Art Directing the Beijing Olympics
Posted on | August 24, 2008 | No Comments
No doubt the games are the most exciting event for anyone in Beijing who has stayed here for any length of time. Seven years in my case and for almost the entire time the government has systematically prepared me for this event.
Many things have changed, as no doubt you will know. We’ve torn down an entire section of this city as big as my hometown to construct an all new central business district. The same for the Olympic green, where tens of thousands of residents have been moved to places not mentioned. We got a new CCTV building and a new opera, we built an entire new subway system, an airport which couldn’t be any bigger, and made it rain on command. A lot of change indeed.
One of the things though that go rather unnoticed is the visual change in details that came along with all this. What seems granted for Olympic tourists and the people seeing Beijing through the eyes of a TV camera is in fact something rather special for us Beijingers.
It starts with the city’s cab drivers who have undergone a complete make-over. While the old and trashy cabs have been banned off the street over the past three years, it wasn’t until August 1st that the taxi drivers themselves got a visual upgrade. While these guys used to live more of a cowboy live before, dressing as they pleased and even shaving while driving, they now all sport the same yellow and blue uniform with matching ties. When asked about it, they are all very happy with the new shirts and pants and give a thumbs up for their 100% cotton comfort. Only the ties are a bit of a drag and usually stowed inside the glove compartment. It took this gentleman a few minutes to make it work.
Also in the comfort of the night to August 1st another amazing thing happened across the city. Suddenly every shop front, in every road and on every corner, featured a standardized signage. Where before a wealth of more or less creative signs pointed out what to expect behind the doors, now a unified size and a standard set of colors and fonts make every street and every shop look the same. I can only imagine the amazing logistics behind such a feat. Even McDonalds and KFC had to comply with this new regulation, though they could keep their logo on the board.
Walking though the Olympic streets of Beijing reveals another detail to the trained eye: flowers everywhere. This I have to admit took a while of trial and error though, as flowers in all kinds of shapes and forms have been put up and down throughout town for several months. It is a real treat, wherever you go you can play flower spotting, written in tulips or roses you find anything from “Welcome to Beijing 2008” to “Use civilized behaviour; create a new atmosphere”
But of course it is all about the sport and the organizers really have managed to apply a total Olympic 360 branding to the city. The Beijing Olympic logo, the colorful signage with the lucky clouds, the 5 mascots and countless slogans are applied to every bridge, every fence and every billboard that sat empty after the non-sponsors’ advertising was removed. The Olympic branding really is a welcome change in design and typography to this usually rather grey city. I only hope that when the factories are turned back on after the Olympics, that some of Beijing’s new art direction will stay for a little while longer.
Click here for a laugh
Posted on | April 22, 2008 | 4 Comments
My favorite Asian TV spot from the recent past is from India. It advertises the Happydent White Chewing gum, you probably have seen it. It is the very likable and funny story of a Rajah’s palace in India where all light bulbs are replaced by servants chewing the gum. The product makes the teeth so shiny white that they illuminate everything from chandeliers to the car’s headlights. The spot is hilarious and the Bollywood soundtrack is so contagious that you find yourself humming it immediately. TV commercial storytelling at its best.
HappyDent White Indian Spot from Ronaldo Salame on Vimeo.
When I think of my favorite Asian digital campaign from the recent past it gets a little more difficult. Sure, there are plenty of industry events, creative award shows, marketing seminars and digital summits where I am exposed to a wealth of campaigns and case studies. But when prompted to pick my favorite I have a hard time. I think about successful campaigns I remember, campaigns that involve great banner advertising. Campaigns that stretch beyond the web into mobile or digital outdoor or campaigns that engage through games and online story telling. Many campaigns come to mind, though not one stands out as much as the TV spot from India. We can definitely improve a little when it comes to creating memorable digital campaigns, so it seems.
To the credit of our profession though, digital campaigns are not as easily stored and told as quickly as a 60 second TV commercial. They tend to be built around complex strategies that involve multiple channels, have built-in mechanics that facilitate a brand-consumer-dialogue and try to stretch digital innovation to deliver a fresh and surprising approach. But here is something they could learn from this TV commercial: don’t take yourself so seriously, be simple and have a little fun.
There are four simple and easy steps that can be taken to make sure a digital campaign gets as much recall value as a good TV spot.
First of all it’s about human insights: a universal truth should be underlying the idea. Too many times digital campaigns are built around pure demographic data rather than real insights into the specific target audience. What drives them, what motivates them, what are the daily issues they are facing? Only an idea that is built on a consumer insight can really cut through the clutter and deliver a memorable message. One of the examples that come to mind is the campaign for the Philips Bodygroom. Created over two years ago by Tribal DDB this campaign is still remembered amongst many male and hairy friends.
Then, of course you say, a strong idea is the basis for a successful online campaign. And this is true: without an idea the campaign will not make it past any brand recall study. If you look around though, how many truly big ideas come to mind when thinking of a digital campaign in Asia? Many times we get lost in the execution; focusing on getting the mechanics right, adding complex backend technology and putting mechanics in place to measure the campaign’s success from every angle. The real issue at hand is to create a compelling and memorable idea that lives beyond the next click. Something that gets passed on and talked about, not just in an online forum or on MSN, but at the water cooler, in the real world. Viral spots I believe were conceived to do just that: to provide a branded story that is compelling enough to forward or have a chat about. But it shouldn’t stop here; an idea should be bigger than a spot on YouTube. When looking in my memory’s archives for a great digital idea then Subservient Chicken springs to mind, still. An idea that combined a brand story with cutting edge technology, an idea so strong that it was and still is talked about way beyond digital media.
The third ingredient that makes for a memorable campaign is good storytelling. While copywriters and art directors in traditional agencies are trained to do exactly that, most digital agencies are not equipped to tell a compelling brand story, be it on- or offline. The fact is that digital savvy talent comes from a more rational approach to building a brand: delivering a customer or user experience across multiple digital channels, from websites to mobile phones to in-store installations. Digital creatives are mostly visual designers, technology engineers and experience architects. They sometimes could do with a magic spark, a creative leap that leads to a story that can be experienced and re-told many times over again. Great story telling online however is different from what it is on TV. The user is part of it and the story cannot happen without him/her. A great example of this is lonelygirl15, a story that has been running for nearly 2 years and which involves an audience of over 70 million in its ever evolving story play.
Lastly there is simplicity. Especially in digital marketing it is so easy to get lost in complexity. New technologies emerging daily, more and more fragmented channels for the consumer to hang out in, social networks and web 2.0 are all factors to consider for a campaign, but are they necessary? If so, which ones? It is the nature of technology to be complex, but it is our task to make the complex simple. It is great to experiment, to drive the acceptance of new communication models. It is imperative though to do so without loosing the potential impact of the campaign.
In the end the most memorable campaign will win. It will win over the hearts of the consumers more so than their minds. A digital campaign that makes me laugh out loud, makes me think or question my behavior, one that touches me on an emotional level, I will talk about and remember the next time I am prompted for my favorite digital campaign from Asia.