Reset the Debt – Global Economist agrees with Batley lad.

A few months ago now, I came up with a rather radical idea to get us out of this financial pickle we’ve found ourselves in.

That idea was catchily called: Reset the Debt.

(I know, I know, I should get paid for this sort of stuff.)

Anyways, it wasn’t just a catchy slogan, the idea was to reset everybody’s debts to zero so we can start spending again. Yippee!

A bit like winding back the milometer on your car. Not that I’ve ever done that, you understand.

I posted it on TED and got pilloried for it as being economically naive. I might not be a global economist, but I am in the business of coming up with ideas to solve business problems.

And most radical ideas can be a bit frightening.

Well now, (he says, blowing onto his fingernails and polishing them on his lapel), Steve Keen is a global economist, and he’s advocating exactly the same thing.

Basically, the reason people aren’t spending is because they’re paying off their debts.

The government is giving money to the banks who aren’t passing it on to their customers. Presumably because they don’t want oiks like us getting into even more debt. They’d rather give it to their employees in the form of big fat tax free bonuses.

Mr Keen’s point is: Get the government to invest the money by paying off its citizens’ debts to kick-start the economy. [Obviously measures would have to be put in place to prevent people from getting back into debt and living within their means.]

The economy won’t grow if people don’t buy anything.

Otherwise, Mr Keen argues, the way the government is handling the Great Depression at the moment, it could take us 20 years to get out of it.

Who’d a thunk it? A Batley lad solving the world’s economic crisis.

Reset the Debt. I can see the placards now!

Hang on a sec. Just let me stick one of them © thingys on it.

Reset the Debt!©

Economist Steve Keen on Hardtalk.

I’ve decided to set up an e-petition to garner some support for this idea. I need 100k signatures to get the Govt to discuss it in the House of Commons. If you think it’s an idea worthy of discussion, please add your name and share to as many people as possible.

https://www.petitionbuzz.com/petitions/resetthedebt

Me, the thief.

Where do you get your ideas from?

I get asked this all the time in my job.

I usually reply that the ideas come from the information I am supplied with to do the job.

All you have to do is jizz it up a bit in your creative cocktail shaker and see what comes out.

Sometimes it tastes like piss.

Other times it tastes like a Mojito mixed by Mr Hemingway himself.

But there are a few other ingredients that go into the creative cocktail shaker that aren’t in the brief.

These are taken from all the stuff you soak up in your daily life: art; literature; music; ads; news; gossip; film; blogs; tabloids; soaps; comedy, et cetera, et cetera.

What turns your cocktail from being piss into ambrosia is what bits of your own inspiration you put in there.

I came across this quote on the Gutenberg Press II:

I read something similar by Picasso a few years back. But in the spirit of the quote – he probably pinched it from someone else in the first place.

Here are a few bits of graffiti that you may have seen before, but what I like about these are how they integrate their art with the environment, rather than the environment being purely a canvas.

Whilst out for a saunter with my two girls, the eldest, who’s 5, said: Daddy! That looks like a cup!

This is what she was looking at…

Kids get it.

It’s adults who unlearn it.

Inspiration lurks everywhere, if you want to be inspired.

Durex Ad

Okay, so I’m juvenile. But you’ve got to admit, it is funny.

9/11 remembered

Simply beautiful.

Stop! I have important news.

There are 3 basic types of visual communications:

A. Those we have to consume.

B. Those we choose to consume.

C. Those we are coerced into consuming.

A. Those that we have to consume include: traffic signals, warnings, emergency services etc. We are legally obliged to follow their instruction. They tend to be symbolic in nature. Quick and to the point. No faffing about.

Usually the consumer of the message doesn’t have time for fancy wordplay and imagery. Nor is it needed. You don’t have to coerce someone if the alternatively is a hefty fine or a few weeks in the pokey.

B. The second type of communications are those that we choose to consume such as books, films, tv, music, internet, etc.

You may say movies advertise (coerce) using posters and TVCs, but they don’t usually go beyond the actual content of what you will be viewing. So, in essence, it’s still a personal choice as the content in each case will be unique.

In a sub-category to this are newspapers and magazines.
What people choose – The Sun or The Guardian usually depends on personal taste, moral and ethical viewpoint and social class. There is a large element of coercion with these types of media as they are usually competing against similar products. As you will see with publications like Hello, OK, Grazia etc. Or The Sun, The Star and The Mirror.

C. The third type of communications are those that the consumer is coerced into consuming, such as advertising. We interrupt what people choose to consume with our sales messages. People think they are making a choice but if we used only the methods described in Type A, that would be monologue. (You see this method used more in retail advertising.)

If we only use Type B then you have purely content – no differentiation. (Most brands aren’t in the privileged position of being unique.)

So we have to opt for a different method which may incorporate elements of Types A and B. But alone they aren’t enough. A lot of brands products and services can’t differentiate from their competitors.

This is where creative strategic planning comes into play. Finding that unique insight that blends brand truth with consumer necessity.

Learn from what people choose to consume. Learn from what people have to consume. Learn about your brand. Learn about the market. But most importantly, learn how to make your client’s brand as important to them as their favourite book, movie or friend.

Then make it fit tighter than a sado-masochist’s jim-jams.

What’s the Big Idea?

I was freelancing for an agency a while ago on a big presentation they were having for one of their existing clients. The account handling team, along with the planners, were very keen to stress that what they were looking for was a ‘Big Idea’.

Nothing wrong with that. I hear it a lot.

So I had a peruse of the brief and there was a problem.

The client already had a Big Idea.

This presentation was on a B2B segment of the client’s business and had to sit alongside all their other comms that were being done by a variety of other roster agencies.

Again, nothing unusual about that.

I pointed out that what they needed was not a Big Idea but some very, very good iterations of the existing client strategy.

They disagreed.

They were a bit nervous that the client was getting itchy feet.

I then pointed out that if we created a new Big Idea that this would either a) replace the existing Big Idea, (which I doubt the client would like), or b) add another layer on top of their existing Big Idea.

So they would, in fact, have a Big, Big Idea.

So they pondered a little on what I’d said.

And what they meant by a ‘Big Idea’ was some really, really big ideas that sit within the client’s existing strategy.

You mean ads?

No.

Okay, I’d best get cracking.

Sometimes, it is only when you put something down on paper that it focuses the mind. Particularly the minds of those who are briefing you.

So, in summary…

Often, when people say they want a Big Idea, what they really mean is: Can I have a really good/great/excellent/fantastic/genius execution of the strategy.

Not a new creative strategy.

Because that’s what a Big Idea is – a new creative strategy:

Probably the best lager in the world.
If only everything in life…
Just do it.
Colour like no other.

I could go on.

P.S. Can you name the brands that the above straplines go with.

How Art can Save the World

Okay, let’s go back in time a while.

No, even before Sky +. I’m talking about waaaay back, before we paltry humans ever even had like proper words to talk with.

Before language, before literacy, before art, before music, before KFC, before farming, before religion, before the bronze age, before the stone age, before politics, before war, before society.

Now that’s a long time ago. That’s nearly as long ago as Leeds United last won a trophy.

I’m talking about when a bloke in a cave was trying to tell his mate that there was this big mother-fucker-mammoth down by the base of the volcano that would feed the tribe for a year – if they had a refrigerator. It’s like a scene from an early episode of Give us a clue. Except he can’t. Because language hasn’t been invented yet.

So, in frustration, the caveman, let’s call him Herb, picks up a charcoal ember from the fire and starts trying to draw what he’s seen on the cave wall. His mate, let’s call him Frank, has a bemused look on his face as if to say: You can’t draw for shit. Except he doesn’t because he can’t talk.

Eventually, after a bit of practice, Herb’s pictograms start taking shape. Suddenly, the penny drops, (except currency hasn’t been invented yet), and Frank mimics what he perceives to be a mammoth down by the volcano. Herb excitedly points one index finger at him whilst simultaneously placing his other index finger on the tip of his nose.

And thus, Art was created. (And Game Shows.)

And lo, the tribe was fed.

And while sitting around the camp fire gnawing on a mammoth hoof, Frank gesticulates that Herb’s mammoth looked more like his missus than a mammoth.

And there begineth the bar-room brawl.

Now, what better way to finish off a good feed than a bit of a knees-up. So Herb picks up a couple of sticks and starts tapping out a beat on a hollowed out log. Frank and his missus, let’s call her Marjorie, start tapping their feet and before you know it they’re cutting a jig around the fire almost setting light to Marge’s sabre-tooth tiger print frock.

And lo, music was created.

And the tribe was happy.

So, maybe it was a wet day in caveman land and all the paints were a bit soggy. Or maybe there weren’t any cave walls to paint on. Or maybe there was just too much to say for one picture. But at some stage, somebody somewhere decided that ‘ug’ meant mammoth. And ‘og’ meant dinner. Then Marge said something along the lines of: ug, og, ag, pig, bag, nog, bok, jim-jams, flim-flam, muktub, jimmy choo, pak choi, bic, ram, mo jo.

Thus, language was born. And men became hen-pecked.

And we could communicate with each other. Then came writing so we could pass on information to people we couldn’t speak to – either people faraway or people in the future.

This meandering post is about creativity. And humankind’s ability to ingeniously invent and create things to make our lives better.

Now, to my point:

The first thing western governments cut in a recession is the arts. But it is the arts, in their broadest form: language, music, literature, poetry, art etc, that have shaped all the world’s civilizations.

Without the arts, we don’t have culture. And without culture, we don’t have society. Without society we don’t have civilization and without civilisation we have anarchy.

The UK government is slashing budgets left right and centre, with anything remotely to do with the arts top of the list. With all these austerity measures citizen’s wills are bending to breaking point. And it is only going to get worse. We’ve already seen students rioting. It doesn’t take a genius to work out where this is all heading.

Maybe investing in areas that nurture our more creative and innovative sides might get us all through this economic depression into an era that shows just how ingenious and resourceful we are.

Okay, so money-where-my-mouth-is time.

Here are a couple of suggestions for ideas that could change the way we live and learn.

First up:

Vote in the wall.

This is an idea I had a while ago about how to encourage a bigger turn out in elections. Basically to hi-jack cash machines on polling day.

It would result in more people voting, which would, if had been around at the last election, have resulted in a different government. Which, let’s be fair, would be better for everyone who’s not involved with banking.

Second:

Zero Debt.

Reset all the world’s bank balances to zero and start again.
What about all the people who are actually owed money! I hear you cry.
Well, maybe the banks should suffer a little bit too. If they can make billions in profits so soon after the recession, I’m sure it wouldn’t take them too long to make their money back.

Third.

Book Depositories.

Now that the ConDems are closing all our libraries (apologies to anyone outside the UK who this doesn’t apply to), how about we turn libraries into Book Depositories?

Where rich, poor, middle class can drop off their ‘used’ books so that others might benefit.

You could even have a tie-in with books shops. ‘Drop-off’ bins instore where books can be collected then redistributed to libraries/depsoitories. What’s in it for the book shop? Well, you’ve got a customer in your shop who’s already predisposed to buying books.

I was fortunate enough to live, literally across-the-road from a small library. I used to take my kids to it all the time. It wasn’t anything to do with not being able to afford books. It was a great experience for them.

There were computers for people who didn’t have the internet. There were bridge clubs, scrabble clubs, god, they even had books!

Now it’s closing down.

This wasn’t just a library. It was a community centre.

So… Council owned, and run, Book Depositories where the council doesn’t have to pay a penny for the stock on its shelves.

There you are now,

Ideas change the world. People have ideas.

Let’s put our noodles together and creatively figure a way out of this mess.

We owe it to Herb, Frank and Marjorie. Oh, and Miriam, who’s Herb’s partner, but is a bit shy.

The Horror…

…imagine mine, when my five year old daughter proclaimed over breakfast: “Daddy, there was a lady on the telly in a pink top who can get stains out of your clothes.” (Verbatim.)

After my wife had performed the Heimlich manoeuvre on me to remove a Honey nut cluster from my oesophagus, I proceeded to extol the virtues of creativity in advertising over bludgeoning the target audience with a media budget the size of an eastern European country’s GDP.

How ‘completing the circle’ and ‘smile in the mind’ are more effective at opening a dialogue with consumers rather than a raucous monologue.

To which my daughter asked: “What’s ‘the mind’?”

“Don’t they teach you anything in school these days?” I retorted.

“No, we just play,” she said.

What was it Fallon said? Outsmart versus Outspend.

Obviously, if you have more money than sense, you can achieve successful results by repeatedly punching the consumer in the face with your monotonous message until they lie prostrate in a pool of their own blood which even Vanish Oxi action couldn’t remove.

But that is a war of attrition. Not a crack commando outfit enlisted to achieve the same results with a fraction of the resources.

I’m sure there are a multitude of agencies willing to take Reckitt Benckiser’s millions to let them do exactly as they demand. Fortunately though, there are also a multitude of agencies who wouldn’t.

I’m sure a few of you out there will cry – oh, but she remembered it, so it must work!

First of all, she’s five. Last I checked, she wasn’t doing the weekly shopping. Second, she didn’t recall the brand. Third, pink’s her favourite colour. Fourth… she’s five!

Is their advertising effective? Yes.
Is it good? No.
Do I think they could have both good, and effective, advertising? Without a shadow of a doubt.

The problem is – do they want it?

ADDENDUM

Suffice it to say, my daughter has since had all her television privileges rescinded and will henceforth, (when the privileges are reinstated), only be allowed to watch CBBC.

Mila’s Daydreams

I think these are brilliant.

Maybe it’s because I’m a dad.

Or maybe it’s because I’m in advertising and I can see how they would make fantastic ads for something like Drynights or some sleep inducing lavender drops, or a kiddie friendly fabric conditioner.

I actually approached Adele Enerson, the person who created Mila’s Daydreams, about whether she’d been approached by any ad agencies or potential clients about using them in an ad campaign, and she’s actually in advertising herself. Apparently she’s inundated with requests, but doesn’t want to use her child (fair enough) in an ad campaign. And whilst she’s flattered by the attention, wants to keep it as a hobby.

I have no doubt it will be ripped off by someone. Soon.

The only shame about that, is that she won’t be paid handsomely for it. Unless, of course, she sues the arse of them.

Brilliant work. Very original. Cross of Iron me thinks.

Cannes Cyber Lions

With all this hullaballoo about digital and the like it was interesting to see that the two Grand Prix winners in the recent Cannes Lions festival were conceived and produced by ‘traditional’ ad agencies with digital divisions. DDB Stockholm for VW’s ‘The Fun Theory.’ And W+K’s work for ESPN. In my experience of working in agencies with similar structures, the idea is conceived by the ad teams then produced in the digital dept. Obviously, with help and guidance from the digital team about what can and cannot be achieved. But in much the same way a team would go about producing a TVC. (i.e. They don’t actually make the film themselves.) Goes back to the argument of working in ‘harmony’ rather than isolation.

I think both these pieces also merit the coveted Cross of Iron award. I know, I know, it’s hard to tell which one will take pride of place on the shelf in the office, but all I can say is, there are only 3 Cross of Iron awards in existence.