1) Remember when everything went clear? Clear Pepsi, clear deodorant, Zima for God’s sake? Then we green washed everything because Generation Y and those darn Millennials actually cared about the planet? Never mind if we actually made changes or not, just tell ‘em you care!
Now suddenly brands *really* care about the ladies. Brands are falling all over themselves wanting Millennial moms to know that our widgets not only have “values” but we think ladies rock too. Oh, not far enough you say? Ok, sure pay women the same, I guess… though we aren’t demanding our agencies pay women the same or making any pay leveling moves at home. But look how powerful our print, TVC and our statues are. Doesn’t that qualify as big change? We’re not showing you in scantily clad clothing while cleaning the X anymore. What? You’re still not happy? Oh because a bunch of fellas approved the ads, in some cases made the ads?
Hey look, we appreciate that you discovered men can clean, raise children and care about a skin care routine and that women actually have huge senses of humor (thanks Lucile Ball, Carol Burnett, Lily Tomlin, Tina Fey, Kate Mckinnon), but don’t pander. Even if you spend a million on the production, we still know that you’re not hiring us, paying us or being real with us. Do better because we will find out the truth. Advertising is already rated lower in trust than banks. Let’s all work on that.
2) I can’t think of a better example of meshing advertising and entertainment this year than recent work from 22squared for our client Baskin Robbins. Grabbing on to such a big moment, Baskin Robbins went for it with the transformation of several stores to become Ship’s Ahoy, the ice cream parlor heavily featured in season three of Stranger Things. To date about 40 million people tuned in to binge the whole season in a matter of days.
The campaign didn’t stop there. Next came the cryptic, 1985 technology treasure hunt game Scoop Snoop. It’s an ARG game that had very intentionally subtle brand tie ins and ran parallel to the launch of the show. Suddenly a Reddit thread blew up and weird theories about needing to check out actual nuclear facilities for codes. What a wild ride!
3) N/A unfortunately. Not this year. But OMG next year you better invest in proper lip care for all your wow faces. I just landed at 22SQ in January but the ideas I’m seeing in development for next award season are truly going to make me more proud than I’ve ever been in my career. And I’ve worked on some pretty stellar projects. Matt O’Rourke (new CCO) has been such an inspiration down here.
4) Before coming on board at 22squared, I had the pleasure of being Global Brand Creative Director at TOMS in Los Angeles and creative consultant at Spanx here in Atlanta. Client side was an eye-opening experience in many ways. My favorite was simply learning the business in such a deep way. Additionally so many of my advertising peers would block me in at parties to discuss what it’s like to go client side. Creatives are wildly interested in the proposition because the trend is definitely heading to a place where large companies and even smaller ones are adding traditional advertising creatives to their roster. Some are even building entire ad agencies inside their walls successfully. (See Spotify)
I don’t see this trend dying out. However, there are plenty of watch outs: Corporations don’t truly understand what ad creatives do. Be prepared to explain the differences between marketing and advertising, retail design and communication design, and simply what a copywriter does for a living. On top of that, be prepared to educate a few coworkers on what good advertising/branding/content looks like. They’re most often sales folks that think a big logo and a price point will motivate a movement. Also many aren’t understanding that you’re not saving money by hiring a couple of FTEs versus hiring an ad agency.
5) “Meaningful” is always king but “surprise” is still a big winner. Play on the heart strings in a surprising way and you’re titanium.
6) This question is ever more important down South where I must admit, things are a bit lagging.
After eight years in New York and another seven in Los Angeles, I certainly had moments where I was legit the only lady creative in the department. That doesn’t mean I represent all women. Nor does it mean I’m the moral barometer of the effing department. Somehow I was pushed into a kind of school marm role which shocked me as I have a foul mouth, scratch inappropriately and drink beer too. Fact is, I was raised by a man. I know very little about stereotypical lady stuff. The older I’ve gotten the more women I’ve met who feel the same.
I encourage women to be themselves, fully and without apology. Currently I’m approaching my third trimester of my first child while wearing Dickies overalls, not a lick a cosmetics and would rather work on anything except women’s products. But then again, we need women like me to work on women’s products so the bullshit can stop rolling out into the minds of our nation. Periods aren’t gross. Body hair isn’t gross. WOMEN ARE EFFING FUNNY.
