White Bull Army. Everything that was ever wrong with Ad Awards in just one Video.

Mai 8th, 2011 • 14 comments Brands, Experimental
Tags: Ads, Africa, Agencies, Alcohol, Awards, Beer, Brands, Future Lions, Ideas, Politics, Strategy, Sudan, Viral, visual

A little update to this article: After bashing the video below as “either an extremly sarcastic subtle protest against ignorance in advertising. Or the saddest thing in the industry” I was now contacted by a couple of people who commented that anyone (except me) found it extremely obvious that it is not the saddest things but a very subtle protest. But what is it that this video wants to achieve?

Is it taking the piss out of award videos? Pink Pony does that without touching the Sudanese civil war. Is it supposed to remind us of South Sudan? Not really. So in fact whatever it was that this video wanted to be ironical about – it crossed the line from irony to cynicism.

To make my point I. I don’t give a damn if this is an official award video. I just think it’s extremely tasteless and stands for a very acultural cynicism typical for too many people in this industry. Generate buzz no matter through which method. That’s pathetic.

Follow the rest of the conversation on adland.tv

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Actually everything that was ever wrong with ad awards can be studied in the video below. It is a submission to the Future Lions, a sub-award of the well known Cannes Lions. And it is given to anyone (you can be a private person) who comes up with a hypothetical idea for an existing brand that wasn’t technically possible five years ago.

So the following video showcases a hypothetical idea on how to promote a beer in the soon to be independent state Southern Sudan. Key elements of the story are true. White Bull Lager is in fact the first major locally produced beer in Southern Sudan. But the hypothetical campaign described in the film gave me Inner Mouth Vomit.

It does not just show a deep lack of historical and political understanding – it’s just cynical (even worse than Jung von Matt’s great guerilla stunt that took the piss out of German anti Nuclear protestors…2 months before Fukushima).

Stuff like this is the end result when ignorance meets fake caring. Seriously? This is either an extremly sarcastic subtle protest against ignorance in advertising. Or it is one of the saddest things I have ever seen coming out of the industry. Two million people died in Sudan and some hipster presents beer logos on T-72 tanks to win an award. Oh…the best part: In the end they even dare to dedicate this to the people of South Sudan. Makes me want to kill myself.

Good Morning. The Return of ‘The Media Award Tram Station’.

April 29th, 2011 • Media, Underway
Tags: Ads, Agencies, Amsterdam, Awards, Funny, Ideas, Media, Outdoor, Truth, Underway, visual, World, WTF

It’s not always easy to work in the center of Amsterdam. Well, most of the time it is. But then there are days when you step out of your tram at the central Leidseplein square and the first thing you think is WTF?

Quite often this has got something to do with my particular tram station which I call ‘The Media Award Tram Station’. Simply because it serves as award entry for pretty much any Media angency in the world. You know…when they spend EUR 1 million on media…and EUR 995,000 run just into this installation there to make the campaign look great in Cannes?

I have seen everything being built on top, attached to or dug underneath the tram station. But I haven’t seen what I have seen this morning. It looked a little something like this…

Bizarre. My Tram Station is an Outdoor Award Entry.

August 22nd, 2010 • 3 comments Ads
Tags: Ads, Agencies, Amsterdam, Awards, Funny, Ideas, Media, Outdoor, Truth, Underway, visual, World

I work pretty much in the center of Amsterdam. I love the city. But to be honest, there are nicer places than Leidseplein, the square nearby which opens the gates to the touristic part of the city.

What I find really bizarre (beyond stoned German teenagers) is Leidseplein’s tram station. In fact, it’s not a tram station – it is a living Cannes Outdoor Lions Award entry for the city’s agencies. Every second week the tram station is in the center of another expensive outdoor ad idea that you cannot see anywhere else. It’s the kind of stuff that you see in award videos. The kind of idea that is getting sold to award jurys as a globally executed ad campaign, while in fact we are talking about one tram station at Leidseplein.

This week it’s 180 TBWA\BEC with adidas F50 Lightspeed.

A couple of weeks ago it was some fantasy motion picture…

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Eye Candy. 100 Beautiful Slides from Cannes.

Juni 29th, 2010 • Business
Tags: Agencies, Award, Awards, cannes, Cool, Creativity, Ideas, Presentation, Underway, visual

I may neither be a fan of advertising award shows nor of what is said on award shows. But if there is one thing I like about them (beyond drinks and food) it is well designed powerpoint slides. All of us have seen a couple of really ugly, undigestible slides in their lifes. So check out these PPT posers that were just presented in Cannes… (via)

Zombie Campaigns. The old Award Show Problem revisited.

Mai 16th, 2010 • 1 comment Allgemein
Tags: ADC, Agencies, Awards, Business, Creativity, Experimental, Germany, Ideas, Strategy, Truth, visual

Once upon a time there was a man named David Ogilvy who said something very true about advertising – ‘We sell or else’. We all think that this is the mission of advertising agencies (however you define them). No matter whether we talk about selling in a sense of branding, customer services, hard sales – we need to help solving our client’s business problem. Form follows function. Advertising does not end in itself.

We all know pretty often this is not the case. Not always but often advertising ends in itself. Especially when it comes to ad awards. Many of you know the rules of the game – the more awards you collect as an agency the more creative you are allowed to call yourself. That’s the currency of the advertising industry. But this currency follows a bizarre distribution logic – the most important awards worldwide do not reward effective campaigns and ideas. They reward funny concepts designed for awards shows without an effect on clients, markets and brands. Most often nobody has seen these ‘campaigns’ at all simply because they do not exist except on award shows. Zombie campaigns.

No, not every piece of marketing communication which has won a gold, silver or bronze nail at last weekend’s ADC (Art Director’s Club Germany) congress in Frankfurt and other award shows falls into this category. But some do. Zombie campaigns can easily be identified by doing a campaign reality check. Just ask yourself these questions.

The Zombie Creation Checklist

• Does the awarded campaign look like a fancy idea as trigger for a good marketing effect? Or just like a good idea?
• Does it look like something driven by an agency or by the client?
• Is the client an unusual small brand in comparison to the remaining client list of the agency?
• Is it technically feasible (if interactive) at all?
• Was there any real audience? Or were the only platforms to stage the concept ‘blogs’?

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