I was having an interesting chat with an ECD at a big London ad agency the other day.
It was a really interesting one. Because I found myself defending his territory while he was advocating mine.
Odd.
Basically, we were talking about a big new brand thought that the agency has developed for one of their clients. The marketing director wants to launch the big new brand thought with a big new 90" brand film.
But the ECD (who's film it was), really felt that the big new idea should launch with something else altogether ... something with some engagement: an event, a stunt, a digital something ... ANYTHING, in fact, other than a 90" TV spot.
Which kind of led him to say that there is almost no role for this kind of big brand film. Or at least to seriously question the central stature that such epics have been given in the "big campaigns" of recent times.
Oddly, I sort of disagree.
And then tried to find an example.
It wasn't hard.
The T Mobile Trafalgar Square work only makes sense (indeed only worked) because of the big 90" flash mob ad that preceded it, made clear the brand's position and started to build a community of fans who wanted to come down for the event.
The Barclaycard Waterslide game is now the most downloaded branded app on iTunes of all time. But that is only so because we saw the big ad that preceded it. And the game only makes sense (or delivers any brand message at all) if you know that Barclaycard is all about contactless payment making real life easier.
The Cadbury work that carries that brand idea of a Glass and a Half Full of Joy - the sheer, random burst of pleasure that their product delivers - only makes sense if you saw the Gorilla.
I could go on.
Actually, anyone who might say that TV advertising has had its day in a world of big integrated thinking, of digital engagement, of branded content, of experiential is talking shit.
The big 90" TV ad remains a phenomenal way of engaging people with a big brand idea. Sure, the nature of those films has to change, so that rather than delivering a response message, they deliver a brand promise, but their role has become even more central in many ways, I think.
In PR, we talk about our work creating a favourable environment in which to sell (we might create some response, but primarily, we make it easier to sell through all channels and more likely that a consumer will close the deal).
For my money, these kinds of big brand idea expressed through TV spots create a favourable environment for brands to engage and communicate. If you don't know what the big thought is behind the game, the event, the Facebook app, they might as well not exist. The big ad delivers that context.
Now I'm not saying that the big TV spot is the only way to deliver that brand context. It isn't. But it remains a very, very powerful one.
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