What’s the flaw when it comes to pornographic movies? Layers.
You start with a man and a woman (usually), then things have to escalate. Two women and a man; two women, two men; three women, a young man, an old man and a dwarf. Every subsequent film has to go one better… another layer, ad infinitum.
American movies are the same, which is why they are declining in quality. Start with two murders, one affair and three car chases. Then it escalates: four car chases, two affairs and a dozen killed. Next? 3D slaughter.
Advertisements and marketing are the same: low price, then low, low price, then ridiculously low price, then crazy Eddie… prices so low we’re losing money (and he was, which is why he allegedly sold stolen goods).
I keep arguing that the nature of consumers has changed. Part of that is driven by ads and marketing that pile layer upon pornographic layer until consumers (B2C and B2B) just stop believing anything and everything… and the more you pile on layers of bull, the less they believe (which is one reason why ‘under-produced’ movies, ads and reality TV shows are somehow judged as more ‘honest’).
We pile on pornographic layers with absurd claims and use digital media to promote our work so our porno can be seen in every corner of the online world, whether consumers like it or not.
Pornography and movies have one advantage: they can be seen as fantasy; and as such the unbelievable layers are a bit more tolerated. James Bond can fend off five paid assassins with a duffle bag and we’re OK with that; some couples can keep up with dozens of partners, hour after hour and we’re still OK.
But… then some cosmetic promises instant wrinkle relief or a Dr. Scholls’ insert can help you ‘get your life back’ and we’re suddenly not OK (and advertising and marketing are further relegated to havens for shysters, liars and thieves).
What’s the solution? Marketing/advertising that’s less sophisticated with fewer layers, more depth, more primal themes, and more mythical (archetypical) appeals.
Less sophisticated doesn’t mean dumbed down. That would be like saying that Hemingway’s simple sentences were written for idiots.
And mythical doesn’t mean King Arthur (although it could).
I’m thinking of basic archetypical myths -- the reluctant warrior (Arjuna or Achilles), the long return home (Ulysses, The Prodigal Son, The Searchers, Star Wars), the journey to adulthood (The Graduate, Huckleberry Finn), The Damsel in Distress (look at Tarentino’s Django -- right up front one character tells you about the Siegfried myth of rescuing the woman), 40 days in the desert (Jesus), trial by fire (Job), finding our long, lost love, being perfect mothers and fathers, seeking forgiveness, rediscovering belief, growing old with grace, etc.
These primordial tales are not layered, they are single-mindedly simplistic: one inch wide and one million miles deep… they are poetic (“To be or not to be”), they transcend changing consumer natures and strike (again) at what’s hard-wired.
Marketing and advertising have lost this ‘simple’ depth, preferring to add layer upon layer of (fake) story, CGI, music, fantastic stunts, ridiculous claims and promises that a six-year-old can see through.
No… you’re not going to take this approach for toilet paper. But for anything NEW and GAME CHANGING, primal ideas are ideal.
-The Prodigal Son (or Daughter, these days) who finds his/her way home thanks to the newest smartphone or the next Facebook.
-The young entrepreneur who uses the latest software to start his or her own company that brings down the malevolent giant.
- A new biometric testing unit that allows people to take back control of their healthcare destiny from the medical bureaucracy.
-Look at the iPad ads showing their positive effects on children. What parent can resist that image of giving their offspring an advantage in this cold, cruel world?
-Last year’s Chrysler ad with Clint Eastwood in Detroit (David and Goliath, Rocky).
These single-layered, deeply emotional ads bring immediacy, authenticity, humanity… and the perfect combination of head and heart. They can lodge deep in the personal unconscious where symbols are being made; and the emotional connection with the product itself will be carried along.
This seems to me to be the new way to market and advertise and the only way to overcome consumer boredom, malaise and distrust.
Otherwise, we’re just cynical marketers whose true ancestors are the money changers in the Temple… creating our own marketing and metrics Tower of Babel… following the worst of direct response without style, humanity, emotion or creativity.
But marketers must deal with what’s real, so I’m always cognizant of the dollars.
Creative, mythic themes are a way to break through a crowded, me-too marketplace and align your product with our hard-wired nature so that consumers are happy to buy.
Talk about marketing that sticks, yet doesn’t seem cheap, intrusive or silly. All it takes is a lot of thought, some creativity and a great, honest product…. and, oh yes, dialing it down on the (Hemingway) bullshit meter.
