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Nike smash it with Colin Kaepernick.
Watch this.
10 black protagonists (some disabled)
4 female protagonists (two black)
Three white male protagonists.
Not representative, huh?
Colin Kaepernick, the former San Fransisco 49ers quarterback strongly divides opinion in the USA.
It was he who started the black injustice protest of kneeling on one knee during the National Anthem and this has driven white supremasists, such as Donald Trump, absolutely nuts for disrespecting the flag.
And it’s him that’s fronting this commercial standing in a US city street in front of a rippling US flag.
Now that’s what I call brave marketing.
This is what Donald Trump calls it.
And he’s right to an extent, there are boycotts from similarly white supremasist Republicans.
But my mate (who doesn’t really like Nike) just bought a White Nike NFL #7 Colin Kaepernick T shirt for £25.
Because this ad moved him.
Sure Nike may lose some customers with this (admittedly a bit Appley) ad, but they’ll win over a lot more than they lose.
Someone at Nike said to a brand manager “Don’t ask if your strategy is crazy, ask if it’s crazy enough.”
I doff my hat.
Which hat tonight at The Nods awards?
To celebrate the first ever NODS Awards I’ve launched a unique promotion.
Enter my ‘Get Ahead, Get a Hat’ promotion TODAY ONLY to receive a FREE HAT when you commission a day or more of Think Hard consuiltancy.
But first, which hat would you choose?
Free Promotion FOR ONE NIGHT ONLY: Exclusively for attendees of The Nods 2018.
I will be attending the Nods tonight. To celebrate the launch of this exciting new creative awards initiative I will be offering all new commissions a FREE HAT with every commission. LARGE or SMALL.
There’s only two commonly used words that can sum that up…
Blimey!
You know what they say. Get ahead. Get a hat!
To avail yourself of this offer simply stop me at The Nods Awards tonight and say. “Hoy, take this work commission Mark and I claim a free hat.”
Please help me raise money for sufferers of the deadly and horrific Mesothelioma.
Last November my Uncle Willie (Vidler) passed away. The cause of his death was the horrific cancer known as Mesothelioma.
Mesothelioma is a type of cancer that develops from the thin layer of tissue that covers many of the internal organs (known as the mesothelium). The most common area affected is the lining of the lungs and chest wall. It’s commonly associated with asbestos inhalation and as an electrician working on the construction of Cockenzie Power Station in the 1960’s, which he also saw demolished in his lifetime, Willie was aware of his asbestos inhalation – “we all were” he said.
The disease is the subject of considerable legal action but, more to the point, it’s a horrible way to die and is often described as drowning extremely slowly. In some ways I guess Willie was lucky insofar as his death was relatively quick compared to some.
At his funeral his amazing family (and my extended family of cousins, partners and a few friends) decided we would immortalise Willie and raise some money for Clydeside Action on Asbestos.
Action is necessary because, at the time Willie was in contact with asbestos, although there was knowledge of the dangers of asbestos exposure, employers did nothing to warn their workers of the hazards or provide personal protective clothing.
This is not acceptable as many men (mainly) have gone through terrible suffering as a result and their rights need to be upheld.
And so, 19 of us Vidlers’ and Co, are taking part in the Edinburgh Marathon on May 27th 2018 (exactly 245 years after I completed the London Marathon).
It’s fitting because the route passes the site of the former power station. (A few vickies will be flicked, I’m sure.)
I’m doing the middle leg in my team of four (8.3 miles to be precise) and, as a fat bastard, this represents something of a challenge.
On December 25th I can’t say I was feeling ‘match fit’ although I could still dance brilliantly as evidenced below.
However, I dusted off my running shoes in February and ran my first tentative steps in over 20 years.
Today I hit a landmark. Exactly 8.3 miles (and 84 minutes) on the treadmill at Norton House Hotel. (The exact distance I have to run).
The effort is fairly graphically demonstrated through my T shirt, which was only orange and white before my nipples took a tanking.
So, I now feel the time has come to ask for your support in the knowledge that by hook or by crook I can, and will, l get round the course.
Please give whatever you can. We’re doing this as a team effort and at the time of writing we are 3/4 of the way to our £3,000 target. But I think we should be seeing the target at £5k plus. Just click on the link below.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/mesorunners
This. Is London. Greatness from Nike. (Thanks to Wieden and Kennedy.)
London gets its own Nike ad.
We regionistas should hate it ‘cos it’s Lundin, innit.
But nah; it’s just great. The fastest three minutes in advertising you will see in a long time.
What I particularly love about it is that it twists the ULTIMATE regional yarn – the Four Yorkshireman sketch from the 1970’s by Monty Python – and makes it relevant to both London and 2018.
Every sport, every exercise, every trope explored with wit and excellent cultural mixing.
Everyone comes out of it well.
Except Peckham.
What’s wrong with Peckham?
When poos and jobbies are no laughing matter.
I attended a reception in Edinburgh last night, hosted by the IPA to celebrate 100 years of Public Service advertising.
It was a relatively dry and reverential affair, and Brian Coane of The Leith Agency, and the final speaker, maintained the gravitas of the event.
But he brought a smile to the room in his retelling of how what might seem an extremely dry, very important (critically so in fact) subject matter came to the screens (well, certainly the computer screens) of the middle aged Scottish public and their well meaning and caring children.
It was part of the campaign to nudge people to do their bowel screening test.
As he explained it, the brief reflected the gravitas of the task — after all, bowel cancer is a major killer of middle aged and elderly people, and bowel screening can dramatically improve outcomes if caught early.
The brief stated, as the core objective…
“To increase the proportion of people with stage 1 disease at diagnosis (as a proxy indicator of survival outcome) and to use performance against a HEAT Target as a lever for whole systems approach to improvement.”
…and was translated, in creative and communications terms, as…
‘Don’t be snobby test your jobby’
The room laughed and the target audience did the same when they saw this exposition of the brief.
Good work from The Leith Agency, brilliantly told by Brian.
How ‘pulling the rug’ creates truly great advertising communication.
This post starts with a ‘free’ social media campaign that got France thinking about the insidiousness of alcoholism in its national identity.
Betc France created this ingenious social media campaign that is better told through this short case study video than I can do justice.
Suffice it to say it demonstrates beautifully that alcoholism is a social disease that surrounds us and we cannot necessarily spot without stepping back and questioning behaviour.
That was Betc’s brief from its client Addict Aide France and the solution is quite brilliant.
I call this ‘Rug pull’ advertising in which you are led to believe one thing before a twist completely turns the story on its head. It’s exceptionally hard to pull off but is all the more rewarding for it.
The real genius of this campaign isn’t so much the gathering of 50,000 followers for this ‘;fake’ 25 year old but the final post and how that was then turned into a shareable # campaign. All at no cost (other than production – which included loads of champagne and a few yacht hires admittedly).
It reminds me of how superbly the rug was pulled by Troy library in its book burning campaign…
…and the equally brilliant Transport For London, Think Cycle Safety, campaign .
Pull the rug. Discombobulation sells ideas.
