Over the past few weeks I’ve been trying to work out what role Lewis Hamilton is playing in the Santader advertising and have come to the conclusion that he’s a waste of space. In the latest ad, there’s a kid asleep in the car, the bridge they are crossing turns into lego....and Lewis Hamilton just happens to be standing by the road. And that’s it. He doesn’t say or do anything. He’s just there.

I can imagine what happened. The newly formed bank needed a global communication vehicle to promote awareness and chose motor sport and its fresh faced star Lewis Hamilton. It also provided lots of opportunities to travel round the world watching Formula 1 races for the senior bods.

However when it came to exploiting this new asset in a meaningful way it all falls apart. I don’t blame the ad agency (unless of course they were the ones who recommended him). What’s Lewis Hamilton good at? Driving fast. What else is he famous for? His Pussycat Dolls (ex) girlfriend. What’s he  got in common with financial services? Can’t think of anything.
 
Mmm...not a lot to go on.

Key lessons for me. 

1. If you want a brand spokesman, choose someone who has some relevance to the  brand and the category. 2. Give him / her a meaningful role in the communication strategy

Better still, focus instead on trying to create a distinctive brand idea rather than taking the lazy route of buying a celebrity to build your brand

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Often we marketing folk make life difficult for ourselves. We try to build deep meaningful relationships with consumers when in fact they want nothing of the sort. That's why I really like the Anchor Great Rewards Round Up. Just collect 'cow codes'on Anchor packs, build a herd and swap your cows for cute rewards. And that's it. It's easy, you get free stuff and you get a nice warm feeling towards the brand. No attempt to 'co-create' anything or do anything worthy or more meaningful. Which is great.

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I'm still doing my best to watch TED videos, as per one of my New Year resolutions. Not quite every day, but pretty often.
Here's a good one that a friend forwarded to me. (Thanks, Hanne.) It's from Elizabeth Gilbert on nurturing creativity. She's the author of bestseller Eat, Pray, Love. Someone who stayed at our house left a copy. I guess I'm meant to read it.

Click here to view it.

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Thinking of packing up your marketing job and working for yourself? Here’s why you should.

1.       You get to work on interesting stuff, not the boring stuff

2.       You can lead a nomadic life and work anywhere.

3.       You can spend time with people you really like

4.       You don’t have a boss

5.       You have the opportunity to earn decent money

6.       You stay sharp and hungry. Otherwise you won’t earn decent money

7.       You can take the kids to school more often

8.       You can take holidays when you need them

9.       You don’t have to waste away your life in meetings

10.    You’ll regret not having a go at running your own business.

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Last Saturday’s Guardian fashion section declared The Redknapps’ Thomas Cook ad as ‘Going Up’.

‘as guilty as guilty pleasures get, this is cheering up January no end’

So, even though this is a truly naff ad it’s definitely being noticed and talked about, which I guess must be a good thing. If this ad had been averagely OK – like the vast majority, it would simply have been ignored.

I’m sure everyone remembers the Ferrero Rocher ‘Ambassadors Party’ ad. Click here to view it. I’m sure it wasn’t meant to be so toe-curlingly awful, but the fact that it was SO ridiculous made it strangely attractive and memorable.

So...is there merit in trying to create ads that are so bad, they’re actually good?

Unfortunately, this is very difficult to achieve. Ads that deliberately try to be bad in orer to create impact become irritating eg Go Compare, 118118, that dreadful insurance ad featuring Michael Winner.

The beauty of ads like Ferrero Rocher and Thomas Cook, is they’re actually trying really, really hard to be good and failing to achieve this is in a way that is charming and inoffensive.

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A friend forwarded me an email from the advertising agency Ogilvy about their plans to open up a pop-up branch in Brixton Market called Idea Shop. Over 3 days in early Feb, small businesses can book in a 1 or 2 hour slot to discuss their advertising or marketing problems with some of the best brains in the agency - free of charge. There will also be a series of interesting talks which you can attend.

I think it's a fantastic ideas and I wish them well in this innovative new venture. Pop-up shops are not new, but I've never heard of pop-up marketing advice. Maybe I should set up a stall in Tooting Market?

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Now that our obsession with the recession is (just) beginning to end, one of the biggest topics of debate is how can marketing and brands make positive contributions towards the sustainability challenges that we're facing. It's a huge and complex topic with no easy answers . I'm trying to get myself more immersed in the subject. This link is really good. Its called the Top 9 viral videos of the Green Movement

Click here to view it.

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Innocent Smoothies’ latest advertising makes a very bold and persuasive claim – 2 of your 5 a day. Anyone who is vaguely health conscious will get it and may well be inspired by it, so why go and spoil it all by showing a rabbit?It’s not very amusing, there’s no obvious idea behind it, the rabbit is only vaguely cute, the voiceover is a bit irritating.

There’s a lot that I admire about Innocent, but I’m afraid this is a let down – unless of course producing lame ads is all part of the brand’s matey / laid-back DNA? Maybe I’m missing something.

The ad was made by Fallon, who are most famous for their Sony and Cadbury’s ads. Does anyone remember this ad from Sony..featuring yes, lots of rabbits?

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