The NRL Should Make All Marketers Brave

Many years ago, whilst at Saatchi & Saatchi, I worked on the General Mills business. Everyone who worked on this business, was asked to sit through an induction video. It was a good introduction into the business and its brands. However, one thing the video said has sat with me for years. That is, interestingly, the video ended with an unexpected joke and it went something like this (written in the classic Star Wars font fading to black):

"General Mills is the owner of some the worlds greatest brands, all with very proud histories. If nothing else can you please do your best not to screw them up."

This was on their corporate induction video - it was a brilliant moment of levity. We never screwed up (that much). However, what would it take for marketers to 'screw up', or at worst, kill a brand. If you take a look at the NRL - quite a bit it would seem.

In the last few years the NRL has been closely associated with many communications disasters, including the latest massive issues with the Melbourne Storm. However, the NRL appears to be not just surviving but thriving. The brand feels strong. Further, take the list of brands that appeared on Mumbrella's 'Marketing Disaster's list. Brands including Witchery, Westpac, Kyle & Jackie O, Tiger Woods, and Tourism Queensland - all, it would seem are doing well, and their disaster is long forgotten, or indeed was not a disaster at all (although I really wish Kyle and Jackie O would disappear). In essence it's extremely hard to kill a brand - and even the occasional 'disaster' may not be a disaster at all, perhaps even having an unexpected positive impact.

If you're worried about taking a risk - then take heart from the NRL. They, more than anyone show how resilient brands are. When brands find a way into peoples lives, then people really don't want them to leave. Take risks, try new things, get new learnings, and have fun - don't be to afraid of screwing up - as it's really, rally hard to genuinely do so.

General Mills needed have worried, no one in that room was near powerful enough to do any damage.

Logorama: Oscar nominated 2010 short film

Not sure how I missed this, but my friend Warwick bought this Oscar nominated short film to my attention. It presents a dysphoric future where brands have taken over, morals corrupted, and Ronald McDonald is angry. Pulp Fiction in tone, and Bowling for Columbine in attitude it's an entertaining point of view highlighting the continuing commercialisation of our world. Interestingly I haven't seen it mentioned in any marketing or advertising blogs?

An Alternative To Advertising

The attached Adnews article looks at how you can build brands with a mindset other than advertising. We need a new mindset when building brands other than 'advertising' or 'line extensions'. There is plenty more we can do.

Stop Abusing Masturbation: Why we should get it out in the open

About the only thing I ever got told about masturbation at school was that a) 95% of guys did it, and 5% lied, and b) around 66% of woman masturbate. This is silly, and I find it extraordinary that something that gives so much pleasure to so many people is not more openly discussed.

Recently Psychology Today has written an excellent article on masturbation. Among the highlights are the fact that the Spanish government ran a campaign encouraging its citizens to masturbate 'Pleasure is in your own hands'. Further, the article talks about the dangers of masturbating such as picking up bad habits i.e. masturbating about inappropriate fantasies. This is a topic worth 'outing' in and of itself. Although not mentioned in the article, it's likely that people who commit sexually deviant / illegal / harmful acts have masturbated about the act 100's or 1000's of times previously, conditioning them to eventually commit the act they are fantasising about. Further, they'll relive the act over and over again through masturbation, in turn conditioning them to do the act again. The more masturbation is discussed, the less likelihood that people will a) feel guilty about it, or ) pick up such bad / harmful habits.

However, masturbation obviously also provides a lot of 'joy'. Most of us (I assume) have gotten a grip on the art of masturbation and practice it frequently.

I've long seen masturbation as one of the last untouched bastions open to us in advertising / marketing. We presented an idea once to a client that clearly communicated the brands proposition, and would no doubt have got 'cut through' - through it's use of masturbation (albeit somewhat veiled). They didn't buy it. However, why shouldn't masturbation be a topic of communications. Masturbation is fun, enjoyable, aspirational, a part of daily life (or near enough to it), and is a very, very strong conditioner of human behaviour.

Masturbation works via paired association. Think about something, couple that thought with pleasure (orgasm) and whatever you were thinking about becomes more desirable. For marketers interested in behavioural change, this is a massive, but as yet missed opportunity.

Anyone game?

PS Masturbation Month is in May - so this article came a month early.