Spot the difference

Here’s a print idea created way back in the early 90’s at DMB&B for client Burger King.

As you can see, it’s a tongue-in-cheek topical piece we created on the day of the fire at Burger King Robinson Road to apologize for the restaurant closure. The premise was simple. While we know our loyal fans love our flame grilled flavours, occasionally we burn the food…

The client loved it. Too bad they didn’t have the money to run it. Nor did the agency.

Fast forward to today and here’s the same tongue in cheek approach using a series of fires at Burger King restaurants around the world to celebrate the chain’s heritage and point of difference.

BS_ItalyIt’s just picked up the Cannes Gold Lion in Print.

BK_BS_Oregon_Creativity01

What separates them?

BKburnout

Not the theme or the sentiment. Both use humour to celebrate Burger King’s flame grilled flavours. To create an opportunity. To tell their story.

The answer is 26 years.

Fran Luckin, Chief Creative Officer, Grey, South Africa and Print & Publishing Lions judge said DAVID’s Grand Prix-winning campaign was “playful, authentic, and (had) a sense of being a little more edgy. Embrace your imperfection. It was brave and young, created in a social media age.”

Which just goes to show that there’s no such thing as a new idea.

Just new ways to say it with more reach. Chapeau to Burger King and the David team for making it happen.

Waning Influence

The web has empowered so many individuals in so many different ways. And now the social web has truly exploded that potential.

YouTubers, Instagrammers, Facebookers and all sorts of other-ers (including the Chinese We Chatters and Weibo-ers) have sprung up everywhere. They appear in your feed like uninvited guests occasionally. And while their posts are pretty inoffensive, here at Blak Labs, we think clients are wasting their money paying for their influence.

A few recent examples.

The first, a humorous take down by Aaron Wong, suggests better ways for influencers to earn airmiles – that’s his thing. You can read it here.

The second? We’ve observed that influencers who post about how much they love travelling with a particular credit card tend to drop followers per brand post.

Posts either side of these endorsements have at least 3K likes or more and numerous comments. The brand-related posts lose at least 2k followers.

Last but not least – the fashionable instagrammer. Again, a store signs on a bunch of influencers to lend some sparkle to their charity shopping event. Among them, one very fashionable instagrammer who shall remain nameless.

Thing is, beyond the two posts about said charity event and an appearance in one paid-for promo piece, there was no ‘real love’ for the client, nor evidence of actual brand loyalty. And again, the posts for this brand fared less well than others.

Followers see through these thinly veiled endorsements and IMHO, each goes against the grain of ‘authenticity’ that these influencers purport to offer. And while like celebrities, we have to marvel at their ability to be “famous for being famous”, we find ourselves wondering what credibility do they offer?

And when you know that certain influencers receive huge payouts for a single tweet or post (up to US$100k or more), then this form of endorsement just looks even more ridiculous.

Because in the blink of an eye, they’ll stick something else up to get more thumbs up. And your post will disappear down their feed into social oblivion. #justsayin

 

The power of email and good social content

I get a ton of emails every day, most which I just delete after a cursory glance.  But newsletters from the chaps at Bluewire Media always get read. The reason? I often learn something new. Plus they believe in the power of sharing and the “thank you economy”. They freely share their own social media planning tools and templates, which I find useful and they also do a bunch of podcasts, webinars and monthly giveaways. Which are also filled with good usable stuff. My advice? Check them out!
Yesterday Bluewire Media turned 10. So congrats to Adam (@Franklin_Adam) and Toby (@Toby_Jenkins) on achieving that milestone, from an independent agency owner here in Singapore! Your reach extends way beyond the shores of Oz, and your monthly competition does too!
Which is why I’d like to say thanks to Adam and Toby for letting me win their December competition.
The prize? Their top 25 marketing books, including their own publication.
Here’s my reading list for the next few months
  1. The New Rules of Marketing & PR by David Meerman Scott
  2. Inbound Marketing by Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah
  3. Permission Marketing by Seth Godin
  4. Trust Agents by Chris Brogan
  5. Platform by Michael Hyatt
  6. Crush It by Gary Vaynerchuk
  7. The 4-Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss
  8. Purple Cow by Seth Godin
  9. Epic Content Marketing by Joe Pulizzi
  10. Youtility by Jay Baer
  11. Jab, Jab, Jab Right Hook by Gary Vaynerchuk
  12. Content Rules by Ann Handley and CC Chapman
  13. The New Experts by Robert Bloom
  14. Content Chemistry by Andy Crestodina
  15. Reality Marketing Revolution by Mike Lieberman and Eric Keiles
  16. Spin Sucks by Gini Dietrich
  17. What’s the Future of Business by Brian Solis
  18. Power Stories by Valerie Khoo
  19. Unknown to Expert by Catriona Pollard
  20. Love At First Site by Jon Hollenberg
  21. microDOMINATION by Trevor Young
  22. Become a Key Person of Influence by Daniel Priestley
  23. The 7-Day Startup by Dan Norris
  24. Engagement from Scratch by Danny Iny
And of course their own book…
25. Web Marketing That Works by Adam Franklin and Toby Jenkins
I’ve no idea how much this competition set them back in terms of book purchases etc. But I do know that Adam and Toby have created something of real value with Bluewire News. If you’re interested to learn from a couple of chaps who’ve done it for themselves, then you can sign up for the newsletter here. I hope you enjoy their content as much as I do. 
And here’s a couple of little flipagram thingies I made over lunch using nothing but an iPhone, a pair of scissors and some sticky back plastic. 
Here’s to learning more and being open to trying new experiments in 2015 at Blak Labs. Thanks again guys.

The Ad Contrarian tells it like it is.

The Ad Contrarian tells it like it is.

Well worth your time. I like him.