The Glue Society’s Jonathan Kneebone on 2022 ~ the year adland got put in its place
By Jonathan Kneebone, founder, The Glue Society.
Advertising doesn’t have the playground to itself anymore.
You might argue that it hasn’t for many a year. But somehow this year that lack of control or command became super apparent.
When thinking of the most interesting and compelling – ie memorable – things that occupied our minds this year, there was so much else competing for our attention that advertising was really put in its place.
Yes the things that instantly come to mind are the protests, the controversies, the put downs and the things that appal. Whether that be war, vitriol, delusion or degradation.
In that context, any advertising can rapidly become vapid.
But if we as an industry are meant to be communicators, then it feels like a hell of a lot more people proved to be better at it than we did in 2022.
You may not like the idea of chucking a tin of soup at a painting of sunflowers. (And frankly it does beg the question if you are so anti-oil, why use superglue – something that can only be made from oil – to stick yourself to a picture frame?) But it sure did get our attention. And probably more so than chucking a bunch of sunflowers at a painting of Campbell’s Soup cans.
The protests at Qatar were sophisticated and powerful. From the German team covering their mouths highlighting the censorship of the One Love armband to the Iranian team refusing to sing their anthem as a potent symbol of anti-government unity. From the Socceroos releasing a statement before the event started to the BBC choosing not to broadcast the Opening Ceremony on their main channel, FIFA and the Qataris found having a world stage works both ways, however much you try to control it.
A Message from the Socceroos
To combat the betting manipulators who jovially exploit the vulnerable in this country, the government is introducing a new line to replace ‘Gamble Responsibly’. ‘Chances are you’re about to lose’ may not stop their skullduggery, but it might force them to act responsibly.
And sporting stars are realising they have the power to stop politics getting in the way of a good game by getting big energy or gambling off their chests.
On the morning after the death of Her Majesty The Queen, every media company in the UK changed their billboards to the same image celebrating the era of Elizabeth II. It made a journey around the streets a solemn one. But proved how spectacular advertising space can be when used powerfully.
And who’d have thought that a short film featuring HRH and Paddington for the Platinum Jubilee would come to be a legacy so particular, that people would leave marmalade sandwiches outside Buckingham Palace at her passing, not to mention thousands of bears.
Platinum Jubilee Concert
The January 6 Committee pulled together a case so comprehensive and compelling that somehow the truth started to emerge and feel real again. Their determination to deliver a clear unambiguous display of events without resorting to smugness or satisfaction cut through. And one feels it has helped to bring America to its senses against a man who’s become the definition of delusion, the medical condition.
The protection of our individual and collective mental health is probably the most significant thing to emerge from our time in Covid.
For creative people in particular, it feels like working from home has made us more vulnerable and isolated. It’s why it is so important to get people back to communal work and why anonymously putting other people down on blog sites is so toxic.
And it’s why the work for CALM (Campaign Against Living Miserably) is the first piece of advertising that stands out from the year.
The Last Photo is a campaign of images showing that suicidal doesn’t always look suicidal. An exhibition and film of real images and videos that were literally the last images of people who took their own lives. Often laughing, interacting and seemingly without worry, the result is both haunting and forceful.
CALM: The Last Photo
But the agency, Adam&EveDDB, were not content to just create one piece of content. They used the World Cup to make an even more powerful statement. With a film featuring England player Declan Rice.
The painstaking work to remove all the players from various games featured leaves this one player stranded, almost balletic in his movement, but awkward, hopeless and ineffective.
There’s been no better bit of creative work this year in my opinion, made even more effective through the context and the likely audience who may be forced to confront the issue through the language of sport. Something they are far happier talking about than solitude or loneliness.
CALM: The Invisible Opponent
Which brings me to the advertising that rates a mention. I’d love to say there was a lot to choose from, and that there were new voices emerging this year that rose to the surface.
But if you are feeling a sense of déjà vu from the following list of work worth celebrating, me too.
Because the best work appears to have come from Megaforce, Kim Gehrig, Uncommon, Gucci and Burberry.
The Apple spot which capped the year on the International Day of People with Disabilities – shows the many and varied ways that their tech makes life more rewarding for every individual.
In Kim Gehrig’s hands this becomes an event. Using the theme track ‘I Am The Greatest’ the poetic words of Muhammad Ali sung by Spinifex Gum/Marliya Choir, re-inspire us and leave us in no doubt of what people of all abilities are capable of.
Apple: The Greatest
This is advertising that sets the benchmark. And the fact that Kim continues to do this is remarkable. Not least because she did it twice this year with a follow up work for Bodyform.
Bodyform: Periods Never Sleep
I think it proves we are entering an era where there is a divide emerging. Because Kim is truly a communication artist.
And when you examine the work that has really shone this year, you realise it has happened when the people with the brand have got very close to the artists with the skills to showcase and celebrate their wares or worth.
Bring together Gucci Creative Director Alessandro Michele, Palace Creative Director Levent Tanju and Director Max Siedentopf – and what do you get? Pure, unadulterated fun.
Palace Gucci
The dig at ad agencies from the half way point is frankly rubbing salt into the wounds for many – but I think there’s a reason why now feels like the right time to do that.
Agencies are proving themselves to be the entities which get in the way, rather than the source of creative opportunity and optimism.
And while you may not like this Burberry / Megaforce film as much as their previous efforts (Singing in the Rain and Open Spaces), there is a delight and bravado at work, which can only happen when everyone’s confident in each other’s abilties.
Burberry: Night Creatures
Of all the agencies in the world who seem to contribute to the relationship rather than make it stale, Uncommon seem to have discovered the magic potion.
This year, their work for B&Q and British Airways gave both brands a purpose without resorting to case-study creativity.
Oscar Hudson – yes, another name from previous years – creates a world where life turns on its head at the imminent arrival of a new baby. There are ways to have made this film with less integrity and originality. But in making it in camera, the story hits home and makes us marvel all the more.
B&Q: Flip
And in British Airways, the agency realised that confidence in an idea is infectious. By making hundreds of films and versions of this simple set-up, and by running them all at once, the brand gets both scale, relevance and credibility.
British Airways: Paris
In Australia, interestingly, another example of client getting closer to creative expert came in the form of Bear Meets Eagle on Fire and NRMA.
‘Until then’ is a truly campaignable idea for an insurance company. And by reducing it to its simplest, purest notion, then exploring and exploding that into something magical and engaging, the result feels both fresh, distinctive and persuasive.
You may not realise it, but what you are being sold here is confidence. Because put this piece of work up against the noise and angst of the competition, and NRMA appears reassuring, valuable and trustworthy.
I imagine that was there in the brief somewhere. And what this work does is make us feel it rather than say it.
NRMA Insurance: Runaway
During COP27, Tuvalu released an interesting idea via The Monkeys – following on from their Foreign Minister’s talk knee-deep in water for the Glasgow conference.
This time the suggestion that the nation was going to be digitising itself for future preservation was sufficiently shocking to make the news.
But somewhere along the line, the work felt like the nerds at the Metaverse wanted us to not think that was a bad idea. And mid-way through the talk, we are then asked to think preserving the culture in the metaverse might not be such a shocking thing to do after all.
I am not sure you can have it both ways. But I am sure this campaign will feature in the upcoming award cycle.
Tuvalu: COP27
The Monkeys also brought out the big guns for their Qantas spot. Kylie, Hugh, Troye, Adam were all there in the remake of Mojo’s ‘I Still Call Australia Home’.
It seems at times that this is where The Monkeys shine – in making ads that in less groovy agency’s hands could go hammy, they go starry – with strong art direction and style.
Qantas: Together Once More
Special Group continued its global expansion with a spot so sparklingly in the zeitgeist that it hurt. I mean, getting Gwyneth to eat a vagina candle in the same spot as Jennifer Coolidge (aka Tanya McQuoid) is just too cool for school.
Uber Eats: Don’t Eats
That said, it feels like all American ads have become rather ‘superbowl’ in nature. As long as there is a celebrity in sight, who needs an insight?
Rather unexpectedly, Asda won Christmas. Despite nice efforts from Australia Post and John Lewis and a truly miserable but profound spot for German retailer Penny, getting Will Ferrell to reprise his role in Elf at and Asda was suitably magical to make us all believe.
Asda: Elf
Which brings me to the last spot. For FTX. Which is actually just an ok Superbowl ad. But in hindsight, somehow brilliantly all the more remarkable and enjoyable. Actually, given recent events, it’s genius.
FTX: Larry David
It seems to somehow capture the situation advertising faces these days. We can make anything look and sound great.
If only real life didn’t keep on getting in the way.
18 Comments
excellent.
22 was a c*&t of a year and the industry is in free-fall. Redundancies everywhere, creative concepts were all but concepts, and may as well have been written by suited greying clients sitting in the corner office while accounts and suits and other yes-men bend over to cop it sweet in the vested interests of maintaining their mediocre roles in a mediocre creative climate with mediocre and overbearing clients. Australia has definitely hit rock bottom creatively and it’s no wonder clients are running the briefs themselves now. Wake the f%^k up advertising – no one cares nor wants you anymore.
Dear Let’s be honest,
It’s also time CB readers acknowledged that too many agencies are full of average creatives who know little more than a) trying to convince a client to be brave and/or b) care more about an award entry Case Study than any real commercial outcome for their clients. As uncomfortable as it is, the gap between what agencies think is great and what clients want and need is growing by the day. And the harder untrained average (often inexperienced) creatives try to bridge the gap with even more brave work, the wider the gap becomes. Do anyone honestly believe agencies will have employed more people by this time next year, or that more clients won’t have sought an alternative to agencies to be their comms partner? But more importantly, how many of us are prepared to accept, that the most responsibility for our industry’s demise doesn’t just lie with the suits and bean-counters, but with the creatives?
You are a miserable p$@&k.Please take yourself and your negativity elsewhere,while the rest of us remain positive and ready to take on 2023.
See ya.
Sadly, your response is a perfect example of the problem.
If we want more respect for creativity, we must do more work deserving of it. If we were, our industry wouldn’t be in the perilous state that it is.
if you don’t try new approaches, you’ll never advance. and if we don’t advance, we become increasingly irrelevant to our clients.
if the world was still simple, and we could do a big tv ad, some press and an outdoor, that’d be great. but the world has changed, so we have to move with it and find the best way to communicate when things are so fragmented. it ain’t easy!
so in the spirit of the season, instead of ending with a sarcastic remark that perhaps has a go at you, i just want to offer you a big hug. feel that? that’s me hugging you. hope you have a great christmas.
PS: i’m still hugging you.
Thanks for calling it like it is, and honestly.
There are a lot of challenges in our industry, some of which are creative. Firstly we are all so busy dividing the crumbs leftover by the media agencies that agency villages are pecking each other to death. Especially when these villages come from the same holding company. Everyone has a vested interest. ‘It’s their fault’ is the mantra. Ideas win hearts (and sales) more than anything else, and having everyone rowing in the same direction behind that idea is key. The useless people trying to cover their arses, blaming a different department or simply white-anting good ideas to win more budget for their department, with no real idea themselves, really need to get out of the way. But they won’t, which is why I’m glad I work for small independents. At least if the work sucks, you can blame yourself and fix it the next time.
AMV BBDO made the Declan Rice film, not Adam&EveDDB.
@ Honestly
I’m a big believer in creativity and brand building, but the following is simply not backed up by evidence:
“Ideas win hearts (and sales) more than anything else”
A top of mind list of the some of most successful B2C businesses in australia reads as follows (based on market share growth / market cap growth):
– Bunnings
– Dan Murphy’s
– Chemist Warehouse
– Nick Scali
– Tesla
– Hyundai
– Amazon
– Costco
In each instance, these companies spend very little on traditional advertising, and what they do spend is hardly considered creatively great.
The point is, it’s not a binary choice. Strong brand ideas can be a significant part of a company’s commercial success, but it’s unlikely to be ‘the’ sole reason. In an age where data and evidence is more important than ever, the old urging of a client to “be brave” will never be enough.
Smart clients and smart agency folks working together will continue to come out on top, but it needs to be a more nuanced and evidence based conversation than the 90s-00s.
@KGB a good point. However I stand by the point that ideas win hearts and sales more than anything else. Imagine if the media spend some of these companies had a *decent* idea behind them. Then it would go gangbusters. However, to your point:
Bunnings – the idea was to use real staff in their commercials, line drawings and cheesy music to sound cheap. Why? Lowest prices guaranteed.
Dan Murphy’s – the idea, again, is we’ll beat any competitor, that’s our promise. We are talking retail ideas here.
Chemist Warehouse – again, make it look cheap. That’s their competitive advantage
Nick Scali – ok, that’s an anomaly. I have no fucking idea why anyone buys their furniture either.
Tesla – the idea is to let the founder be the PR machine driving sales. Virgin and Apple are two others.
Hyundai – I think they’ve had some ok campaigns in the past. But their idea is to combat nerves about buying Korean with a 7 year warranty.
Amazon – founder syndrome again.
Costco – are they honestly that successful? Their idea is to create super-fans to spread word of mouth. Aldi do it much better.
I agree with you entirely that ideas are not the sole reason people purchase something. But ideas come in many shapes and sizes. As old Bill said, a good ad will make a bad product fail faster. I personally believe advertising can’t save anything, let-alone the world. But ideas do win hearts and sales more than anything else – not just advertising ideas.
@KGB – I question your comment ‘In each instance, these companies spend very little on traditional advertising’ when you’re talking about Bunnings, Dan’s, Chemist Warehouse (catalogues), Nick Scali (radio) and Hyundai. If digital could finally be considered traditional, Amazon, especially with their affiliate program, are spending more than all of the above. https://www.campaignasia.com/article/amazon-becomes-biggest-advertiser-in-history-with-record-16-9bn-spend/475658
@ honestly
I’m sitting here in shock! We may be having a decent and nuanced debate on CB. Hooray for us.
Agree with much of what you say. Yes, many of the brands have a low-priced positioning, but that appears to be working well over the alternatives. And agree that they probably have big media spends, but this is mainly on retail and performance stuff, so it doesn’t support the notion of a ‘big idea’ being the differentiator or reason for success.
Having worked with JK on several very creative and effective campaigns, I’m sure the three of us could agree that a compelling creative idea can be an accelerator of a compelling value proposition. And also, we need to break out of the binary view that either a) creativity is the be all and end all, where clients simply need to be more brave and agencies are fountains of wisdom; or b) agencies are self interested wankers who have nothing of commercial value to offer. Neither is true, we just need work together in a better and more understanding fashion.
You sound like the sort of person I’d love to work with (if that means anything at all)!
Thanks for the correction regarding CALM/Declan Rice.
Credits:
Creative Agencies: AMV BBDO & Seven Stones
Production: Prettybird
Director: Robert Wilkins
VFX: ETC & The Hot Spring
The pleasant and informative exchange in these comments has warmed the cockles of this copywriter’s heart.
Thank you, Honestly and KGB.
@ KGB
My sincerest apologies for embarrassing ourselves with a considered conversation. Let’s blame Christmas!
I agree entirely that we need to break out of this binary view. No matter our role in an agency, we are all creative in a sense, our job is to build our client’s business. There’s no single ‘right’ solution, and as we know what is right today may not be tomorrow.
Having spent some time out of multinationals, then dipping back in occasionally, I realise that many (not all) are very award / career-obsessed, which leads to generic / fashion-based ideas. Their clients are also obsessed with awards. Makes sense, that’s what it takes to get ahead. Until key business objectives are the focus, I fear we’ll have more of the same. For example, I recently had to inform a client to hold off on a campaign for 6 months until they refine their user experience and scale to expectations. It’s a huge commercial hit for me, but if their lights are still on in a year or two hopefully they come back.
Have loved working with JK in the past myself and am sure we will/have crossed paths at some point. Merry Christmas, and here’s to a future where advertising doesn’t exist, but informative entertainment that transforms businesses does.
Peace.
JK, aside from being just the perfect amount of warped, you’re the reason this small-town / small-agency hick was able to travel to Europe, thanks to some dubious award a while back. What a great wrap-up, hope you have a fantastic Christmas and look forward to having something decent enough to work with you on in the new year.
A wonderful overview of creativity throughout a woeful year for many, JK – I enjoyed it as much as the debate it sparked above.
How refreshing it is to read opinions and posits unsullied by vitriol, sniggering and cheap shots.
Let’s keep it going and make 2023 the year that creativity in all things defines our industry once more.
Happy New Beer one and all.