I've Been Away.

I felt I was repeating myself and didn't want to fill the blogosphere with even more noise.

But, in the past month, I've noticed the blogging world has been stirring. It's getting interesting again. I'll have to think of something new to say.

Do Customers Deconstruct Advertising?

It's all too easy to get bogged down in analysing advertising given the investment of time, money and reputation that it represents. I'm not always sure what good it does and I'm far from certain that non-marketing professionals ever do that - unless of course we foolishly ask them to do so in focus groups.

But I'm going to do it anyway because this ad from a company close to my heart has appeared everywhere. Can you see what grabbed my attention? It's the small i in innocent, juxtaposed with the capital J in juicy in the line at the bottom - a design conceit that means that the start of both sentences is different and, to me, visually jarring.

Designers rightly talk about fonts being important - but what's the point if simple consistency is overlooked? In the great scheme of things, it probably doesn't matter. It's unlikely to stop people from buying juice, but it irritated me and I wonder if I am not alone in that.

Customer Service Personified.

"There's so much we can do in this crazy world with a little effort and imagination." Especially if you really know your product/service and why your customers are your customers, as is perfectly demonstrated here

Three's Not A Charm.

I noted a tweet in which the author complained that he'd be on hold with a customer service phone-line for so long that he'd realised that the music being played to him was a loop of three tunes and he'd hung up.

Now, obviously, he'd been kept holding for far too long. But it's also true that the company in question had idiotically ensured that he realised this by limiting the music to a cycle of three. The first priority is to deal with the customer swiftly, the second is to ensure they don't feel taken for granted.

In this case, the company got it wrong on both counts. If I were him, I'd ring up and complain. Or maybe not.

Making Things Better.

Making good stuff from scratch is really difficult.

Removing bad stuff is relatively simple.

The former is to be encouraged, the latter is compulsory.

The Uncanny Cityscape.

There's something odd about that cityscape. That was my reaction as I looked at the poster advertising the launch of a TV channel which has exclusive first-look access to all HBO's output. The idea of merging the New York buildings into the London skyline is understandable, but the choices are odd and the effect dis-easing.

I may be wrong but it seems that they've only used New York buildings - that is the South Street Seaport isn't it? So, firstly, they're projecting New York rather than the USA even though not all the shows are New York-based. Moreover, the majority of the office blocks are, to me at least, anonymous. They're neither specifically New York or London or, indeed, specifically American or British.

The overall impression is that of a quasi-generic cityscape - you know what it wants to be but it's not quite there and it's proximity to reality is unnerving. In robotics this is known as the uncanny valley but I think it can be applied here too. Especially, as my attention was drawn to the poster right next to it in the Tube station.



The theme is similar, but they don't try to be overly subtle and the result feels much better to me and gets the job done.

Despite what I heard a panel of creative director assert recently - it's not art it's marketing. It can and often should be artistic, but only when that doesn't get in the way of its purpose.

Make Marketing Authentic?

Yes, it is a bit late in the day for car ads to jump on the knowing-ness bandwagon, but this one seems to me to manage to be self-deprecating without being self-denigrating. While it might exude a little self-satisfaction when viewed in isolation, it's a beacon of sobriety by comparison with most other car marketing.

In an age of mass comment, isn't it strange how much marketing continues to be inauthentic? Be it pristine interiors, fake beauty or prettified food, the obsession is all too often with an aspiration that is likely to be perceived as ridiculous.

The thinking behind the marketing may well be sound, but the deception of the customer or the self-deception of the marketer so often undermines it. There is a difference between dreams and fantasy. Credibility is key.