Picked up this classic Volkswagen ad in a vintage shop in Stockholm today (not sure from exactly what year it is, do you?). More advertising should be timeless like this.

Creating social or cultural conflicts is a great creative strategy for achieving communicative momentum. Especially when the brand allows for it. Above is a “promo trailer” for a fictive company called Sandhamnstek (part of a social media campaign to generate PR) we set up for our client TV3 who will air a reality show about an island outside Stockholm that gets invaded by a certain group of people during summer. Unless you’re Swedish, it may be hard to fully appreciate this, but the strategy is to create tension by addressing real issues that are opposite to Swedish norms and values. Not to be confused with simply pissing people off, although there’s a fine line between the two.

This guy is.

ffffound

Salt or pepper shakers are usually pretty dull. Unless you can make believe it’s heroin you’re sprinkling on your pasta.

Here are the results from the Swedish planner salary survey. Many thanks to everybody who took part! I hope you’ll find it useful. And here’s a downloadable PDF.

 
I'm currently conducting a salary survey for Swedish planners. Hopefully, we will be better prepared for next year's salary talks. So, if you're a planner working in Sweden, go here. And do spread the word! 

Technology doesn’t only let us create wonderful new applications and platforms. It’s also a good friend for pushing good old content.

As technology becomes commoditized at a fast pace, there’s no intrinsic value of selecting media for any other sake than efficiency. The real agency challenge is therefore not to be innovative per se, but ability to exploit innovation.

Two of my favorites when it comes to content:

Get your Basketball and The Life for Halo ODST 3.

How good are nine-year olds at creating ads? A colleague of mine found out this weekend when the agency hosted a birthday party.

The Brief

Draw an ad for BMW or Mini. Write a slogan – why buy a BMW/Mini?

Tools and Deadline

A piece of paper, pens and 15 minutes.

Ideas

1. “Buy a BMW/Mini. So much power for real men.”

Planner comment: power and masculinity becomes the proposition of this ad. A clear call to action. Buy the damn car!

2. “Buy a BMW. For a cheap price. Make a good choice. BMW is the safest.”

Planner comment: Price and safety is generally not the brand proposition of BMW. This is usually what happens when creatives get loose briefs. Plus for showing the different angles of the car.

3. “Buy a BMW. A cosy trip for the whole family.”

Planner comment: this ad focuses on consumer benefits beyond product attributes – family cosiness, visualised by two station wagons for that competitive angle that BMW is famous for. An excellent strategy in Volvo land.

4. “Buy a BMW/Mini!!! It’s both fast, modern and cheap. It will only cost you your “pants”! Four seats and bold! For a real man!”

Planner comment: another ad that focusses on masculinity. It’s also the only “copy ad”.

5. “BMW/Mini!!! The car everybody has been waiting for. BMW/Mini. The car for real men.”

Planner comment: the creative execution of this very much like early Volkswagen ads. Simple copy and lots of white space around the product shot.

Two things come to mind from this. First, I’m amazed that 9-year olds are so literate in the language of advertising and brand knowledge – three of the five ads included masculinity (without any outside influence). Second, a sad but true fact is that some of the ads here are actually more strategically relevant than real ads from actual advertising agencies!