Who needs branding? Well anyone in the solar energy
industry arena, that's for sure ....
Name the top 5 companies in the
industry....err...uh...how about one?
So, who needs branding... "Who doesn't?" ... is the
answer coming from the "Got milk?" guys. And they've probably got a one-liner
which might be put to good use promoting Solar or a solar company (with help
from yours truly). This is also a plug for Goodby, Silverstein & Partners,
the San Francisco ad agency best known for its "Got milk?" series (the Budweiser
lizards, etc)...according to my take on Blair Clarkson's fine article (in an
obscure mag, called "Industry Standard" which you could never locate, unless you
have a dental appointment soon - which is where I saw it).
The Left-Coast bunch of wits at Goodby Silverstein
are the hand's down #1, hot ticket in Ad Agencies these days - eat you heart
out, big apple - you don't have a clue. Take the Ad they introduced last
November for TiVo. It is unfoundedly the funniest thing that I have ever seen on
the boob-tube, bar none, including the bloopers, Chris Rock, SNL and animal
comedians. The now-infamous ad featured ex-football 49er greats Joe Montana and
Ronnie Lott, out on the golf course chatting about Ronnie's latest
problem...err... shall we say... "masculine itch." Just as Joe reaches for
a big jar of ointment and scoops out the cure.... the ad cuts away to
the tag line: "TV your way." The clever point being: TiVo gets rid of ads you
really don't want to see.
If you haven't seen this spot, you won't get it.
But if you have seen it (and are male and played high school sports in the USA),
then you are probably rolling on the floor in uncontrollable flashback-laughter,
as we speak.
Another clever billboard Ad (for eTrade
Brokerage) reads simply: "Root of all evil ... Can't buy happiness ... Blah,
blah, blah." The reader must fill in the blanks - demonstrating once again
that less-is-more. But again...you had to be there....kinda like "nobody doesn't
like Sara Lee."
Anyway, this kind of subtle semi-ironic
Ad-hoc-humor neatly capture "branding" in the post-dot-com era - (i.e.
'don't take yourself too seriously' ) and illustrates how a previously unknown
company, or cooperative (in the case of Got-Milk) can get its message
quickly ingrained into the public psyche - one step ahead of withering
economic influences and/or entrenched challenges from the Petrocracy .
Oh... forgot to mention... my suggestion to the
"Solar industry" (is there really such a thing?)... is simple... (in
addition to hiring Goodby Silverstein, and having them hire me on as
consultant).... Remember "Got milk?"- the mantra that boils down the product to
its bare essence?
How about something like "Got rays?".... I can think
of a ton of ways to "take-off" from that premise, including a variation of the
tried and true "Eat my Photons, malefactor".... that last blip appealing mainly
to video-game-jocks.
Jones
