Ad of the Week: Target

One of the more interesting experiments, as of late, in advertising is the attempt to make traditional more conversational. It brings up the question can a TV ad truly be conversational?

While watching the finale of Lost, I saw three excellent examples of being conversational through tv. They were a series for Target by Wieden + Kennedy. They simply featured an aspect of Lost and tied it to an everyday product including this one with the smoke monster. The reason I feel it is conversational is it’s making an ad to specifically speak to a target audience of Lost fans in their visual language. Paired with their tagline “Life’s a moving Target.” it creates a meaningful link to their target that makes one feel like Target understands me. It was so successful in fact that already the next morning there was a few great Target ad spoofs including this one featuring a kiss between Kate and Sawyer.

Agency: Wieden + Kennedy

My Day of Brands

This is a recording of my interactions with various brands in a single day inspired by a similar post by Melanie Linehan on her blog, MLinsight.

I awoke. Showered with Old Spice and Every Man Jack. Prepared my clothing with Sunbeam Iron & Target ironing board. Filled my tummy with Archer Farms bread, toasted in a Michael Graves Toaster and All Natural Archer Farms Peanut Butter and washed it down with Archer Farm’s Organic Nonfat Milk. I prepared my face with Wahl trimmer & Gillete Mach 3 Turbo shaver followed by Every Man Jack, prepared my mouth with Colgate, Oral-b & Listerine, sprayed on some Old Spice and dressed in Target, Express for Men & Cole Haan.

Drove to work in my Toyota while listening to MGMT, Keane & Phoenix on my iPhone. Stopped at Starbucks for my daily Venti Misto. Got to work opened my Swiss backpack, plugged my MacBook Pro into my Mac Keyboard, Mac Display and switched on my Mac Wireless Magic Mouse. Fired up Blogger, Twitter, Facebook, Mobile Me, Tweet Deck, AIM and Yahoo to connect with the world and began work on Word, Powerpoint, Adobe CS4 and Entourage.

Lunch break with Kashi meal and glass of water in a Coca-Cola glass while flipping through NOTCOT, Ads of the World and Tweet Deck. Back to work: Mobile Me, Adobe CS4, Word, Entourage. Meeting. Break for the second Starbucks Misto that I fetch in my Toyota. Work Work Work.

Break to head to coffee with a friend in my Toyota to Common Grounds for a White Chocolate Mocha. Conversation.

Drive home in my Toyota. iPhone, Bowflex, Genius List, Blogger, Twitter, Facebook, Mobile Me. Read The Fountinhead by Ayn Rand, check my Google Analytics and sleep.

The overall winners in my book are Target, Starbucks and Apple.

Are Brands Dead?

With the rise of short lived digital experiences, the removal of coke from Cost Co and the reduction of major name brands from the shelves of Walmart, the question on many people’s minds is: Are brand names still powerful?

At present, major name brands are putting more attention on creating utility for their consumers and straying away from big budget commercials. An example of this is Pepsi deciding to not run any super bowl ads this year and instead invested that money into charitable giving driven by the consumer. Yet, is this really a mark of straying away from inflating their brand? In the end, we are going through hard economic times and companies are being judged more than ever when looking at what they are doing for their consumers. Pepsi can with hold from doing brand ads and give the money away instead because they already have such a strong brand clout from previous years.

In the future, many are predicting that brands will have to move away from heavy branding because consumers are wanting to live within their means and see it reflected in media. Yet, shifting from showing an extravagant life to one of means isn’t the removal of brand. Branding can just as easily be about living frugally or responsibly. Toyota is an excellent example of this from leveraging their minor green traits they have created a cult following and even in spite of their major recalls, polls consistently show that their consumers still believe in them. By investing in their customer base, their customers are willing to forgive them.

In the past, the great Marlboro Friday scare in 1993 created the declaration that the brand name was dead. Yet since 1993 strong brand names have been established or reestablished to have created stronger cult followings than we have seen in the past including Target, Toyota and Apple. So is this latest declaration another fable or a true shift in advertising?

Although this economic climate could mean the death to some brands often it’s the ones that forget that they need to continue to grow, change and innovate to stay on top. Just because the brands are moving into the digital space doesn’t mean the brand is dead but simply that it is yet again adapting for the better.

Headin' to Arkansas

If an ad agency makes a great ad; but, it's hitting the wrong target is it really that bad?

I think thats a question that hangs in the air whenever an advertisement seems to be off key from a brand perspective. Of course, being way out of left field, hitting the wrong gender, race and age all at once would be too far off and would most likely dilute the brand by sending out too many and contradictory messages. However, how close to brand is too "close to brand."

When a client is obsessing where the toys came from, be it Target or Wal-Mart (which is the same exact toy), in a kid's fast food ad because their target consume is considered a wal-mart-like shopper. Is that going too far and isn't that obsessing too much over details that could detract from the big picture?

The subject came up when discussing the new memorable Caribou Coffee ads on youtube made by Colle + McVoy. The ads have a sometimes violent or disgusting sense of humor that feels more apt for a teenager and yet their audience tends to be middle aged, stay at home mom's.

You be the judge:

Caribou's "The Autumn Adventure of Jack & Gourdo #5"

Agency: Colle + McVoy

Reason: A well-made, dry sense of humor that plays with boundaries of acceptability; but, may be off the key consumer.

On a side note: I am happy to report that after being unemployed for a total of 12 day (8 work days), I received a job offer from an excellent, quickly growing agency Rockfish Interactive. They not only create great websites, innovative back-end tools, iPhone apps and social media tools; but, they also launch brands and were named "Best Small Agency of the Year" by Ad Age.

So I will be heading out on a road trip to Arkansas to check out the state and the agency in person. Look for posts on Thursday of traveling pics. . . y'all (thought I'd get started on my accent conversion).

What I Learned

What I learned the most from working at two agencies (MRM Worldwide & Campbell Mithun) is you can't go after the creative position that will pay you the most or give you the most prestige, you must go after the one that will allow you to create work you are proud of.

Even more importantly is how do you find which agency to work at that will offer you the type of creative freedom you are looking for? I found that it isn't the agency itself; but the people that work for that agency. Just because agency "x" created an awesome campaign for "y" brand last week doesn't mean the CD, AD or CW that worked on it are even still at that agency. In a way you almost have to follow the individuals that inspire you in order to have the chance to construct the career and book of work that you want.

The following are five ad pieces that have truly inspired me.

Levi's O' Pioneers

Agency: Wieden + Kennedy

Reason: A highly aspirational ad targeting the positive younger generation selling them on the concept of the brand Levi's as a steadfast company fighting for change as many americans have. The ad that was art directed beautifully and has some excellent post production.

Target's Brand New Day

Agency: Peterson Milla Hooks

Reason: A truly unique, original approach to show savings at a department store. Beautiful Art Direction & A Great Song

Apple's The Intel Chip

Agency: TBWA

Reason: A tension/excitement building ad that delivers one simple message: Macs are now coming with Intel Chips.

Johnnie Walker's Android

Agency: Bartle Bogle Hegarty

Reason: An aspirational ad that targets current consumers of Johnnie Walker and reinforces what the brand stands for: Men that keep walking. An excellent concept around the brand theme.

Famous Footwear's Make Today Famous

Agency: Campbell Mithun

Reason: The first ad to truly infuse life into a brand that has had little to no personality thus far. Excellent Art Direction & A Great Song