1) Increasingly, companies who were known for one area are expanding into others - clients/brands are building internal agencies, agencies adding production, and so on. This has some understood pitfalls, but can also have significant upsides. One, is a greater understanding of what is involved from strategy and concept to execution. Our expertise is in production, but it behooves us to understand the intricacies of what agencies and brands do so that we are better partners to each. The other is the opportunity to connect and to partner, be iron sharpening iron, rather than build walls between each other. Be a resource and an outside voice to address the problem or need at hand. For this to work well, businesses should retain a paramount focus, rather than trying to do it all. It is challenging to make it work - in any industry. There’s an ethical way to expand and adapt that can yield great results, helping everyone thrive.
2) David Lowery’s “A Ghost Story” is a simple, powerful story that effectively uses time as an elemental force, where pacing acts almost as character. Not just from this year, but resonant nevertheless, Peaky Blinders is a vintage story that feels extremely modern in part because of the incredible use of music. And Black Mirror is a chilling comment on our times. People say that everyone has shorter and shorter attention spans, but the consumption of serialized entertainment, like binge-watching Game of Thrones or podcasts like S-Town demonstrate the sustaining power of storytelling to still capture the imagination for hours on end.
3) Gillette’s film “Handle With Care,” through Grey is one of my favorite advertising projects of the year, and I’m obviously not alone based on the award wins. It is a niche product, a razor designed for assisted shaving, that was launched with a piece that is about family bonds and the imperceptible things that can make a big difference to quality of life. If you watch it with dry eyes, you probably kept them closed.
4) Community engagement is becoming an important part of our industry. From brands that are helping effect change to organizations looking to add meaning and value to members. The AICP Southwest recently held a volunteer day where members worked at a Dallas farm which was established to grow food and support a neighborhood that’s historically experienced an urban food drought. Our goal, as a chapter, is to do more of this kind of participation. Brands also have the ability to do the same on a wider level - changemaking that can boost brand image and help others.
5) The recent award show winners affirm that the best work makes people care. People are so sophisticated with their approach to media - they are perpetually surrounded by technology and brands, and a contrived approach is quickly dismissed or ignored. We are living in an age of bombardment and selection - people filter out what is a cheap sell, but give them something that emotionally resonates, something that respects one’s time spent, and you can create powerful brand appeal and loyalty.