NORTHERN PLANNER

93% of young Americans (aged 18-29) say that they’re optimistic about their personal future.

46 million Americans do not have health insurance.

I’ve been undecided about the new Orange ads. Part of me loves the craft and the ‘open’ thought, but part of me thinks it will confuse people with YET ANOTHER change of direction.

My wife(who hates advertising) saw the goldfish bowl ad and said, " I really like that, I could watch it again and again, I like the way they say there’s no barriers, you always over-complicate things Andrew- most ads are boring, this one’s really nice".

Just back from pitching in London- more later, but here’s two things I learned from watching other people today:

1. When you do a presentation, you can do all the preparation you want but it’s worthless unless you’re really passionate and your interested in what other people have to say. If your enthusiastic about whatever it is you’re saying it’ll  gloss over a multitude of sins.
2. I’m as cynical, dry and ironic as the next Englishman, but sometimes I wish I could be as warm, polite and genuine as Americans. They have such a pleasant outlook on things, it reminds you that sometimes you need a break from English reserve and archness.

It’s going to be busy in the next few days, not least because of pitching. So in the meantime, here’s a thought about the advantages of input from other people.

It’s hard reading The Scamp or the The Ad-pit and resist commenting on the work out there, so I give in.

Since wine is one of my favourite things in the world, I should have been interested in this poster persuading me to specify cork stoppers for my wine. But why the hell should I care when they only reason they give me is that Joes Mourinho thinks I should. 

What makes it even worse is knowing how good it could have been. As the environment is increasingly becoming a mainstream issue, consumers are looking for ways to make changes that don’t wreck their lifestyle. Imagine if they were told this fact from the Eden Project; every time you pull a cork you help maintain the habitat of 42 types of birds. It could have been that simple.                                                                                                                                                               

That’s what Scott from work calls Gu ice cream. Idon’t know what the ice cream tastes like yet, but he reckons it’s better than anything else he’s tried. The damn fine packaging makes me want to find out for myself.

I like these Durex ads. I like the insight that condoms will be used more if they can help people get better sex, I like the way the brand is against boring sex. Most of all, I love how they demostrate how that product benefits needn’t be dull if you get the tone right. 

It’s not unusual to love the Star Wars films for people my age, they remind us of a happy time when the biggest worry was getting the Millennium Falcon for Christmas. What is unusual is being thankful for the second trilogy too like I am.

I don’t like the films themselves, but  this back story makes the first three even better. When you watch them again, the events and characters have been given a deeper significance. Darth Vader was always a great villain,  but now you know how he got the suit he’s a more interesting, tragic figure with a planet of regret and rage on his shoulders. 

I think this is useful way to look at brands. A back story makes them more real and adds a deeper meaning our relationship with them. I’m a fan of Nike for example, but my memories of Agassi in denim shorts 16 years ago are at least as important as anything they do today, and makes it better. This takes consistency and I don’t mean design guidelines. I mean having a consistent tone of voice; not sort you find in a brand framework, but the sort that comes from real people. Maybe it’s not the really big ideas that matter, maybe it’s having lots of good ideas that feel the same and makes a rich picture over time.

In his comment on ‘Love the suit’, Will raises a point I hadn’t considered before. Planners are prolific bloggers, creatives are writing some interesting stuff and even clients are at it. So where are the account handlers? Maybe they’ve nothing to say, maybe they’re too busy doing all those things planners and creatives hate. Am I missing something, has anyone seen any account handling blogs? Here’s one for starters.

Here’s a great post from Life in the Middle in appreciation of account handlers. Not only is great to see someone recognising the work they do, it’s from a the client side.