This sign was posted on the gate of a property next to the US embassy in Vientiane, the capital of Laos.
The US compound had armed guards, bomb proof gates and CCTV.
The American’s neighbours felt that a dog was their best defence from any would be terrorist.
He does look far scarier than any of the marines I saw posted outside.
Take note of what the pooch is thinking.
Just as advertising uses a range of techniques to sell a product or a brand, so do the hawkers of Vietnam.
One cyclo driver had a little book of testimonials from previous customers.
The problem with this was that, unfortunately, he didn’t understand a lot of what had been written.
Some of it wasn’t all that complimentary.
A lot of retail advertising uses the ‘Pester Technique’, a really crap ad shown over and over again.
A similar approach is also used by cyclo drivers. They will follow you for blocks, imploring you to use their services.
And just like bad retail, the only way they can get you to buy is by dropping the price.
Guilt is also used to good effect.
There are always ‘Buying Opportunities’ right across Vietnam, incorporating clean rest rooms, that are conveniently placed along the tourist routes.
If they think you are American, you will be told that some of the crafts people are handicapped.
A direct cause of Agent Orange, of course.
This is known as ‘Good Cause’ shopping.
The one strategy that worked on me was used by the villagers in the mountain region near Sapa.
As soon as you jump off the bus they were there by your side, involving you in dialogue.
Yes, they were there to sell you something, an embroidered bag or handcrafted silver trinkets.
However it was the way they got you into conversation, by asking your name, your age, how many kids you have.
It was that personal engagement that finally won me over.
It’s a strategy that a lot of marketers could learn from.
The letter ‘X’ is now up on Alphabattle.
Identity systems work best when they are simple, adaptable and consistent.
When an identity is applied to a country then simplicity is a key factor in keeping the look consistent.
When applied to a developing country like Vietnam then simplicity is imperative.
There are no corporate ID manuals or style guides, no downloadable media with the logo and font, conveniently provided in Illustrator.
It’s not surprising therefore, that the flag is the purest expression of the logo.
Designed in 1940, it’s a big yellow star on a bright red background.
Even the typography found on posters and propaganda is simple, yellow sans serif caps, reversed out of the same vibrant red background.
Steeped in the history of the Vietnamese Socialist party and with obvious links to the hammer and sickle of the old Soviet flag, you see it wherever you go.
Like all good symbols, there is meaning and a touch of urban myth in the design.
The red symbolizes blood and revolution, while the yellow the colour of the mother’s skin.
The five pointed star represents the unity between workers, peasants, intellectuals, traders and soldiers.
Most homes along village streets proudly display at least one flag and there are banners every few meters on the highways and in the city streets.
What makes this such a successful identity is the fact that it is in total synergy with the people’s cultural use of red.
As they prepare for Tet, there are red lanterns, balloons, banners and even red and yellow flowers everywhere.
Red lacquered woodwork, with yellow Chinese characters, are a feature of the temples and pagodas.
All this helps the symbol of Vietnam to seamlessly fit into the landscape.
With much of the country shrouded in mist during our stay, the corporate identity was so adaptable, it was even in harmony with the weather.
That’s what we do in advertising, sell stuff and anyone who thinks differently is kidding themselves.
Selling a doctrine isn’t any different.
If you are a student of communist era posters you will have admired the graphics and chuckled at the simplistic and naive headlines.
This is communist propaganda and shouldn’t be compared to clever marketing spin.
I have just spent 3 hours wandering through the War Remnants Museum in Saigon.
Most of the descriptions on the exhibits fall into the area of jargon. For example the Australian forces were described as: “The mercenary forces of the American puppets.”
It was the final exhibition that demonstrated how sophisticated their selling has become.
This exhibit compared war efforts, in WW1, WW2 and Korea, of the elite US regiments, with their achievements, or lack of, in the Vietnam conflict.
Their atrocities were also highlighted, like the massacre at My Lai, as well as the date they were prematurely pulled out of the conflict.
In all instances these forces were shown to be left wanting.
They lost more men and had fewer victories than those who went before them.
This was sophisticated spin and confined all the party jargon to the dark ages.
As our guide Frong said, there are two sides to every story and here you are getting our side.
In my opinion this chapter in history was sold particularly well.
When you start a blog you wonder if anyone out there in cyber space is reading it.
Then something strange happens, you start to get comments.
If you’re like me, you eagerly look to see what they are saying.
Are they bagging your opinion or praising it?
Then your ego takes over.
Following are a few of the comments I received. Some were written by people who obviously had English as a second language but that didn’t deter me, they were positive comments.
Ronna Vaughen.
“You certainly deserve a round of applause for your post and more specifically, your blog in general. Very high quality material.”
Grow Tallereasy.
“Hi my friends! I would like to say that this article is really awesome, very well written and have almost all needed info. I’d like to see more posts like this :)”
Projektor.
“Wonderful entry, until it was pleasant to see him. Already I threw myself your blog to bookmarks in my web browser.”
Sex.
“Hi there, just wanted to show my appreciation for your time and hard work.”
I am now feeling really good about myself. There are people out there who actually like what I am saying.
But what sort of a person would use the name ‘Sex’?
Then I got this one and started to wonder.
Fettverbrennung.
“I’m 21 but can only develop thin blond facial hair. How long till I can grow thick dark hair? I realize everyone grows at distinct charges and occasions in their lives but what about individuals in a comparable situation to what I have described?”
Is this some obscure reference to my moustache?
At this point I spoke to Hayden, who knows about all things internet.
I think his explanation went something like:
“I’m sorry to tell you but they’re all spam.
Their comments are general and don’t actually refer specifically to your post, they could be about any post. They are just playing to your ego.”
He went on to tell me that it’s known as “Comment Spam” which is a guerrilla marketing technique, usually promoting dodgy products such as copy-watches, porn and Viagra.
They’re probably using a program that’s searching WordPress blogs and then submitting comment automatically to those sites.
The link on their user name goes to a web site and the more incoming links from different sites gives them a higher google ranking.
For instance, ‘exam training’ would link to a web site about training.
However it isn’t of much use to you, as you are linking to sites with a lower ranking and that will in turn lower your ranking.
Here are a few more, unedited, comments for your entertainment.
Some of the names are rather creative as well.
cope with break up songs ladies.
“I’m curious if it’s okay to borrow part of this publication to use for my research project.”
rock songs get over sad.
“My husband and I genuinely loved learning about on this publication, I was just eager to know if you barter featured posts? I am always attempting to find site owners to make deals with but it’s only a point of view I would call for.”
80 tals kläder.
“Very interesting and useful information, thanks!”
Chanda Carthew.
“When i visit a blog, chances are that i get disappointed. On the contrary,I could honestly say that you writting is decent and your website solid.”
Fettverbrennung. (Again)
“How to make thin hair grow quick and lengthy? I have supper thin hair and it grows truly sluggish how can I make develop faster and longer in the least expensive way?”
get over your ex husband.
“I’m just wondering if it’s okey to borrow some piece of this publication to use for my research project.”
Haven’t I seen this comment before?
I have just received this one. I think it’s time to get some anti spam software.
penis enlargement.
“lol, nice article friend!. I was reminded of my friends about it, maybe I’ll tell her this blog, and some other friends.”
We pitched for a new account the other day.
At the end of the meeting the marketing manager said that he would consult with his marketing team and get back to us with their decision.
Now this isn’t unusual, except for the fact that part of his marketing team were involved in creating all their current in-house advertising and catalogue work.
So, in effect, he was asking his people to decide on an external advertising agency that could jeopardise their jobs.
He wasn’t looking to find the best outcome for the company but rather the best outcome for the harmony of his staff.
Needless to say we didn’t get the business.
What this does point out is the current consensus mode of managing.
These managers would rather keep everyone happy than make hard decisions that could cause conflict.
They take the easy way out.
This same management style seems to be used by politicians in developing policy and building infrastructure. More time is spent on consultation, with all the ‘stake holders,’ than actually getting the job done, that’s if the job ever gets past the committee stage.
Millions of dollars are spent on this consultative process and then there is no money to actually do anything.
I have always found that the best managers are those who have a vision and involve their staff in realising that vision.
They are forceful in achieving their goals but, in the end, everyone feels as though they are part of the process. However they never shirk away from the tough decisions.
When you ask for a consensus you will end up with an average of everyone’s opinion and many of those opinions are biased towards the individuals self interest.
That’s not managing, it’s barely coping.
Awards.
What value are they to the agency, the client’s business or even the creatives who produce the work?
It’s an old debate, but one that is more relevant now than it has ever been.
Many agencies are now run by bean counters that are more concerned about the ROI than the quality of the work.
Creativity in advertising is rare and has become a commodity that is traded off for a harmonious agency/client relationship. Great ideas are being replaced with strategy babble that is designed to muddy the communication rather than make it clearer.
The vast majority of agencies don’t care about awards and actively discourage their creative departments from entering.
They can also cause financial problems for the agency, with awarded creatives being poached by other agencies for higher salaries or wanting greater remuneration from their current agency if they pick up too much precious metal.
Then there’s the high cost of entry.
Awards have become so expensive that only the large agencies can afford to enter work. Resulting in the same protagonists from the same agencies picking up the major gongs each year.
Awards are big business and they make a lot of money.
The Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival was started on the back of the International Film Festival, also held at Cannes.
In 1954, the first year of the advertising festival, there were 187 film entries from 14 countries. In 2010 there were 24,000 entries with 8,000 delegates attending from 90 countries.
The festival has become such a money-spinner that in 2004 French businessman Roger Hatchuel sold it for £52 million.
One simple fact has been forgotten, and that’s why they were created in the first place.
To honour creativity and craft in advertising.
Why? Because the Creative Revolution of the 1960s recognised that ideas in advertising actually aided memorability and helped sales.
The ad industry worldwide is suffering a malaise, caused by the GFC, reduced profits and a failure to cope with new technology.
Pragmatism is replacing creativity.
Agencies would rather comatose their clients with jargon than confront them with a creative idea that might require a bit of extra work to sell it in.
Awards need to be put back into the hands of the industry and the costs of entry reduced.
We must then return to rewarding creativity, because, apart from anything else, it’s the commercially right thing to do.
WikiLeaks has just shown us how powerful the Internet is as a communications weapon.
If all the leaks, that Julian Assange was given, had gone to mainstream press I doubt that most of them would have seen the light of day.
However the way they were leaked has put the press at arm’s length and given them the opportunity to share every detail with the world.
It has outed governments behaving badly and now, as those same governments try desperately to stop Assange, it has shown how big business can also behave just as badly.
What’s even more remarkable, and again shows how powerful the Internet can be, is that now those companies who are feeling the pressure from the governments, and denying WikiLeaks money or online access, are being attacked and forced off line themselves.
The very marketing weapon, they have grown to rely on, has been turned back on them.
The new age advertising people believe that the Internet is a revolution for marketers and will render traditional media useless.
Newspapers didn’t replace posters, radio didn’t replace newspapers and TV didn’t replace radio.
The Internet won’t replace any of the mainstream media it will just become part of the marketing mix and ultimately become part of the mainstream itself.
Just as always, advertising will ride on the back of news and will help to fund its publication.
On December 11, 2010, only ½ of 1% of the US diplomatic cables have been released by WikiLeaks.
The real revolution is happening right now and it will be interesting to see what the new order will be like beyond Wikileaks.
In the mid eighties I worked on the Toyota account.
This was when we launched the ‘Oh what a feeling’ campaign. The concept came from Dancer Fitzgerald Sample in the States.
I remember when we first heard the line and were shown the ‘jump’. There were looks of shock and amazement on the creative’s faces.
But then the strategy was explained to us.
The proposition for Toyota was simple. Every vehicle they made would, in some way deliver, ‘The feeling of outstanding owner enjoyment’.
The creative expression of this was ‘Oh what a feeling’.
The jump was the mnemonic.
What we had to do was to find out what would deliver that ‘feeling’ and dramatise it in a memorable way. It didn’t have to be a rational reason – it could be pure emotion.
At this stage Toyota were hiring young and upcoming marketing executives from all the major automotive companies.
They were bright young men, sadly there were few women on car accounts in those days, and they were fixed in the ways of their previous employers.
Toyota was number three or four in sales, behind Ford, GM and maybe even Nissan.
So these new executives had come from brands that were outscoring Toyota in sales and marketing.
At one meeting, just after we had presented a TV concept, a recent acquisition from Ford requested that we should reconsider the creative direction. He wanted us to make it more like a Ford ad. His reasoning was that, ‘They were the market leader, so why not make our ads look like them.’
We continued to make ads that were different and it wasn’t long before Toyota became number one.
It wasn’t so much the advertising but a state of mind that came from the parent company.
Toyota designed and built vehicles for people to drive and enjoy, not for the edification of the factory.
They realised that they had to be different if they wanted to stand out in the world market.
It seems to me that brand managers are making the same mistake now as they did so many years ago.
Only now it’s with the ‘Brand Power’ style execution. Every second ad seems to use the same formula.
David Ogilvy was once asked why he always wore red braces.
His answer was simple. “I want to stand out”
It’s a pity there aren’t more marketing people who would like to stand out.
