Why the Mad Men are mad at us

Eric Reiss@elreiss

IA Summit30 March 2014

San Diego, USA

A politically incorrect review

Jacques Séguéla

“Don’t tell my mother I work inan advertising agency. She thinksI play piano in a whorehouse.”

Jacques Séguéla

Big Al’s Brothel(one flight up)

ad· ver· tiseverb

1 : inform, notify2 : to call public attention to esp. in order to sell

where the best cloth is woven to your desires,a whole gold coin is offered”

“For the return of my slave to the shop of Haputhe Weaver,

We can’t expect Don to understandhow we think

until we understandhow Don thinks

Three ways that guaranteewe lose our place at the table

Insisting we invented user research

Misunderstanding “concept”

Humiliating established art directors

A brief history of advertising

We all know thatJakob invented user testing...

1925

John Caples

1932 >

“Accept nothing as true aboutwhat works best in advertisinguntil it has been scientificallytested.”

John Caples1932

OK. But we really understand research...

1908

Claude Hopkins

1930 >

“Talk to the people who are goingto buy your product. This is thefirst step in any successful campaign”

Claude Hopkins1930

Well, B.J. taught us about trustbuilding ...

And Kristina taught us aboutthe value of content...

1960

1962 >1983 >

David Ogilvy

“What really decides consumersto buy or not to buy is the contentof your advertising, not its form.”

David Ogilvy1962

A few other advertising legends ...

Rosser Reeves

“Find the USP.”

Leo Burnett

“Find the drama.”

Bill Bernbach

“Tell the story”

Phyllis Robinson

“Tell the story”

Meet the Mattel See ’n Say

problem ?

Jeez, Eric, what’s the

Awareness

Interest

Desire

Action

AIDA

“The secret of all effective originalityin advertising is not the creation ofnew and tricky words and pictures,but one of putting familiar wordsand pictures into new relationships.”

“The secret of all effective originalityin advertising is not the creation ofnew and tricky words and pictures,but one of putting familiar words

“The secret of all effective originalityin advertising is not the creation ofnew and tricky words and pictures,but one of putting familiar wordsand pictures into new relationships.”

Leo Burnett1956

Winter landscape

Scene of the crime

What makes a “See ’n Say”the lowest form of advertising?

It relies oneyecatching irrelevancy!

Forcing a see ’n say

See ’n Say is acceptable for illustrations

(but only just)

See ’n Say is fine for logos

(because they are icons)

“Sex sells”

Helen Resor

“Sex sells.”

Babies, boobs, and beagles

Pseudo-creativity

Tell the story

Find the drama

Photo courtesy of Mark Hurst

Apogee – a lesson learned ... and forgotton

Ad agencies don’t always get it right either

“Do you want fine writing?Or do you want your fuckingsales to go up?”

Rosser Reeves1961

Let’s turn to the concept of concept

In advertising, concept represents the

big idea

In the web world,concept represents ... er ...

In advertising, there is only oneproof of concept

Now entering the mind of the art director

Now entering the mind of the art director

Let’s kill a myth

“All advertisingis good advertising.”

They

Fact:

A Milwaukee brewer found outsales fell among target audiences that

could remember their advertising!

1972

1982

1984

Bernice Fitz-Gibbon

1967 >

Webmaster WebmasterVisual designerCopywriter

DeveloperVisual designerInformation architectCopywriter

Front-end engineerFull-stack developerVisual designerUI designerInteraction designerContent strategistInformation architectContent providersSEO consultantSocial media guruProduct managerProject managerToken baby boomer

1995 1998 2000 2014

“Creativity varies inversely withthe number of cooks involved in the broth.”

Bernice Fitz-Gibbon1967

“In all the parks, in all the cities,you won’t find statues of committees.”

David Ogilvy1962

Eric Reiss can (usually) be found at:

The FatDUX Group ApSStrandøre 152100 CopenhagenDenmark

Office: (+45) 39 29 67 77Mobil: (+45) 20 12 88 44Twitter: @elreissinfo@fatdux.comwww.fatdux.com