Why is modern advertising so bland?

Why is modern advertising so bland?

A lot of people are asking themselves this, and many experienced ad people are blaming DEI, or the need to be “safe” and not offend, but that doesn't explain abrasive brand voices like Tampax on Twitter or the skyrocketing career of Radioshack's new CMO, Ábel Czupor, who is on Forbes' 30 under 30 list. I'll temporarily ignore that Forbes is all pay-to-play at the moment. We confuse new with innovation and chase trends.

I saw today that Dave Trott tweeted about the ingenious Maxell campaign from decades ago, and I suddenly understood why modern advertising is so,… well, shit. (1 & 2 at adland)

That concept was so good. I saw the ad literally once during a lecture at school in London, and I have sung along wrong to that song – which happened to be one of my favorites – ever since. It stuck. So hard.

So what was the strategy and planning and click statistics that lead to this genius insight? The research that had been done was probably handed to the creatives together with the one-page brief (remember those?) simply that Maxell tapes last for longer plays and records better than BASF and other competitors. I'm sure that research was dry as hell.

Back then people had the space to tell a story. This ad is like a skit.
You watch it and wonder where it's going with all of these signs quoting the lyrics wrong. You pay attention because you are curious as to where it is going. The rug pull is the actual tagline and unique selling proposition. It's a home run.

Why is modern advertising so bland?
Bob Dylan in the video for “Subterranean Homesick Blues.”

Bob Dylan dropped signs first in his music video, and INXS paid homage to it in their video for “Mediate” in 1987. That creative angle was inspired by musicians. Hearing the lyrics wrong was inspired by music itself – there have been countless websites, youtube videos, and tumblrs, and now tweet accounts that solely talk
about misheard lyrics. “Excuse me while I kiss this guy”, “We built this city on sausage rolls”, and “We don’t need no sex vacation.” Hang on, I would like one of those.

So the concept borrowed a bit here, and a little from there, but it didn't copy, and it didn't rely on someone else's fame. It cooked up the output from the input observed, which is what artists have done since the dawn of time. We watch today as influencers are hailed as full-fledged advertising agency creative departments, editors, and media agencies, because they have a lot of followers on TikTok, and we far too often see that advertisers would rather have their message funneled through a celeb than create something original. Even when the TikTok celeb is incredibly offensive to the target market. The Super Bowl ads have been the height of “starfucking” ads for decades now, and are terrible because of their reliance on that, and online advertising seems stuck in the phase of either paying influencers or throwing bizarre clickbaity ads at you.

There is never a story. There are no ideas. There is no voice. All in the hopes that “this will cut through” the doomscrolling that consumers online are stuck in. Copywriters are now writing in someone else's “voice”, instead of the brand voice. E-celebs are media platforms.

Why is modern advertising so bland?
…loading….

But, it's clearly not just consumers who are stuck in this doomscrolling mindset, acting like the most poorly scripted NPC in any given video game. The people who used to be celebrated in advertising, the difficult, the different, the ones who “would not play a game of football because the grass wasn't the right color green” (Paul Arden), the obsessed (Paul Rand). The people who relentlessly experimented and threatened suicide in order to sell a Matzo poster (George Lois), the professional melancholics (Roy Andersson*), and those who passionately sold their clients wares from the boot of a car (Dan Weiden) are all gone now. Who will replace them? The navelgazing guy who tweets for RGA? Seriously?

If we keep this up, we will all be replaced by ChatGPT, Wall-E and Watson – which creatives all over Twitter are eagerly helping along as they tweet their “best” interactions with said Chatgpt to the world, ignoring that they are assisting in the programming of it.

Social media ads are increasingly generated by scripts. Their media targets as well. We are no longer necessary for a brand to launch. Our only hope is their failure because the program is only as smart as the programmer. Either way, they will always lack what we have. Gut instinct. Human insights. And actual creativity.

———-

* don't worry, despite how that is phrased, Roy is alive and well, born in 1943 he is 79 years old and reportedly is still seen walking around the neighborhood of Östermalm, Stockholm where his studio was.

To see ad people going against the DEI check out my adland® which allows anyone, and has allowed anyone that is a registered member, to step on the soap box and use that public microphone that I built since 1996. Before youtube, Medium, and substack. ?

Why is modern advertising so bland?
We have been demoted

No eggshells anymore – Jaguar backlash is steam being let off.

No eggshells anymore - Jaguar backlash is steam being let off.

After Trump won the election, Justine Bateman tweeted “Decompressing from walking on eggshells for the past four years.”

As if the world just let out a big collective sigh, having to hide their likes, control their comments and bite their tongue for four years for fear of the opinion police. The opinion police who would begin by blocking you, and in many cases try to cut you out of the industry completely.

Then came the Jaguar ad. The advertising industry went wild tearing down a Jaguar ad with disdain in the comments about the ad being “gender-bending woke LGBTQ” with the fervor of the strictest conservatives you might find, and I find myself just as perplexed now as I was when the ad industry adored “gender-bending woke LGBTQ” ads and installed special LGBTQ+ ambassadors at every agency. The industry was so sold on gender-bending as a quick fix for garnering new awards that questioning it would get you written up in Shots for being a “bad feminist”, that is, the kind that centers women. I know, it's fascinating that there actually is any other kind.

No eggshells anymore - Jaguar backlash is steam being let off.
Rick Owens fashion week looks.

I'm partially confused because there is no gender-bending actually going on in this advert. There are androgynous models, like dancer Anna Engerström, and there is Rick Owens bought on TEMU style fashion in the latest Pantone palette. All women are in skirts and all men are in pants, albeit silly looking versions. Models walk around looking model-ly, in a pink desert landscape, teasing a new Jaguar look which will include a new logo and a new car. It's very “high fashion” in a way that isn't revolutionary in advertising at all. In fact my immediate thought was that it looked like a blend of 80s Benetton ads and 1960s Smirnoff ads.

The backlash was so catty and loud, it seemed to me this was a big exhale from walking on eggshells in the creative industry too. It takes a long time to create a new design, a brand campaign, and launch it. This ad is like a disco-album released two weeks after Disco Demolition Night in 1979. So hopelessly passé with it's multicolored group of fashionistas.

Now everyone is mocking it, including small content agencies, and brands on social media.

@wearetribera Paste everything. @Jaguar #jaguar #jaguarrebrand #agencylife #advertising #birminghamagency #marketingagency #officelife ? original sound – Tribera

Even the Guardian, the “wokest” of all papers, hated this rebrand, calling it a tired mess.

…two weeks post a Donald Trump election victory, and amid the undeniable sense that there has been a vibe-shift on the era of woke capitalism that has perplexed and delighted consumers for the past few years, in distinctly unequal measure. 

The designer of the logo noted the “post Trump” correlation in a hilariously well-timed quip on X.

People were quick to point out that “copy nothing” still copied something,

No eggshells anymore - Jaguar backlash is steam being let off.

Australian advertising legend Ron Mather weighed in with a suggestion the creators leave advertising all together in Campaign Brief.

No eggshells anymore - Jaguar backlash is steam being let off.
Don't hold back, Ron.

How did it all come to this?

It starts with activism, but it really kicks off with awards. Ad agencies and creatives need awards as a way of proving that they know what they are doing. Award shows need new categories to fleece more money out of the industry, so they invent new awards to 'encourage' certain types of work – and these new award categories are headed up by the activists. For example, the “glass lion” recognises creative work that addresses inequality and prejudice. The Channel 4 Diversity In Advertising Award offers an annual £1 million airtime prize which is a tempting prize for a smaller brand, but it is still big brands like Starbucks and E45 body lotion who win. Once awards have been established, agencies can begin pro-bono work for causes that clearly tick those boxes, like Grey did with Gay Times.

And this is where it gets really interesting, advertising agencies and brands have been in bed with publications and media for a long time. A decade plus ago Buzzfeed fleeced agencies to make “top ten lists” that nobody looked at, as a way to support the fledging publication, they toured agencies to explain what a great idea this was and how it was just a tiny crumble of media budget anyway. This gave the media a bit of editorial power on creative – and that's where the trouble began for Jaguar.

Santino Pietrosanti from Jaguar, spoke at the Attitude Awards 2024. The award was also sponsored by Jaguar.



0:00

/0:34



Attitude is the UK and Europe's biggest-selling LGBTQ magazine. It's no coincidence that Virgin Atlantic is the other big sponsor – remember their ads and new gender non-conforming uniforms?

Darren Styles bought Attitude in 2016, and discussed coming out as gay with Bentley’s BeProud LGBTQ network. Yep, every workplace has a rainbow colored network now, which means that every brand has one, and every ad agency too. Bentley is as unexpected as Jaguar, which is to say not at all. If you wander Linkedin you'll find hundreds of people that sell consulting services specifically on how to make a workplace more inclusive to LGBTQ+MAP, though they don't say the last part of the letter chain out loud. A few years ago you could barely open a Campaign without seeing some famous ad personality claim a new identity as gay, queer or bisexual – even those who were happily married in a heterosexual marriage for decades came out because they couldn't be left behind in the boring bin of straight people.

No eggshells anymore - Jaguar backlash is steam being let off.
Would you drive this Bentley?

By 2022 all things not rainbow colored was old scruff and Jaguar happily declared to PR week that the brand has now swapped “reach” for “the right audience”.

In some ways it makes sense, who can afford a really expensive fashionable Jaguar? Someone who works at a high paying job in art, fashion or creative fields who probably isn't spending it on kids. There are a lot of gay men in such positions.

Jaguar buddying up with Attitude magazine and creating ads specifically for their readership even won them accolades as Kantar and Marketingweek announced this ‘Live Loud’ printad ranked among the top UK ads of all time. See how this begins to feed into itself when the magazine and brand pay the market researcher to see how well an ad did in their magazine…?

No eggshells anymore - Jaguar backlash is steam being let off.

Attitude Magazine also named Dylan Mulvaney “woman of the year” – there are no coincidences here. Yes, the Dylan who sunk the Bud Light brand.

No eggshells anymore - Jaguar backlash is steam being let off.

On December 2nd, Jaguar will be showcasing their new EV which nobody can buy until 2026, at the Miami Art Fest. A blue and a pink Jaguar will be fully revealed in a pink showroom. My my, for a rainbow gender-bendy concept car they sure like traditional masculine/feminine coded colors.

The pushback is partly because this concept is tired, the design is ugly, and none of it is really new or mould-breaking at all. The pushback is precisely because this is the mould we've been forced into for over a decade in advertising, and we're fed up with it.

No eggshells anymore - Jaguar backlash is steam being let off.
No eggshells anymore - Jaguar backlash is steam being let off.

‘Setting Up A Cottage Industry:’ California’s Delete Act Raises Concerns Over Motivations

California’s hotly debated Delete Act (SB 362), if passed, could upend the ad-tech data broker market. The proposal appears to be moving quickly, coming in less than a year after the Consumer Privacy Rights Act (CPRA) went into effect in January. And, since it’s a legal matter about privacy, you can bet there are a…

Google’s New GenAI Marketing Tools Speed Up Campaign Planning and Buying

At the annual Google Cloud Next conference in San Francisco, the tech giant announced a generative artificial intelligence-powered marketing solution that aims to speed up the time it takes for marketers to build and serve marketing campaigns. Google is collaborating with GenAI platform Typeface and customer data platform GrowthLoop to introduce the GenAI Marketing Solution…

Early Numbers Show How GenAI Can Reduce Agencies’ Carbon Footprint

In May this year, WPP partnered with chipmaker Nvidia to create ads using generative artificial intelligence. Now, numbers are emerging on how environmentally beneficial AI is for campaign creation. The agency’s transition to AI-powered content production could save up to 93% of its carbon footprint compared to that of traditional production, according to the agency….

What the Next Short-Form App Will Have to Do to Match Twitter’s Star Power

Text-based social media appears to be back in the Wild West. With X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, inching toward obscurity and a number of contenders stepping onto the field, we’ve been left with more questions than answers. Apps like Threads, Bluesky, Truth Social, Mastodon and Spill are all picking up users, and people…

Shipt and Issa Rae Champion Underrepresented Voices With an Ad Created by Interns 

For Howard University students Serenity Owens, Avery Harrell, Gavin Kelley and Kayla Collins, a summer internship with the marketing team at Shipt proved not only to be invaluable on-the-job training. It was also a back-to-school flex to say they created a national commercial with the help of Issa Rae. The Target-owned delivery service enlisted the…

Jameela Jamil Isn’t Perfect, So She’s Giving Grace to ‘Problematic’ Brands

Trigger Warning: This article contains references to eating disorders In 2018, Jameela Jamil opened Instagram and clicked the “search” icon button. It led her to the “Discovery” tab, where up popped an image carousel showcasing famous women with numbers written across their body. The figures detailed each woman’s weight and measurements. After interacting with that…

Shutterstock Outlines Its Vision for Giphy’s Potential Ad Offer

The launch of Giphy’s native advertising platform, set to be revealed at the end of this year, will be worth hundreds of millions of dollars, proclaimed its new owner Shutterstock’s chief executive Paul Hennessy during the company’s most recent quarterly earnings call. Shutterstock acquired Giphy from Meta in May in a cut-price deal of $53…

Ad Industry Hasn’t Shaken off the Economic Slump, but Green Shoots Are Sprouting

This summer has given the ad industry several reasons to be cheerful. Not only is “out of office” season well underway, but after a cloudy start to 2023, the market’s outlook is slightly sunnier, too. The ad revenues of major tech platforms, responsible for driving a downward trend in previous quarters, are sprouting green shoots….

How The Guardian US Fetched Ad Revenue Hike of 42% Despite Broader Downturn

The U.S. outpost of the general news publisher The Guardian finished the first quarter of its fiscal year, which ended June 30, with advertising revenues up 42% year over year, according to senior vice president of advertising Luis Romero. The hikes buck common trends most publishers are seeing. The publisher wouldn’t share financial specifics, but…

Behind the Scenes of the Technicolor Fiat Ad That Broke Every Rule in the Book

At the end of June, Olivier Francois, the CEO of Italian car brand Fiat made a bold declaration: “Fiat will no longer produce gray cars.” It was a brave statement, given the shade’s popularity among drivers in Europe. However, it was made even braver because Francois made the rallying cry sitting inside a Fiat 600…

Why This Sportswear Brand Turned Andy Murray’s Hip X-Ray Into A Billboard

Since its 2016 launch, premium sportswear brand Castore has built its name through partnerships with teams and athletes. Deals with England Cricket, Tennis star (as well its own investor) Andy Murray and the Oracle Red Bull racing crew have helped the business reach a billion that’s teetering on $1 billion. Now the British-founded business has…

Unilever Says the ‘Jury Is Out’ on Generative AI, For Now

With 400 brands to sell across 190 countries to millions of consumers, Unilever certainly recognizes the potential generative AI tools such as ChatGPT or Dall-E could play in helping it produce ads that shift products at scale. At any given time, the Ben & Jerry’s owner has around 300 applications of AI supporting its supply…

The Ad Industry Has Made Little to No Progress on Workplace Inclusion Since 2021

The advertising industry has failed to make any tangible progress since 2021 in building workplaces that are diverse, equitable and inclusive according to the World Federation of Advertisers’ (WFA) Global DEI Census. Following on from the marketing body’s inaugural 2021 study, the 2023 report interviewed 13,000 marketers from 160 brands and agencies across 91 countries…

How Apple Built a Brand That Has Risen Above All Others

With a market cap of $2.89 trillion, Apple remains the world’s most valuable company. It should come as no surprise, then, that the device, technology, entertainment and services behemoth is also a brand darling. For the second year in a row, Apple has topped Kantar’s BrandZ Global Rankings with a valuation of $880 billion. Apple’s…

Top 100 Global Brands Declined in Value by 20% Since 2022

Despite turbulence brought on by an uncertain economy, Big Tech continues to lead the way in overall brand experience. Kantar’s annual BrandZ list, out today, sees Apple, Google, Microsoft and Amazon in the lead. For the second year in a row, Apple has claimed the No. 1 spot. The BrandZ list assesses brand value in…

Time Hires Mark Howard as Its New Chief Operating Officer, Ushering in ‘Time 3.0’

The general news publisher Time has hired media executive Mark Howard as its new chief operating officer, according to a memo shared by chief executive officer Jessica Sibley. Howard, who will relocate to New York for the position, begins Monday. In the role, Howard will oversee operations including print, digital, technology, consumer marketing, ecommerce, licensing,…

Global Ad Spend on the Rise, but Digital Growth Is Slowing

Advertising spend is expected to grow globally this year, with inflation driving it to $727.9 billion and $3 of every $5 going to digital channels over the next three years. However, according to Dentsu’s latest biannual global forecast, digital spend is likely to slow to single-digit growth in the future. Dentsu is predicting a 3.3%…

Long Averse to Advertising, Tesla Takes a U-Turn. Here’s Why It Matters

“Brand decides to advertise” might seem like an unusual headline, it’s one that’s taken over the business press following Tesla’s annual shareholder meeting in Austin, Texas. That’s because after two decades eschewing conventional advertising in favor of word of mouth, emails, incentivized referrals, and a front-facing founder and chief executive in Elon Musk, the brand…