I grew up on the Procter and Gamble account. If there\u2019s one thing P&G do better than almost anyone is to follow their own advice based on their own experiences. They used to call this \u2018Search and Reapply\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Unilever had a similar mantra, \u2018Steal with Pride\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
The basics of both were and are simple. Look at what others do, look at what\u2019s worked for you, look around you, collect the evidence, review, collect more evidence, then and only then act.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This whole process can take a long time, or a very short time depending on the task but common to everything is the twin realisation a) that someone else, possibly even someone smarter than you has faced and maybe solved this problem before somewhere and b) that sometimes your first thought, your gut instinct can be wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
These thoughts come from an acceptance that there are many ways to skin a cat, and a humility to accept even though you have a million Twitter followers, a trade press column and a LinkedIn profile that contains every endorsement going you never stop learning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s been a good week for the oldies, the dinosaurs, and those with the experience and the scars to prove it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Take the personalisation of ads, now about to be made rather harder by Google.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Like so many things, the reality of personalised ads isn\u2019t quite all that it seems. But let\u2019s keep it simple and say that it sometimes makes sense to have many variations of the same basic message, and to push the most relevant variant in front of the most appropriate audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So \u2013 if you\u2019re Ford cars you may have a basic message, but that message is translated in multiple different ways to promote multiple models.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I may see the old gits\u2019 model, with a large boot for the golf clubs, a high driving position that allows for easy entry and exit, and 5 doors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You may see the sporty two-seater perfect for that weekend getaway (I really should have been a copywriter\u2026).<\/p>\n\n\n\n But not always. You may be a beer, for whom fame is all, and context is key.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here\u2019s a quote from a blog called Melting Asphalt by Kevin Simler, a man so good he\u2019s been quoted by Bob Hoffman (in 2019) and Richard Shotton in (I think) 2018 and again this week. The original quote (the below is a precis) dates from an even older piece called \u2018Ads Don\u2019t Work That Way\u2019. I believe it\u2019s from 2014. When dinosaurs roamed the earth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIf a relatively unknown brand of beer advertises itself as an \u2018unpretentious fun-times party beer\u2019 during the Superbowl, you can bring that beer to your friend\u2019s BBQ later confident that your intentions will be understood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhereas if the same unknown brand advertised itself across 100 different TV shows (reaching the same gross audience) <\/em>and you only saw one of them \u2013 on an obscure cooking show (say) \u2013 you\u2019d have no idea whether your friends at the BBQ would have the same understanding of the brand\u2019s image, and whether they would perceive your intentions correctly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you\u2019re a beer, fame is good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you\u2019re Ford, some degree of targeted messaging is good, but all playing to a consistent brand message.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then there\u2019s the news that Airbnb is \u2018slashing\u2019 their performance marketing spend in favour of brand building work.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Perhaps the notion of adding some brand magic to the tedious and competitive process of booking accommodation may finally be gaining traction within Airbnb\u2019s hallowed halls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A few days ago I had the pleasure of interviewing Paul Feldwick, one of the industry\u2019s best strategic planners, for asi. Paul has a new book out, \u2018Why Does the Pedlar Sing?\u2019 subtitled \u2018What creativity really means in advertising\u2019.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n The interview was a delight to do, a reminder of how good we used to be at ads, how popular they were (certainly compared to now) and why we seem to have lost the knack as \u2018new techniques\u2019 take hold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n