Question #1. Why is so much bad/pointless advertising produced? Often by the best agencies?

There’s a difference between bad and bad. You have bad advertising that’s effective but creatively uninspiring. Then you have advertising that’s bad in every thinkable way.

The first type of bad advertising can be explained by the fact that an uncreative ad can be effective in terms of e.g relevance. This is amplified by the fact that advertising is a labour-intensive process. This means most advertising agencies prioritise their work, often resulting in a division of bread-n-butter work and award-winning work.

As for the second type of “bad”, I guess the main problem is the general lack of effectiveness monitoring and that any poor sod can make “advertising”.

Question #2. What basis is needed for advertising/commercial communications in various forms to be really, really good? Are there common denominators among the circumstances when things have become exceptionally good? 

In the short term, it’s a matter of managing risks. By risks I mean that creatively excellent communications are often produced in situations where neither the agency or the client have very much to lose (relative to the investment). That’s why a lot of award-winning advertising in Sweden come from pro-bono clients, from smaller projects or from a handful of clients. 

The ideal situation is of course when concepts are creatively brilliant and risk-free at the same time, but I really question whether this is possible. 

In the long term, I think exceptional creative output is determined by how the agency as a whole operates in terms of culture, processes, talent cultivation, creative philosophy, etc. 

Forsman & Bodenfors have been outstanding when it comes to producing high-quality advertising over the long-term, and my guess is that this has to do with how they’re organised as a collective (since creative individuals can be found on other top agencies). 

Question #3. How important is frequency and content respectively for the success of communications?

The consumer feels, but he doesn’t keep count. The starting point should always start with the consumer and his or her relationship with the brand and the product category. A car brand for example needs to be built over the long-term since people switch cars quite seldom. Frequency might be the most efficient way to achieve long-term brand awareness here. Nike, on the other hand, is all about content. They sell dreams, not shoes. 

It is possible that a big one-shot idea is lasting, but one should always keep in mind that most people dislike advertising, and that some sort of frequency is needed. 

Question #4. Critics of advertising often turn to the same things that the ad industry are repeadly doing (e.g naked chicks in ads): why doesn’t the industry want to change? Is it counter-productive to be politically correct?

There are probably a lot of reasons for this. One reason could be that the ad industry is not as progressive as you think, at least not in terms of equality, moral awareness (now that’s an understatement!), etc. Another reason is that advertising actually strives to be provocative and crossing the line is very easy. Using sex in ads is a shortcut to solving the creative task.

Question #5. There’s a lot of talk about social media and alternative channels in advertising: how will these affect advertising in the future? How does the future of advertising need to be shaped and work in order to be effective?

There’s a key difference between social media and other channels: social media is more a phenomenon than a media format. That means there many different ways of using it. So, rather than seeing it as just another media channel, I think the way to go is to really find a brand’s unique way to connect with people via social media platforms. Burger King, Skittles, Zappos, they have all found their own ways to engage customers. 

Just like the internet as a whole, I believe that social media will definitely change the total media portfolio, but I think its too soon to tell how much or in what way. I do think that some brands social media presence is more natural than others. 

In the short run, however, there are some bottlenecks for implementing social media when it comes to media planning. It’s impossible to budget for social media, because you don’t really know what you’re about to create and what the effect will be (kind of like creating videos with ambition that it will go viral). Maybe the way to go is to have experimental budgets for this and just try.