Mindshare Ninja Training

The loneliness of social software

To people like me the internet is an instinctive and unthinking part of everyday life - and I'm old enough to know that there was a world B.C. .com!  It's not just teenagers that clog up the social web with their status updates and blurry photos.

Which is why I was so interested in this article from Company magazine.  If we're all plugged into social networks, all the time, why is still possible to feel lonely sometimes?

Websites like Facebook are made by regular people doing regular things - but we forget that this is only the edited highlights of someone's life.  We focus on the parties (especially the ones we weren't invited to) and forget about the undocumented time that person spent at work, or home alone.  Everyone tries to look busy, no one ever admits otherwise.  We talk about everything online but loneliness is a taboo.  Which is funny considering that social networking is actually a solitary activity, I don't sit down with friends to change my status, do you?

It only takes someone opportunistic enough to tap into this revelation and turn it to their advantage.  Or everyone's advantage.  Something to think about next time my flatmate leaves me home alone...  


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The medium is the message

What would you think if you saw a tvc that was looped for an entire ad break?  
Eye-catching for sure, and definately expensive.  I couldn't name a brand that tried this tactic in the past, and maybe there's a good reason for that.  Scarcity creates value.  But if a bold brand did try this, what kind of message would this add value to?  Answer: a repetitive one.

And who better to champion this tactic than - Duracell?!

For the bunny - and now tv ad -  that keeps going.  It's Duracell batteries.  They last longer...

The semiotics of Sex And The City

The most striking aspect of Sex And The City is it's intertextuality with a film that came out almost 40 years before it first aired, Breakfast At Tiffany's.  Not only do the lead characters share many common traits (i.e. being able to whistle for a cab when no one else can, living alone in a NY brownhouse, sleeping with an eyemask etc), but the posters and marketing images use almost identical symbolism and layout.

John Berger said, "The state of being envied is what constitutes glamour" and glamour is certainly what defines SATC, fuelled by Carrie's limitless shoe collection and designer wardrobe.  In fact consumerism and the never-ending search for the perfect manolo blahnik could be metaphors for the search for love.  Men come and go, sometimes for only one episode and each one is categorised by a certain style, as if they were items of clothing to be tried on and discarded if ill-fitting.  Take Mr Big as an example, the leading man; a successful businessman who listens to Sinatra, smokes cigars, tips like a Rockerfeller, and is never seen out of his suit.  He is a symbol of old New York, as iconic as the little black dress (perhaps one that Audrey would have worn).  Ultimately he is the one Carrie marries - of course, she's in love with New York.  It seems a funny coincidence that Carrie also dated a writer for a while called Jack Berger.

It's not difficult to make a connection between the following film posters. The only thing to change in 40 years is the law on smoking, hence no cigarette for Carrie - although she does smoke in the show!

  • Head shot of the leading lady, wearing black, with the New York cityscape in the background.  
  • Black and pink all over
  • The star's name at the top, with the title below


The association between these images is also very clear. The only difference is that Audrey Hepburn's sleek cigarette holder and casual come-hither look have been amplified in SATC to a spread-leg pose and a phallic skyscraper directly inbetween.  How times have changed.

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SATC vs Tiffany.pptx (404 KB)
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SATC.pptx (1.78 MB)
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Ways of seeing the French Connection man and woman

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FCUK.pptx (948 KB)
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As far back as the first portraits of Adam and Eve, the woman was an object to be viewed, and the man was spectator.  It is a convention we are so accustomed to that we would never notice these roles had it not been pointed out ... or you've read the book Ways of Seeing.

The most recent French Connection ad campaign, The Man The Woman, is a great example.

In print, the campaign portraits the man and woman separately, never together in the same shot, and always with a written blurb to accompany the visual.  However there are some striking differences in the way this was approached for each gender.

The woman is always spoken for by a third party, whereas the man uses direct statements in speech marks, as if he was directly quoted. Her text is in lower case, whereas his is in capitals only.  The result of these formatting decisions suggests that the woman cannot, or will not talk her mind directly, she is either spoken for or perhaps gossiped about. People might be talking about her in admiration or jealousy. On the other hand, the man has no trouble expressing himself, and judging by the capital letters - does so in a booming voice.  A caveman figure who appreciates a good suit.

The man talks about concrete objects, things he's wearing, things he's doing.  The woman is mostly mentioned in terms of the effect she has on others - particularly men.  It's not about who she is, but rather what others make of her.  She is distant, aloof, mysterious, or just plain boring depending on your interpretation.  While he is direct and proactive.  

This is the French Connection man and woman.
       

Consumers or People?

Working on Unilever during planning season sometimes makes you feel as though you are in a supermarket bubble, where 'us marketers' are taking on a world of hedonistic, serial shoppers known only as ‘consumers’...

This materialistic but value conscience group, are apparently ready to try new products and enjoy life's pleasures....recognise it?

But aren't we really just talking about people?

I understand the need to find a core group of people who may buy your product regularly, but talking of 'consumers' as a group of people obsessed by your great new product/ service who follow you wherever you go, is just absurd. After all, aren't we those exact 'consumers' once we leave the office? Would you play a rubbish game because your friend brought it to the pub, or would you go to their website whilst they talk about themselves for tab after tab? No.

Well neither would your ‘consumer’… So when we think of brand communication, surely we should start talking to PEOPLE, and start talking about things that interest people.

Thanks,

Chris Farrow 

Is All Modern Advertising Metaphor?


NINJA TRAINING: LAKOFF METAPHORS

You used to know where you were with advertising.  Up until the Sixties, it was all metanymic: this product washes whiter, this car is safer, this drink has essential vitamins and minerals.  Then a conflation of Bernbach, Freud and the Me Generation gave us ‘lifestyle advertising’.  In Britain, our first example of this is usually cited as a TVC for Strand cigarettes: “You’re never alone with a Strand”.  It was a miserable flop, but we were undeterred.

Now with products tending towards commodity, we sell only benefits, not features.

When you drink this, you’ll feel like this.  When you drive this, it feels like this.

With Ronseal a lone vanguard of metonym – it does exactly what it says on the tin – is all advertising now metaphor?  (Is Ronseal itself a metaphor for no-nonsense, get-the-job-done anti-marketing?).

Our discussions seemed to suggest that categories tend towards a governing metaphor, while brands try to carve out an ownable niche within them.

We were taken by the category of mobile phones, where the mega-brands talk about the future, connections, ambitions, humanity, but Tesco has subverted the category by talking very simply about its good value no-nonsense Pay As You Go deals...