March 24, 2014
Great Advertising Transcends Strategy
Yeah, yeah, yeah. We all know that advertising is 50% strategy and 50% execution. Or something like that.
But that's only true of normal advertising. The kind you and I do.
It's not true of great advertising -- the kind people a thousand times better than us do.
Great advertising transcends strategy. It's great for all the wrong reasons -- the reasons we never talk about in new business pitches, or mention at client meetings, or have break-out sessions about at advertising conferences. It's great because it's great. Period.
It doesn't matter if it differentiates the brand, or delivers a benefit, or has a call to action.
Good ads need strategy and benefits and differentiation. Great ads don't need any of that. They appeal to us as humans, not consumers.
It's like art or music or literature. The really good artists and musicians and writers know the rules of artistry. But the great ones say "screw the rules."
Here's an example. One of my favorite spots of the past couple of years was a spot for Audi. As far as I can tell, the strategy isn't very compelling, and the targeting is questionable, and there's nothing your average CMO would call a "benefit."
All there is is a great ad.
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33 comments:
Agreed and love that spot too. There was no "go online for more" or any silly microsite allowing you to send in your own prom memories - it's just a fun, 60 second spot that tells a story almost anybody can relate to and ends with a quick nod to bravery as a brand attribute for Audi.
This could've been made for (almost) any other car brand and doesn't qualify as an ad. A 60 second short movie about bravery maybe. But not an ad.
Could anybody else have done it (yes) and did it sell anything? (don't know) The definitions of a great ad and an entertaining adlike object are different.
Plus, he drives too fast, parks where he shouldn't, and frankly, assaults the girl (no matter what her reaction afterward is). Is all that supposed to make me – a baby boomer – want to buy an Audi? As others have said, if the marque had been BMW or Porsche or Ford, would anything else need to have been changed? Can't support you on this one, Bob.
Greatness, it seems, is yet another dweller in the eye of the beholder.
Thanks - loved the ad. I guess that its brilliance needs to be judged in terms of did it do something positive for sales. Whilst I'd like to subscribe to the view that it was brilliant because of a lack of "strategy" I wonder whether that is really the case. It might have a lot more "strategy" behind it than we are aware, but unusually good strategy.
Wow timorr, you seem like loads of fun!
Well, my belief is "The purpose of advertising is to sell. It has no other purpose worthy of mention."
If you think there is no strategy behind this ad, I genuinely don't know what kind of strategists you've worked with in your career, and what they've convinced you that "strategy" is. I can only tell you that you should have worked with better ones.
This is an ad, and the fact that it could have been made for other car brands of similar profile is irrelevant, because they haven't made it. It may suggest that other car brands have a similar product positioning, but that's not an issue that a single ad can address. There are many cars that are sold on the promise that they make you feel like a million dollar. This ad delivers on it.
Ads are supposed to either make me change brand or make me change my behaviour. This does neither. Why should I buy an Audi instead of a BMW? Just because Audi did this ad first and their promise of "if you buy this car you'll feel like a million bucks"? Frankly I don't believe it. Neither will any punter out there with half a brain. It's the pre 50's crude mad men way of thinking that the consumer will believe any old bullshit we tell him.
Cars like bmw and audi are symbolic goods: you buy them because of how they make you feel, and how people look at you when you drive them. (At least, that's why most people buy them). One ad won't do that. But a range of communication over a length of time will, of course if paired up to products that live up to it: the evidence of it is that in most countries Audi has been overtaking BMW in sales in the past few years, with a series of ads (and designs, and features) that BMW could also have done, but didn't. Unless it's a coincidence...
I'm just going to quote Dave Trott here, saves me the trouble of using my own words:
To believe anything we need to know ‘why?’
If you don’t, or can’t, give us a reason why, then we won’t believe you.
Not giving a reason is the grownup version of “Because I said so”.
That’s what most brand advertising is.
Brand advertising is avoiding giving a reason.
It doesn’t want to, it can’t be bothered to, talk about a reason.
Which probably means there isn’t one.
“Our brand is more aspirational, or more luxurious, or more innovative, or more trustworthy, or friendlier, or more youthful, or more modern.”
“Why?”
“Because I said so.”
There isn’t a reason given.
The marketing department thinks there doesn’t need to be a reason.
Well yes and no.
There doesn’t need to be a reason from the client to the agency.
They’ll do it because they’re getting paid.
There doesn’t need to be a reason from the planners to the creatives.
They’ll do it because they’re getting paid.
But there does need to be a reason from the advert to the consumer.
Because they aren’t getting paid.
They don’t have to do what they’re told.
We aren’t giving them money.
In fact it’s the other way round, we want them to give us their money.
And their attention, and their belief.
But unless we give them a good reason, unless we tell them why they should, they won’t.
Except that whole industries such as fashion work without a "why", at least the way Trott describes it. And Audi and BMW are closer to fashion than to Mazda. Advertising is too complex to obey always to the same rule, because it deals with human thoughts, feelings and actions that are just too diverse. Don't let a big universal quote distract youfrom a specific small truth.
Are you seriously comparing a luxury car to a piece of clothing?
I don't know... Do you think I'm seriously comparing a luxury car that many people buy because of the image of themselves it projects with a luxury suit that many people buy because of the image of themselves it projects? I wonder what they could possibly have in common...
Aaaaand we're back to the 1950's mindset, before some guy called Bernbach came along with his lemon.
The problem with "great advertising" with no strategy behind it is that it's ultimately a pure matter of subjectivity.
It's a great ad. I'm sure they back-sold some strategy. Differences between cars in this category are so small. Didn't see this on the SuperBowl.I'll bet it worked. Audi sales are waaaaay up. And that's the real measure of success.
I sense therealadcontrarian might be a creative intern at McCann Ericsson. Stefano's pointing out the blindingly obvious - and trotting out Trott's tired tropes is classic copywriter-in-training....
But, for God's sake - of COURSE buying a luxury car is like buying luxury clothes...
If we ignore the proven strategic bedrock of our industry, we just end up with gobshites like Bob and Trott telling us 'what's great', like this pretty average, cliched car commercial...
I am with other comments ... I can see the strategy here loud and clear ... I love your work Mr Contrarian ... love your book ... but you have a wildly imaginative blind spot on the role of strategy ... but maybe you are just on the same page as me ... I say that strategy is just thinking with a fancy name ... and I can see the thinking in this excellent ad
No need to get personal there, headmaster. At least you agree that the ad is shite. My point was exactly that. It's shit and could've been a lot better if they'd do a product focused ad instead of a brand one. But nowadays it seems like heresy to point this out. But who cares, right? Not the people who make it and certainly not the ones it's made for. It's how they ended up with that Audi spot. Just keep collecting the pay check at the end of the month and get on with it.
In that case, can you please call all the people that have been buying more Audi than BMW lately (check the sales data) and tell them that they're wrong?
You could have changed Audi with any other car in similar segment, still I love the ad, and will remember Audi connected to deeply-felt feelings and memories. So ad mission completed, as far as I am concerned as a human being. Thanks Mr. Hoffman, also for the useful reminder to strategists...learn, break and forget the rules to try and be great, at least...
You're making a connection where there isn't one. Namely between this ad and the uptake in sales. If you've been reading Bob's blog frequently, you know how he talks about the issue of small cars being marketed to millennials instead to the people who buy them, the ones over 50. The sales are up in spite of the ads they run. That doesn't mean they're good or the right kind of ads. It means that their advertising is being completely ignored by the people who buy their product. They buy the car because of its features (mpg, price, looks, comfort, etc) and not because "they want to drive an audi and define themselves as being brave in the eyes of their peers."
You don't sell with just arguments. You sell with attitudes too. Ask Coca Cola.
Sometimes a great strategy leads to a great commercial, and sometimes the strategy is written after the fact to fit the great commercial.
And Coca Cola's attitude is?
Do car manufacturers have a choice on how to compete?
They could compete on an emotional level via brand marketing - who can be perceived as the most joyful, happy, bravest etc.
Or they can get their engineers to compete with hybrid engines, driver-less cars, safety features, on board computers, metallic paints, speed, comfort, economy, hydrogen cell technology etc.
If you were in charge of a car manufacturer would you want a patent lock down on hydrogen fuel cell technology or own Joy!
And a half decent strategist would have stopped them ruining this ad with the lame "bravery, it's what define's us" line . That was clearly the "core creative idea" behind the ad, but by including it the ad itself they insulted the intelligence of everyone watching
It doesn't matter that anyone could have done it - the search for the holy grail of a USP in advertising has always been a red herring. This ad ensures that Audi has a strong emotional connection to the category benefit of high end sports cars. There is loads of strategy in this ad. Not least that they bookend the powerful emotional moment with the Audi branding rather than waiting until the moment has passed to sign the ad off with the brand name
In this ad there are reasons. The question is, just how explicitly are they brought to your attention? This ad is selling a performance AUDI, one that sits at the top of the AUDI tree. It's very expensive. We can safely assume we're talking to car enthusiasts. Thus the license to speak more subtly is given. As a fellow car enthusiast I can tell you that the reasons to purchase presented in this ad are numerous:
The design of the vehicle.
The throatiness of it's exhaust talks to his race-bred heritage.
The footage of it driving speaks to its performance and handling.
The way it attracts attention talks to the instant image it projects.
The way the driver feels. Not just like a million dollars. But adrenalized by the experience.
This ad makes me want that car. I can step back and observe that. (i drive it's competitor)
Anyone missing the many ways this ad speaks is really blind to the way good advertising works. Subtly, subconsciously.
It sold me. It gave me the warm and fuzzies and that is what good sales is.
Audi's agency does good work. My favorite commercial of theirs came out as many car manufacturers where touting their parking apps. See a spot, hear car sounds, Audi does a fast 180 to get into the spot first time.
"Audi, for people who know how to park".
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