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Old February 7th 05, 04:32 AM
The Lindbergh Baby
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Paul wrote:

> Those who can do, those who can't go to work in marketing and/or
> advertising. Since they assume that the average person is as
> dumb/lame/has no life like them, they write the commercials
> accordingly...


Actually you think you're glib and know what you're talking about, but
you don't have a clue. Permit someone who has worked in advertising and
who has had his campaigns run in the media to explain:

The ideas that the advertising creatives pitch to the client are usually
far far better than those that wind up on the tube. The client usually
shoots them down, and send the agency back to the drawing board. The
second time the agency generally comes back with "safer" work (read:
stupider). This can happen ten, or twenty times. Bear in mind this is
all done at the ad agency's expense. The client does not pay for
rejected work, only the final ad it buys. These hours are generally not
billable. (For contrast, imagine telling your lawyer, "I'm not going to
pay you for the defense work of the last ten months because the judge
rejected your argument and we lost.") A famed advertising man once
said, "Advertising is as good as the client will allow it to be." While
it's true there are some agencies that don't try to offer up good work
first, that will offer any stupid garbage to the client so long as the
client's check doesn't bounce, I happen to know that Arnold
Communication up in Boston, which does the VW work, is not one of them.
They surely know they are not doing their best work right now, but in
this retailing environment (despite what our president keeps saying
about the econony being on the mend and his policies working, the only
reason people are spending is interest rates are low and so they're
charging their future on their plastic cards; they're in for a rude
shock in a couple of years) they are probably just grateful to have a
client like VW. Many big shops have lost their bread-and-butter
accounts in the last four years, and many have had to close because of it.

VW is actually a good client. Your memory may be short, but back in the
1990s it did some absolutely terrific work, "Mr. Roboto" being one of
the funniest and smartest commercials I've ever seen. But as times got
tough after the stock market crash and 9-11, all cleints have gotten
more "retaily" in their outlook, which means they want less creativity
and cleverness and more "hard sell." That generally results in
commercials being "dumber," such as most of the ones you see today, and
even attempts at humor are lame and "dumb" because people are really
nervous in corporate board rooms these days, and there's less tolerance
for experimentation.

The best car commercial I've seen recently is one for the Maxima that
shows a man and woman coming back from what was apparently a fairly hot
date. They're at the front of the woman's house; he notices her Maxima
and says "Is that your car?" He touches it and suddenly a surge of the
excitement of the Maxima shoots through him: he seems himself driving it
at high speed, with her in the passenger seat laughing and having a
wonderful time. Imagines like these flood through his mind until we cut
to her taking his hand off the car. "Not on a first date," she says to
him with the perfect expression on her face. "...But would you like to
come in for some coffee?" That's the first good spot I've seen in a
long time. We'll have to see if it's the start of a trend or just an
abberation.

By the way, Paul, don't lump marketing and advertising together: the two
are like oil and vinnegar; the two camps don't like each other and have
completely different philosophies and outlooks. And they attract
completely different types of people. Most advertising creatives would
rather work in a Starbucks than in marketing.



John

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