Shirt porn, that’s what we thought when seeing this promo for the new black jersey of the Sacramento Kings. Though some people will tell you that black is not a colour at all, the copy written by Lemon Scented Tea will tell you that black is more than a colour; it’s an honour worn by Kings. It will be released during Christmas, at the beginning of the season when the Kings play the LA Lakers.
There’s a Children’s Ombudsman, who actually listens to children. Not everyone does apparently – even the judge doesn’t (!) – so that’s why this lengthy, but impactful film communicates that there is someone who stands up for children’s rights. Commercials like this make you forget that there’s an economic crisis going on. The Netherlands is a very wealthy country. Created by Lemon Scented Tea, produced by Brenninkmeijer & Isaacs, directed by Anne de Clerq and shot by Robbie van Brussel.
‘Go Forth’ is Levi’s new brand proposition. It supports positive change in the world and celebrates today’s “pioneers who are taking action to build a better future”. In this dramatic mini-documentary, created by Wieden+Kennedy and directed by Sanne van Hecke, we see Portuguese street artist Alexandre Farto (aka “Vhils”) nonchalantly wearing a pair of baggy Levi’s and creating a series of street murals that capture the faces of some ‘Berliners’ who embody the ‘Go Forth’ spirit. This branded content made us think of both the Sartorialist film for Intel (by Amsterdam Worldwide) and the mobile printer film for Océ (by Lemon Scented Tea) – though the latter was a fictional documentary. We’re spotting a trend here, in which everyday people are portrayed as heroes. That is, they all do something special and this is enlarged in a documentary-like piece of long(er) form content. It merges real life with the smooth exaggerative qualities of an ad agency and thus subtly incorporates brands into society. It makes (or at least should make) these brands more authentic, credible, and sympathetic.
This ‘documentary’, directed by Eelko Ferwerda (Revolver Media), follows two entrepreneurs that run a business called Instant Poster Power from their van. Ed Lensen, Business Development Manager at Océ, asked Lemon Scented Tea (LST) for “a B2B story that wouldn’t feel B2B”. Well, if that is what he asked, we think LST did a very nice job. We don’t really believe this is a documentary – skeptical as we are. Though strikingly well cast, these guys aren’t real, their van isn’t real, and their business isn’t real. But since this commercial is only meant as an elaborate and sophisticated “conversation starter” for Océ’s sales team, we think it makes very apt and pleasant advertising. In fact, if we freelancers ever have to buy a “high-end poster printer”, we will happily consider Océ.
This commercial was made for the Luxemburg, Belgium and French markets. Since it was created by Amsterdam based Lemon Scented Tea, we wanted to share it anyway. We had never heard of Bofferding. It sounds funny. The commercial is more serious though. It felt to us as a cross-over between Bavaria (that is, the pay-off “Zo, nu eerst een Bavaria”, which basically means ‘Phew, now I deserve a Bavaria’) and Grolsch (more specifically the pay-off from the 80’s: ‘Craftmanship is Mastership’). But that’s not really relevant since the commercial is not made for the Dutchies. Strategically it does make total sense, but there’s something odd about the end, where the hero almost clumsily opens the bottle with his screwdriver, and a bad voice-over somewhat spoils the nice images we saw before. A bit of an anti-climax, really. But, all in all, skillfully made and thus A-brand-worthy. And it did make us a little thirsty, we have to admit.
What an inspiring event it was. Here are the insights we took home. The first key note speaker, Ed Ulbrich from Digital Domain, talked us through the process of getting the multi-platform remake of Tron to market. He showed what looked like a trailer of the movie ‘Tron Legacy’, but later revealed it was ‘just’ a teaser to get Disney excited; they could make a movie, a game and a theme park ride out of this single concept. He called this a ‘transmedia content prototype’; a piece of content that mitigates the investor’s risk, because it provides a tangible window into the opportunities of the concept. Ulbrich founded a company, Mothership, that single mindedly builds these kind of prototypes.
In a way Philips’s brand new commercial ‘Parallel Lines’, is also a content prototype, as Ed Ulbrich mentioned during the presentation by Gary Raucher – head of MarCom at Philips – and DDB’s Neil Dawson and Caspar Delaney. The parallel lines are 5 short films telling the same story about a unicorn. The pay-off: ‘There are millions of ways to tell a story. There’s only one way to watch one’. Why not test these short films and see which one can make it into a blockbuster, asked Ulbrich. By doing so Philips could seriously and convincingly enter the realm of branded content – a revolutionary thought. Though Raucher told the audience last year’s multi-prize-winning commercial Carousel had completely changed Philips’ attitude towards advertising, making blockbusters might be one bridge too far.
Our favourite speaker of the day was Cindy Gallop. With great enthusiasm she talked about the future of advertising, while at the same time promoting her new internet start up ‘If we ran the world’ – connecting people social-media-wise with their actions rather than their conversations. As for the future advertising model, Gallop believes in total transparency and the power of the collaborative creative crowd. Victor & Spoils, combining these two elements, is therefore the perfect example of the agency of the future, she said. It is always difficult to say whether these absolute statements about the ‘future of …’ will proof right or wrong, but it is undeniably true that the creative industry shouldn’t neglect the power of collaborative creativity. Gallop ended her energetic talk with a website we all should check out: Textfromlastnight.com. Why? It’s hilarious, it’s contemporary poetry – with a maximum of 140 characters – and it’s a social cultural snapshot of our time. Amen!
Richard Gorodecky of Amsterdam Worldwide (AW) also talked about the perfect agency model – in our opinion a more realistic one. It was his own model; AW consists of a team of generalists and whenever needed it hires the required specialists. As a generalist, Gorodecky explained, you are ignorant. But the advantage of being ignorant is venturing into areas where specialized agencies don’t go. In other words; ‘ignorance gives you a license to experiment’.
Seyoan Vela provoked the crowd in a funny way by stating that positivity sucked. People like to complain (“social media are a threat rather than an opportunity!”), so why not approach them accordingly. Take W+K’s Grrrr for Honda, (“Can hate be good?”) one of the best commercials ever made. Vela ended his entertaining talk with the statement that ‘brands don’t t need to be your friends’.
The day ended with Andy Fackrell (180), Gustav Martner (CP+B), Sean Boyle (JWT), Karen Corrigen (Hapiness), Nick Baley (AKQA), John Weich (Lemon Scented Tea) and Jeff Kling (W+K) answering the question ‘How can advertising improve the world’ in a Pecha Kucha style. Though after a long day if felt a bit as an information overload, it proved to be a great format to get the most out of these brilliant minds – this is probably how the creative briefing was invented.
Andy Fackrell kicked off showing many different famous people who could do a 180 turn with their brain. Karen Corrigan (“In Belgium I am known as a very stubborn woman”) ignored the Pecha Kucha briefing and talked (for too long) about the Belgium agencies jointly stepping up to clients not respecting the local pitch code – a familiar problem – by organizing a successful website strike. Gustav Martner had a less practical idea to handle difficult clients; he fantasized about ways to have advertisers pitch for agencies and charge them for a bigger logo in the ad. Sean Boyle made a brilliant point about the culture within big networking agencies (“except JWT” – tone of voice: ironic); everyone listens to the brainless arse lickers, instead of the independent minds with genuinely creative ideas. Nick Baley showed female art to substantiate his sympathetic plead for more women in advertising. John Weich’ presentation was so smart that we couldn’t keep up with him. And, finally, Jeff Kling ended the way he started the day, with his somewhat cynical, but smart sense of humour. How can advertising improve the world? “Know when to shut the fuck up.”
