DOES STRATEGY STILL MATTER?

The advertising industry is cock-a-hoop over the Sony Bravia campaign and the Cadbury’s Dairy Milk Gorilla ad, both by Fallon. Sometimes you just have to stand back and admire the work – so hats off to the agency, plus whatever art students may have had the original ideas.

But a worrying question for strategists is, if the Bravia and CDM gorilla ads are a triumph of the ‘entertainment / engagement’ school of advertising, rather than the old ‘story well told’ communication model, is it the end of strategy as we know it?

For example, what use is conventional “creative development research” on the ‘Gorilla’ ad?
Moderator (turning over successive key frames of a sketchy gorilla, MCU)
Soundtrack: Familiar opening bars of In the Air Tonight
Narrator: then in a series of impressive jump cuts, we realise that this is no ordinary gorilla. We can tell by his expression that he’s starting to get into the music. His nostrils flare as he loosens his neck in anticipation. Suddenly the camera pulls back to reveal …

But further analysis shows that strategy is alive and well, especially on the plannoblogosphere.

Take the Bravia ads, now on their third execution. This campaign is a victory for great strategy/planning and creativity. As Richard and others have said, the advertising has made the Sony Bravia a famous and premium brand of TV. It takes a strong, simple idea and gives it lavish, imaginative treatment. Bravia’s success has transformed Sony’s TV sales. (From a low start, it has to be said, Sony having badly caught out by the sudden demand for flatscreen tellies.)

The two great things about the Bravia campaign are: the original ‘Balls’ ad, and timing.

It is a beguiling visual feast superbly underscored by the Jose Gonzalez song (which started an ad trend for dreamy, singer + solo guitar). The ad reminds us of what we love about watching TV and tells us that Sony TVs are back.

The ad was timed take full advantage of a massive upsurge in interest and demand for flatscreen TVs, which was sustained from the Euro2004 championship through to the World Cup in 06.

The Bravia campaign is not about unbridled creativity – in fact, are they not getting a bit boring now? Bunnies was not as good as Paint which was not as good as Balls. (And Viz isn’t as funny as it used to be.) And even the brilliant Balls is much more watchable in the 60-second version than the full, flabby 2-and-a-half minute version.

The Bravia ads work so well as a piece of entertainment as they are spectacle, not narrative ads – the same applies to Gorilla. They are each a succession of vignettes, not a structured narrative with beginning, middle and end. You could change the order of the scenes from any part of the ad except start and finish and it would be the same. This does not make the ads any worse, it’s just that ads built this way work a little differently from narrative ads.

Could this explain the power of the unusual image inserted in the ads – the frog in Balls, the running clown in Paint, the large red play doh bunny – they surely didn’t do it to get their Link Test scores up?

None of which will stop someone at Fallon from claiming that the Sony Bravia ads prove that creatives should be left to their own devices, or that pure creativity sells etc. It could become the Heineken ‘Refreshes the Parts’ case study 30 years on.

Back then, history was re-written to say that CDP's famous campaign was so original and radical that they single-handedly transformed sales of Heineken in the UK – no thanks to plonky old research which said, don’t do it. Except that, research did not say that, it said the campaign was original and different but could position the lager as a bit effete and weak. More tellingly, Heineken sales took off partly because all lager sales were soaring (timing, again). But the agency kept going with their ‘creative’ campaign until it finally killed the brand, which never did manage to shake off its reputation of being a bit weak.

Gorilla is another spectacle ad, brilliantly conceived and rendered. If anything, its entertainment value and ‘creativity’ is greater than the Bravia ads and presumably cost nothing like as much to make.

But the big Gorilla debate is, does it sell Cadbury's Dairy Milk? Is the purple at the beginning and the end enough to trigger POS impulse? Is the idea of ‘pure joy’ close enough to eating chocolate or is it loose thinking?

And with any piece of originality and creative output, how to follow a stunning debut?

Narrator: Our gorilla continues drumming to the classic track, In the Air Tonight. We notice his intense concentration and we can tell he is building to an impressive crescendo. Then the gorilla thrashes out one last, amazing drumroll, kicking over one of the drums on the final beat. Then the camera pulls back and to our surprise we see the gorilla pull at his neck and tear off his gorilla head mask, to reveal none other than a sweaty and smiling Phil Collins, for it was he!
Super : Fade to black. Fade in, Pure Joy.

Comments

[James Cherkoff]

There is no doubt that strategy matters. It must do because it's only there to answer the question : what shall we do? However, as the environment changes so must the questions strategy tries to answer. If there are restrictions on flexibility, because of the need to remain wedded to specific types of media, strategy can become irrelevant by focusing on ever decreasing circles. For example, what's best - monkeys or balls?

[Ciaran McCabe]

"Back then, Lowe Howard-Spink rewrote history ..."
I'm afraid it's the Art of Conversation rewriting history. "Refreshes the parts ..." originated at CDP not Lowe Howard-Spink.

[Kevin]

Ciaran, begging your pardon, I meant to say CDP, not LH-S - shall amend pronto. Even wrote a paper on the subject in ('Hit or myth? The truth about that Heineken ad campaign') By implication you accept the rest of the story?

[Kevin]

James, I am glad you think strategy still matters - so do we! One of the reasons I think Bravia campaign is an example of good strategy, but Gorilla/CDM is not, is that the idea worked across different media/in different environments. I first noticed the 'Colour. Like no other' line in a shop window display, then realised what the TV ad I'd seen and enjoyed was for (duh).

I hope we are not contributing to any decreasing of circles/lowering of relevance of strategy, but helping strategy to soar.

[Mark McGuinness]

So if a monkey with a typewriter produces Shakespeare, and a monkey with a drumkit produces Phil Collins, just think what it could do with a camera...

[James Cherkoff]

Ah of course, you chaps always soar! ;-)However, it is just plain wrong to confuse creative marketing strategy with promotional executions.

[Sir Percy Blakeney]

‘ ...Ok, chaps, let’s debate whether or not the ad strategy is dead or not based on two reference points, namely Gorilla and Balls ..’

Arse ..!

Both are a return to the basics of comms ... They’ve taken the most powerful and important need in the category and swiped it away from the other buggers (who, hilariously, probably have better, more colourful/ joyful products - don’t you just hate good marketing?)

i) Balls = Exceptional colour (explicit)

ii) Gorilla = Unparalleled joy (implicit, though there’s a clue or two in the opening frames)

Not rocket science strategically but annoyingly, what Fallon have done is break the bank creatively .. and in an age when creativity is so admired, this sorts out the men from the navel gazers ... there’s no slice of life ‘isn’t life great when you use (insert brand name here)’ anywhere to be seen ...

Hats off to Fallon, a kick in the nuts to everyone else who doesn’t seem to get it

[Simon]

Indeed, well done Fallon.

I am wondering what (or what can) Fallon do next to build on this?

I just feel a cracking piece of creative could keep a brand going for longer than say average creative + average strategy; but how much longer can a cracking piece of strategy (+ averagely decent creative) keep a brand alive for when compared to a one off piece of outstanding creative with no obvious strategic direction?

Of course, a combination of great creativity and great strategy ticks both boxes.

I keep on thinking of Honda's "The Power of Dreams".

[hidden persuader]

Juan Cabral, the Argentinian CD of Fallon an done of the minds behind Bravia and the Cadbury' ads sums it up quite well on Esquire: “I think of the people when they're on their sofas watching the telly. I want to do it in a way that's fair - I'm selling you this, but in exchange I'll give you this minute of colour and hypnotising music”.

[kevni]

A good point, Hidden, ie let me entertain you in return for you entertaining the idea of buying this product.

Not sure I'd file Phil Collins' music under 'hypnotic' - but another interesting angle is, does advtg as entertainment always or usually work 'under the radar' ie at some subconscious level?