scanned by lasers. Their identities confirmed, they move cautiously towards what appears to be a particle accelerator and are observed by shadowy figures as they combine their extraordinary scientific findings to create the ultimate razor – boasting the comfort of five blades, and yet the precision of one. Frankly, this is terrifying stuff, almost as if Gillette have retro–engineered alien technology of some kind. I’d love to suggest that this ad is tongue in cheek, but I suspect not. Still, the male viewer is left in no doubt as to the origins of his new razor. Science. And by extension, this is the very science that will protect his face from the bitter hatred of Winter.

In a way, you’ve got to love it. It’s good fun and gets the message across. This said, I would suggest that male beauty marketing has reached its Commando and Universal Soldier stage… I suspect the subtler, yet still masculine, tones of Dog Soldiers and Starship Troopers are a little away just yet.

Still, with the idea that Winter literally hates my face, I’m probably not going to risk it.

If you know me in real life, you’ll know that I absolutely love zombies. For me there’s simply something brilliant about the idea of the dead returned to life to stalk the living – it taps into a lot of our more primal fears, not least those relating to survival and cannibalism. Unless you’ve been living in a box of some description, you’ll have undoubtedly noticed a big revival in the zombie genre in recent years.

Indeed, our lovable, flesh eating friends are almost certain to be one of the big stories of this winter as The Walking Dead from AMC hits our screens in a six part TV series, directed by The Shawshank Redemption’s Frank Darabond.

The Walking Dead is based on a long running comic book of the same name by the superb Robert Kirkman which charts the bleak and somewhat depressing adventures of Rick Grimes - an ordinary American cop in Atlanta who gets shot and wakes up in a world that is no longer run by the living. I’m a big fan of the comic, and would heartily recommend it. Not only is the writing phenomenal but the evocative black and white artwork of Charlie Adlard perfectly conveys the sense of hopelessness and dread.

It’s a great title, and having watched a pre-release of the first episode last night, I can confirm that it’s more than worth a watch. Kudos to AMC on giving the creative team such free run with such a challenging property, it certainly pulls no punches. With Mad Men and Breaking Bad already on the books, AMC is rightfully gaining a reputation to rival HBO for investing in high quality drama.

Anyhow, as a confirmed zombie lover (or hater, depending on your view), I have been interested to see the tropes of the genre bleeding out into the world of advertising. The execution that really caught my eye however is the current Virgin Rail campaign ‘Don’t Go Zombie’ which was created by Elvis Communications to promote Virgin’s godsend of a 2 hour 8 minute London/Manchester route. I first chanced across these ads on billboards around Manchester Piccadilly, but have recently seen it as a neat four page cover wrap for the Metro. There’s also an impressive web based game for you to enjoy too which can be found at www.dontgozombie.com.

Aside from the zombies, I like this campaign’s sense of fun. I don’t know who the illustrator is unfortunately, but his sparse comic book style is perfect for this kind of execution. Travelling is rarely a pleasant experience, so this concept works very well in communicating the relative ease and comfort afforded by Virgin’s pendolino rail service. You’ll notice that the ‘zombies’ and their environments are shaded in grey, which is contrasted by the warm yellows of the Virgin train cabin. The reassuring touch on the shoulder from a stewardess contrasts starkly with the anguished masses at the windows.

With details like a lifeless bride in her wedding car, a hoard of football fans baying for blood in stood still traffic and a man biting into his steering wheel with white eyed frustration, it presents a convincing argument for rail’s relative freedom. Of course, Elvis have been careful to ensure that the illustration avoids any direct gore or violence – but I’m certain they had lots of fun coming up with the characters and situations.

Of course, there is one flaw in this campaign – you wouldn’t want to be stood on the platform at Piccadilly with the undead hot on your heels, only to hear that the train is delayed. I doubt even Virgin have a conflict resolution procedure for that situation!

Ah, as I’m nice… have the trailer for the Walking Dead too!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yg46DWI_fCE

As a teenager, I worked in a midsized Woolworths store. I liked it very much, and was very sad about this iconic High Street brand’s demise. Although very much my formative years, I learnt several useful  things about marketing from my time on the shop floor – not least the importance of the Golden Quarter. The GQ, as it was known, is the stretch of the year that runs from November to the January sales. In our store, 45% of the annual take was achieved during this time.

Of course, the GQ was not limited to the months itself - with all the stocking and prep work, I’d estimate that a good ten months a year were spent at least in part on Christmas. Indeed the Agency world isn’t much different – After all, my Christmas began in late July with seasonal campaigns for a leading hair salon chain. As it happens my agency has a big photographic department, and you know Christmas must be on its way when you see barbecues being shot in the car park for next summer, with a group of stylists stood around it warming their hands in the bitter chill.

So, Christmas is not only big business, it’s an important strategic landmark too. I left Woolworths in the summer of 2001, and in the intervening period, the GQ seems to have stretched out a little into late October as the top brands vie with each other to get their message seen first. As of last night, I saw my first Christmas advert with ten weeks to go – a smart piece from Argos called ‘Crooner’ by CHI & Partners.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRonRGEVyT8

I’m not normally a big fan of Christmas TV advertising if I’m honest, I find it rather formulaic.  Take some celebrities, make out like they’re mates, put them in a nostalgic Winter Wonderland (tm), add a few kids and make sure it ends on a cheeky or otherwise humorous note. Bang, bash, bosh – you’ve got an ad. I like this Argos effort though, it’s a little bit different.

Bing Crosby is obviously a classic Christmas figure, but this comical take on White Christmas with added beatboxing certainly gives the concept a new spin. A more timid brand might have been reluctant to mess with the nostalgic formulae of Christmas advertising, but this bold approach is both attention grabbing and bang on trend. For their part, CHI & Partners have done an absolutely superb job with this execution, as evidenced in this extremely interesting ‘making of’ video which is certainly worth four minutes of your time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-BIZt5k0h8

Of course, good quality CGI is readily achievable by skilled people these days, but this ad is utterly seamless in both creative direction and execution. The successful blend of Bing himself, his body double and then face double is a fine example of how subtle graphic work can create an extremely impressive effect. The art direction is also very fine, with a keen eye for detail. There’s a lot of fun and energy to be found here, which mirrors perfectly the anticipation of the season – not least through the eyes of a child, the key driver of Argos’ GQ sales.

So, it’s a very good ad. And one that will stand out amongst the more traditional brands out there this Christmas. Of course, if I were to be critical, this advert owes a lot to the supremely stylish Singin’ in the Rain ad for Volkswagen  from a couple of years back, but the trope of blending hip hop elements with classic visual material remains a very interesting one – after all, hip hop itself has it’s origins in borrowing and reinterpreting elements from other sources.  

So, Christmas 2010? Bring it on!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gs_T_cEoX6I&feature=fvst

Believe it or not, I’ve been working in Design and Advertising agencies for the best part of five years now. In that time, I’ve also seen my first actual recession – at least one where I was old enough for my own credit to be crunched. Of course, this situation has coloured my experiences of the industry – when I listen to the stories of the old hands, the agency world seems almost unrecognisable. I don’t watch AMC’s supposedly superb Mad Men, but the days of Madison Avenue excesses are certainly over – if they ever reached Manchester in the first place that is. It’s hard to imagine Don Draper throwing his money around on the dogs at Belle Vue after a delicious dinner of chicken in a basket and pale ale.

 In five years, I have learnt that Agency life is closely related to the overall economy. When times are hard, Marketing is often the first thing to go to the wall, so suppliers of Creative have to cut their cloth appropriately. In the good times, leaving the taxi running on metre outside is acceptable and every biscuit is presented to you in coloured foil, when things aren’t so good, it’s goodbye to dental and hello to emails complaining at the rate of toner the printer is getting through. I guess that’s the same anywhere though.

However, there is one commodity in the industry that no good agency should be prepared to cut back on – creative whimsy.

 Whether it’s an in-house promo or even a good old fashioned pro bono for a client who loves the idea but doesn’t have the budget, the ability to pursue a big but ultimately loss making project is the hallmark of an agency with creative ambition. After all, it’s a good motivator for your jaded creatives, and a great example of what you can do when the brief sheet goes out of the window.

 With this in mind, I’d like to bring Super Twario to your attention. Now, first of all, I have to hold up my hands to a personal interest in this subject – the graphics were designed by my girlfriend, the reliably lovely @JenJenRobot for her agency, the excellent Head First, of Manchester.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6im9pgBfkhA

As you can see from this video, Super Twario is a bespoke Twitter client app for iPhone made by Head First that turns the micro-blogging platform into a side scrolling platformer that recalls the 8 and 16 bit glories of yesteryear. Of course I’m biased, but it’s a pretty neat bit of kit.

 So, why did Head First sink a hefty chunk of change into a project like this? The answer is simple – they are an agency that specialises in video game marketing. Founded by former employees of the sadly defunct Ocean Software, Head First have made their name as the go to guys for UK games marketing. Of course, with a focus on games, it’s a great idea for them to throw caution to the wind and prove that they not only understand gaming, but also it’s historical and cultural implications. Twario does this and more – and with the influential gaming blogs such as Kotaku ablaze with praise for this smart bit of app design, Head First can rest easy knowing that their decision to embrace creative whimsy on a promo project will show the games industry that they’re more than just suppliers – they’re part of it too.

Times might be tough, and budgets might be tight, but this shouldn’t be an excuse to let creativity stagnate. If anything, it should be a time to show exactly the range of exciting flavours your agency provides.

Of course, Super Twario is available at an Apple approved outlet (well, the appstore) for your downloading convenience.

So, hi there eFolks. My name is Oli P. Lill and I’m a marketing, advertising and design copywriter based in sunny central Manchester, United Kingdom. I’ve been a writer pretty much since I was a kid, and eventually bumbled my way into copywriting after graduating from university. Since that fateful first day, I’ve worked with dozens of great clients and even more great people. I even spent a spell on the other side of the coin as an Account Handler before returning to the keyboard.

 Anyhow, I’ve been doing this thing for a few years now and I think I’ve finally reached a point where I can speak with a little bit of authority on creative and the whole agency experience. So, that’s what I’m going to do!

 So, here we go. I hope you like it. Of course, you can follow me on twitter too as @oliplill, but I can’t guarantee all of that with be about MAD. Naturally, some of it is, but an awful lot of it is filled with swearing and moaning about football.

 You can’t have it all, huh?