My favourite ad ever. I stumbled across the not-lacking-an-ounce-of-cozy-warm-blanket-and-hot-blooded-insta-crush-charm Ryan Reynolds promoting his company – American Gin. A 100 second video ad.
I laughed. I might have peed a little and spit a little coffee simultaneously over the last line. No spoiler alert forthcoming. I wanted to sit on a mountainside in the rays of the sun, pontificating about how to get juniper berries into massage lotion at the spa. I thought about the dog in my pontification about marketing brilliance…because the dog was barking at a squirrel in the yard. But I digress.
For a moment I hugged the world in all its glory and thought about how magical life can be if we just lighten the F up and choose to see the world through the filter of happiness…joy in the possibilities of lightness of being.
And so I posted the video and some commentary on LinkedIn: “I could not possibly love an ad more than this – in a world of marketing that is full of itself and tired sounding. Ryan Reynolds should make all ads for everyone for one year so we could all start to re-capture our happiness amidst upside down world we are living in these days.”
In my LinkedIn world I have posted a few dozen blog articles. The highest view count for a single post of mine – about 900. Hold any of your insight about the effervescence of my own posts that causes lack of view kerfuffle to yourselves. Three weeks of Mr. Reynolds on my post? 100,000 views and counting, 960 likes, 180 shares, profile views up 10,000%. An explosion of people telling two friends, and so on and so on.
The reaction to this video proves: 1) Ryan Reynolds could be Canada’s Prime Minister any day; 2) Ryan Reynolds could sell life insurance to a pre-schooler; 3) Deadpool 12 is likely to be popular; 4) Quality content still matters to people; 5) Storytelling is a beautiful art that still really connects with people when done well; 6) People are craving humour in today’s very serious world – one that craves moments of levity.
This said, there’s a deeper master class on marketing and video: 1) A storytelling approach connects with people much more effectively than product features and benefits, or suit and tie interview style; 2) An immediate hook. Think communications pyramid; lead with the stickiest element; 3) Value proposition focus. Yes, tongue in cheek can be OK if we just walk back from the cliff of how important we think our product is relative to society that cares much less; 4) Beautiful cinematography and high production value; 5) 3-5 chapter segments of story within the story; 6) Artful care and attention to EVERY word in the script; 7) Seeing beauty in details not large scenery…together with a focus on faces and people to create the overall effect of experience not products; 8) Use of humour. Happiness can create powerful connection. As an aside, why are we so shy and scared to offend with any display of human personality or humour when the alternative is to bore people to death when they will become, ironically, unable to be offended? and 9) A killer close. Neuroscience indicates that beginnings and ends that stick with us most.
A career in marketing has made me quite cynical about it. We just keeping trying to sell stuff without a soul. Written into creative briefs focused on brand position here and key message there and a going through the motions bunch of noise everywhere. All coming home to roost in those insanely-named pharmaceutical ads with the auctioneer voice at the end that warns us to call a doctor our arm falls off as a side-effect. It’s hard to call without an arm.
Why is so much marketing uninspired? Because our process tail wags the creative dog. Because we have seemingly defaulted to quantity over quantity. Because we have forgotten that the ENTIRE point of anything is to connect people to experience….to help make lives better lived.
To break the marketing noise barrier, think about the story you want to tell. Tell it differently. Invest in its quality. Find the kernel of truth about your differentiation. If your product sucks to begin with, don’t sell it and waste your money until the product is worth selling.
Sure – it’s just gin. But I will buy it to try it. When I have a sip, I will have a smile on my face thinking about a few seconds of video that asked us to pause and enjoy ourselves….just because.
Mr. Reynolds, if you are reading this, I think your ears are ¼ mm mis-aligned, but that’s probably the source of all the man and woman-crushes, and the life-force of your visual and oratorical edge. In marketing world, we call that value proposition….