Yucca

Let’s make friends and influence people

My career started 15 years ago, after a few weeks of work experience at Bray Leino Advertising. There were two reasons I was keen to work in advertising: 1) the people were interesting, opinionated, purposeful and obviously different. And, 2) I was in awe of advertising’s power - the ability of a great ad to double the value of, for example, a pair of jeans, seemed fantastic and magical. I wanted to learn how to do it.

I feel more passionately now. Great advertising speaks the truth with real emotion. The greatest brands are those we choose to live with for decades and, even if we stop buying them for a period, they remain unforgettable.

Cadbury, Heinz, Clarks - for example - make the effort year in, year out, to matter. They truly respect their customers, and in turn their customers make them part of their lives. Advertising makes this happen. It creates an emotional connection and so, in most cases, has the greatest impact on sales. Every other marketing discipline, however critical, becomes a tactic.

So, it’s perhaps fair to say that advertising has drawn the majority of people to marketing for the past 50 years - but this is changing. Today, 20-30% of agency revenues come directly from digital channels. This is reflected in personnel of course, but the majority of digital people have come to the industry not because they love advertising, but because they love technology. Creating great user experiences, social connections, delivering locational services and mobile tools are what this group believe really shape brand perceptions.

They’re right. But the ‘advertising’ people are right too. Both rely on customer insight and seek an emotional result.

So we all need to keeping talking - avoiding digital blinkers and traditional frameworks. Then we’ll see the world as the customer does. Technology will allow us to move the customer emotionally and provide a new home for advertising.

Update:
Our Creative Director, Rob, found this Nike Euro 2012 ad on the Creative Review blog. Originally conceived as an interactive experience to showcase their sponsored talent, the online version (of what became a TV ad) features lots of hidden content. It’s worth spending 10 minutes exploring - the views currently stand at 130m.