A short course on getting off course.

The hardest thing about growing old in a young-person's world is that when you look at that world, you're never quite sure if you're going crazy or the world is.

More and more of what I see and hear online, in articles, in posts, in commentary, from pod-casts, seems to me as alien as Alpha-Centauri. Most people seem to be living in a reality that has no foundation in my reality.

For instance, I hear about brand conversations. But I've never actually had one. 

"Honey, you know what's funny about Saran Wrap?"

"No, dear, tell me."

In fact, more and more of the advertising I do see seems more and more delusional.

This ad below is probably four decades old. It was never great. Not really attention-getting. But at the very least it made a promise to the viewer. It was grounded in facts and consumer needs. I'm not saying this isn't drivel, but at least it's purposeful drivel.

Just yesterday, this ad was pixelling through my social ether. I assume like everything today, from a five-million-dollar manifesto to a symphony of staccato flatulence, it had to go through seventeen-rounds of review in order to get approved.

It seems to me that more and more ads are like the one above. Devoid of promise. Devoid of humanity (humanity does not mean showing a picture of a person. It means relating to a person via something they care about.) Completely lacking in understanding of the product. And with zero truth.

If you're reading this and you work for the agency that created this work, or if you work for the client, I'd love for you to tell me why this ad is good. Why you spent time and money on it. Why was it produced? I'll give you all the space and time you want and need to state your case. Have at it.

To my glazed-over eyes, more and more marketing conversations are about putting the digital mechanisms of commerce in front of people, but there's less and less attention paid to giving people reasons why they should buy.

Digital transformation seems to be all about the HOW of commerce. Yet, we seem to have ignored, destroyed or neglected the WHY of selling. 

It seems our industry's mantra has become "Clickito ergo sum." I click, therefore I am. Very little thought seems to be given to why people act, what they need, what they want, and what makes a product worthwhile, if not superior.

It's hard for me, further, to favorably compare the vapid-celebrity bullshit of this 461-second "film" with any of 100 old Porsche ads done by Chiat, Fallon or Carmichael-Lynch in years gone by.

Whoever is responsible for this monstrosity, whether on the agency side, the client-side or the production side, clearly has no true understanding of Porsche. Again, if you're reading this and you work for the agency that created this work, or if you work for the client, I'd love for you to tell me why this ad is good. Why you spent time and money on it. Why was it produced? I'll give you all the space and time you want and need to state your case. Have at it.

Whereas these ads seem constructed by people who cared, had passion, might have coveted the product, talked to engineers, read a history or maybe even visited the factory.

Today's au courant adverbabble is that no one cares, no one reads, no one has an attention span. Yet, somehow, all that bullshit disappears when an almost eight-minute mindless movie is made.

Chef's don't go into their kitchens saying no one cares if the food is good. Pilots don't start every flight saying no one cares if I bounce the plane about and crash-land. Doctors don't perform surgery saying no one cares if I remove something extra or leave a sponge behind.

Our job as PROFESSIONALS is to make work good enough so that people care. 

Our job is to create something good and true and warm and human and different and funny so that people care. That's how work becomes "part of culture." That's how it becomes "part of the conversation." That's how it helps businesses sell more and succeed. 

We have ratiocinated our way out of this simple logic simply because doing our jobs well is...hard. 

It's hard to set up an agency that streamlines processes so work is about work and not about fiefdoms and metaphorical dick-size. It's hard for client organizations to rationalize assistant brand managers, junior brand managers, brand managers, senior brand managers, associate marketing managers, chief marketing officers and chief commercial officers and more if each one doesn't spray a little pee on the work to make it theirs. And to make it suck. 

It's hard to say to a client the best words an agency can say if they're bent on "protecting the work." Approve. Disapprove. But don't try to improve. It's hard to try day after day against the rising tide and embrace of mediocrity.

Usually, I try to lighten the mood in my Friday posts. I try, if I can, to reach for something funny or to poke fun at something ludicrous.

But the industry's own denigration of our industry has gotten me down. As have the ads below. 

This is a really simple business.

We like brands that act like people we like.

We like brands that are honest.

We like brands that understand our issues.

We like brands that speak to us as equals.

We like brands that don't condescend.

We like brands that don't bullshit us.

We like brands that don't holler.

We like brands that don't tell us how great they are.

We like brands that are honest and admit when they fuck up.

We like brands that tell the truth.

We like brands that help us.

We like brands that listen.

We like brands that are funny.

We like brands that are reliable.

We like brands that are consistent.

I gotta go.

My eye appliances are fogging over.
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By the way,

spend a couple of guffaws here.