BRANDS’ HEALTH IN TIMES OF CONTAGION
HOW TO RECOGNIZE AND TREAT COMMUNICATION PATHOLOGIES
Introduction. what’s your brand’s temperature?
(reading time: 4 minutES)
How many times have you checked your temperature in the past weeks?
Probably, every time you’ve walked into a store, or supermarket, or office.
That’s how you do it, to make sure you’re healthy: you check symptoms.
This is how it is done, even for Brands’ health. Brands can also fall ill, can
lose vitality. Even in their case, we can see this from the symptoms. What
are they? The first symptom to evaluate is homologation. As it happened
during the first lockdown, when people started talking about
#SocialDistancing. Many, too many Brands have started to homologate, for
example by distancing the graphic elements of their logos, to symbolize
social distancing. Homologation means Confusion: which is a typical
disorder of Brands that no longer have a remarkable image, able to make
them stand out among their competitors. Look at the 3 spaced logos: which
one jumps out at you more? Which one is more remarkable? None, exactly.
What’s true for Logos, is also true for Claims. During the first wave of
Covid19, many Brands started to talk using the same #hashtags; their
speeches were a stringing together of the most popular keywords. The
YouTuber MicrosoftSam took advantage of this, to create and share a
montage of several commercials aired during that period, pointing out with
right sarcasm that Claims are all a bunch of times like these, more than
ever, here for you, we’ve always been there for you, we may be apart, but
we can stay connected, we’ll get through this together, etc etc. (Check it
out here https://youtu.be/vM3J9jDoaTA)
Visual Homologation, Copy Homologation: the result of both is the same, a
weakening of the specificity, recognizability and memorability of the Brand.
Homologation is the first symptom of an unhealthy Brand. A second
symptom to check is logorrhoea. In English language, this can also be
translated with a slang expression that expresses its pathological nature
even more explicitly: Verbal Diarrhea. As in the case of dysentery, Brand’s
Logorrhea leads to dehydration, cramps, and general weakening. Brands
end up shriveling, moving worse and worse in the media landscape, with a
general loss of public grip and effectiveness. How does this symptom
manifest itself? With the inability to describe yourself in a single sentence.
Try it: if you are not able to describe in one sentence what your Brand wants
to do, both in the market and in the world, it means that you have
contracted Verbal Diarrhea, an expression that I like to summarize in Brand
Viarrhea. The objective of this book is to act as a vaccine against Brand
Pathologies, providing, in a quick and painless way, the most effective
theoretical and practical tools to get to have a Brand that is bursting with
health.
Enjoy reading.
CHAPTER 1. HOMO S-APP-IENS
(reading time: 4 minutes)
I confess. I feel a one-way attraction to all things technological. Technology
extends our thinking: it turns it into action. A car is the idea of speed,
making you fast. An iPhone is the non-surgical idea of homo s-app-iens.
What is a homo s-app-iens? It is the human-internet fusion through apps,
through the cloud, through always-available digital content. Why not
surgical? Because we carry the iPhone in our pockets, rather than
implanted in our bodies (for the moment…). Science fiction? No, reality. The
one in which most of us live. The one in which our behaviors take shape.
That’s right, our behaviors: they have undergone a mutation. Not a
biological one, but equally a definitive one.
The behavioral evolution that led to homo s-app-iens is complete, and
there is no going back. If you want some proof, try reaching a car
destination without Google Map, or enjoying a view without posting it on
Instagram. Apps have become our second nature, giving us powers we
didn’t have before: in the case of Google Map and Instagram, the power to
navigate us anywhere and the power to share images of our lives. When did
this all start? We should ask Marshall McLuhan, if he were alive. Since he
isn’t, he can’t be offended if I turn instead to David Cronenberg and his
magnificent Videodrome. In this film (which was inspired by McLuhan), two
technologies for de-localizing and simulating reality (the TV and its storage
medium, the VCR) alter human perceptions on such a profound level that
they even produce an organic mutation.
Today, there is much talk of augmented reality as a very recent frontier of
visual technology. Yet the idea, and the habit of augmenting concrete
reality with something intangible, is ancient. At least as old as the
telephone (and, even earlier, the telegraph). When you talk to someone on
the phone, is this someone there with you? Isn’t his or her voice an
intangible sound content, augmenting your reality? When faced with two
rhetorical questions, confirming comes by contract. So let’s face it: our
reality was already augmented, since before we were born.
And this is not hyperbole: because, even before we were born, our
heartbeat was actually already there: audible in Dolby Surround while we
were not yet even visible in an ultrasound. Here’s the thing. We are born
augmented people: we are already the next evolutionary step that we
believe is yet to come. And this point immediately becomes a question:
why does homo s-app-iens still lives just like some homo sapiens? Let’s get
to the topic of this book, and talk about advertising. We are pervaded by
information technology. Indeed, even more: we have become Information
Biology ourselves. After all, we already were: at the base of our biology
there are packages of information, our genes, our DNA. Evolutionists define
human, among other things, as the survival and replication strategy of the
package of information that are in our genes. It will also be for this reason,
then, that we have become healthy carriers of information, of big data.
Today, all our behaviors are technology driven; every action we take is
actually an interaction with some information technology device that
generates data. Think about when you go for a run to get rid of the
cheeseburger you devoured at lunch. What app do you use? Many people
use NikePlus. There’s even a dedicated Apple Watch model. Do you
remember how Nike Plus got started? (Incidentally, it’s why I started
running again, #nerdrunning). In 2006, Nike announced a partnership with
Apple to launch a bluetooth sensor that would fit into the sole of certain
running shoe models. The sensor tracked athletic performance, and
transmitted it to the iPod, which in this way became a running tutor. Mind
you, this was a tech design operation, not advertising. Yet, it had a huge
impact on the perception of Brand more than any traditional advertising
operation then undertaken by Nike. NikePlus is an adamantine example of
how technology, and in particular data technology - the technology that
makes us human data generators - is the perfect form of advertising for the
homo s-app-iens. And that’s exactly what worries me. I worry about the
technology going viral, more than the idea of what to do with it. I worry that
the medium (call it media, if you prefer) will go viral, more than the end. I
worry, most of all, that it is still necessary to explain what “viral” is. OK,
let’s start here.
CHAPTER 2. VIRAL
(reading time: 5 minutes)
Viral is an adjective, not a noun.Viral is an effect, not an object: it’s not a
thing, it’s a how. When someone asks a creative, or an ad agency, for a
“viral” (often meaning a video), they’ve asked the wrong question: so
they’re self-condemning to not find the answer they say they’re looking for.
It makes no sense to ask for “a viral,” just as it makes no sense to ask for
an “award winning commercial.” If anything, we are asking for a content, a
creativity that has the right characteristics to spread through a
spontaneous contagion among people. Like a virus, indeed. A virus that
was born neither with the Internet nor with Social Media. Think of how
ancient myths spread, transmitted orally from person to person and from
tribe to tribe, infecting entire human geographies.
Think of jokes, capable of spreading even across generations: my teenage
son tells me, with minimal variations, some jokes that were already
circulating “in my day” and that, after 30 years, are still around to infect us.
Think about my grandmother: how is it possible that, despite not being an
ex-groupie, nor a hard rock fan, she would hum Ta ta taaaa, ta ta taaaaa
the riff of Smoke on the water? Mind you - she didn’t know it was a Deep
Purple song, written after a fire which broke out during a Frank Zappa
concert in Montreaux. My grandmother didn’t know Smoke on the Water at
all, yet she was infected by it.
Because the virus of contagion works above all thanks to people, who
become its vectors and amplifiers: even without being fully aware of it. As
we shall see, the virus possesses some fundamental and recurring
characteristics that make it irresistible to the cognitive, emotional, social
and narrative structure of homo s-app-iens. While we keep this in mind,
let’s fast forward to today, with the Internet, Social Media, Smartphones
and... boom! The contagion has gone global. Even if the diffusion of
cultural, narrative and symbolic content by spontaneous contagion has
existed since before the invention of the modem, it is also undeniable that
virality has become the protagonist of marketing since technology invaded
the lives of homo sapiens, now s-app-iens. In fact, the term “viral” applied
to marketing was used for the first time in 1995 by the strategy team of the
Chiat/Day creative agency in Los Angeles, for the launch of the first Sony
PlayStation. (link to video: https://youtu.be/-IaJNizRmk8)
The viral strategy included a highly cyberpunk campaign, aimed at infecting
nerds, early adopters, i.e. all those that today we would call influencers,
and using them as healthy carriers of the PlayStation virus: an action so
viral that the console, after 6 months, was already the market leader. To
date, it is the most successful product launch for Sony Entertainment. In
addition to this, the term was then popularised in print in the
December1996/January 1997 issue of Fast Company magazine, the “world’s
leading progressive business media brand, with a unique editorial focus on
innovation and technology,” with the article “The Virus of Marketing”
(https://www.fastcompany.com/27701/virus-marketing), in which Jeffrey
Rayport describes the marketing model that he believes all brands would
soon want to apply. A prophetic article, if we think that we were still at
Internet 1.0, the paleo-net-olitical era of Internet Explorer and Hotmail.
Indeed, Hotmail was one of the first Internet businesses to use a viral
technique, adding the tagline “Get your free e-mail at Hotmail” at the
bottom of every email sent by its users. This way, every sent email was the
bearer of contagion: and in fact in 18 months Hotmail reached 12 million
users, marking what at the time was a resounding record and envied by all
Internet businesses. Viral contagion has tremendous power in convincing
people to believe in something and, consequently, to do something about
it. This became clear to everyone in 1999, when the trailer for a
posthumous documentary about the Blair Witch began filming.
(https://youtu.be/a_Hw4bAUj8A)
Here is the summary: 3 student film-makers decide to make a name for
themselves by making the first documentary about the legendary Blair
Witch. They travel to Burkittsville, Maryland, and begin interviewing the
residents, then venture into the forests of the Black Hills, where legend has
it that the ancient and evil Blair Witch is still active. At this point the 3
disappear, and nothing more is heard of them. After a year, their
equipment is found by chance, along with the footage that shows what
happened to them. Something frightening, of course. Since “I was there”, I
guarantee that everyone believed in what was, in fact, the first hoax
marketing (or mockvertising) campaign of the contemporary age: allowing
The Blair Witch Project to raise over $248 million worldwide, against a
production budget of $60.000, and to launch the recovered footage genre later imitated by other successes such as Paranormal Activity and
Cloverfield.
Imagine what might have happened if youtube or social media had already
existed in 1999. In fact, don’t imagine it. Instead, remember what happened
with the first Deadpool movie.It was late July 2014, when a leak of a test
footage made by Tim Miller and Ryan Reynolds for Fox production company
(https://youtu.be/2KCAYgNvrxo) appeared on youtube. At the time, there
had been much talking of a Deadpool movie for some time, but the project
had stalled for various reasons, not the least was the misgivings about
what would necessarily become an X-rated superhero movie (Deadpool is a
character rich in adult action and humor).
Providentially, the leaked video had such a viral success, bouncing like a
ping pong ball among millions of social users, as to convince Fox to
produce the film, which immediately became a huge box office and critical
success, replicated by a sequel. No one knows, because no one has openly
admitted it, who is the author of the providential leak that went viral.
Meanwhile, the search itself has become a small viral phenomenon, to the
point that in July 2019 Ryan Reynolds celebrated the fifth anniversary of the
original leak, with the hashtag #LeakAversary, posting on Instagram a
corkboard
with
the
entire
investigation
to
find
the
author. (https://www.instagram.com/p/B0d5PLhBGaB/) Waiting to find
out, or to discover that this is also a viral teaser for the next Deadpool
movie, what is important to underline is that the viral contagion of the test
footage has generated an action from the production company. An idea
fully expresses its viral potential when it drives consciences into believing
in something that then becomes a motive for action: the viral idea becomes
a spring of viral action.
CHAPTER 3. THE POWER OF VIRAL VAMPIRES
(reading time: 25 minutes)
Now it’s time for the big question: how does an idea go viral? Without
dragging it too much (this is a manual, not a historical novel), I’ll answer
that there are some viral levers: mechanisms that characterise ideas that
end up, in one way or another, triggering contagion.Well, what are the most
powerful viral levers?
In my activity (20+ years) as an advertising creative and a nerdist
philosopher, I have arrived at this shortlist of 7: Humor, Shock,
Catchphrase, Celebrities/Influencers, Character, Gossip, Innovation. Let’s
take a closer look at them.
HUMOR
On a cultural anthropology exam I once heard the question, “Tell me, why is
it that when we laugh, we bare our teeth?” Fortunately, I also heard the
answer of the professor who, consistent with the question, showed his
dental arches to the student who was experiencing an excess of anxious
perspiration: “because that’s how the predator flaunts its ability to bite,
even though it doesn’t bite.” Laughter, in short, is an ancestral expression
of both our animal nature and our social nature; it is a display of animal
energy, which has evolved to “oil” the social aggregation: I could bite you
but I don’t, happy? Humor, too, has gradually evolved, and adapted to
various historical, cultural, geographical and social contexts, broadening
and deepening an irresistible grip on our deepest nature: few things are
more contagious than a well-pitched laugh (a yawn, perhaps, but that’s
another story). As the authors of The Humor Code write, “when something
feels wrong or threatening, but at the same time playful, benign” it
unleashes a force that’s in our genes. We laugh, and because we’re
expressing a social aggregator, we don’t want to do it alone: so we infect
everyone we’re in contact with, offline and online.
SHOCK
Do you remember Marilyn Manson? I bet you do. Have you ever listened to
his music? Maybe you have, maybe you haven’t. Yet, even if you’ve never
headbanged to the sound of The Beautiful People, you’re familiar with his
persona. You know why? Because he’s shocking, that’s right. In another
area of show-biz, Howard Stern launched the so-called “shock jock” style
of doing radio broadcasting, seeking emotional shock as his stylistic
signature. Even comedians, from Lenny Bruce onwards, have begun to
perform a mixture of humor with shock added: because what causes a
spike of adrenaline monopolises our attention, activates our cognitive
processes and sharpens our senses. Shock, wisely dosed, shakes off our
habitual laziness and transforms us into instant marines ready for action.
Moreover, shock is an engine of cultural evolution, because it unhinges our
habits and takes us out of our comfort zone, preparing us to broaden our
point of view and modify our behaviour. For this reason, those who are
appropriately shocking are immediately perceived as “ahead of others”, as
cool people. That’s why, as soon as we metabolise the shock, we try and
spread it: because we also want to be perceived as “ahead of others”, as
cool. The viral contagion is underway.
CATCHPHRASE
Bazinga! They’ve made t-shirts, #hashtags, assorted imitations: even if
you’ve never seen The Big Bang Theory, you know it. It doesn’t matter
where it comes from, what matters is that it sticks in your mind. Like the
Poo po po po po poooo poooo poooo from the stadium, which doesn’t
matter if you know it’s the riff from Seven Nation Army by the White Stripes.
It’s the power of the catchphrase. Vamos a la playa by Righeira, D’oh by
Omer Simpson, The Offer You Can’t Refuse by Coppola’s Godfather, Grumpy
Cat on the Internet: catchphrases are recurring contents, which make the
easiest, and therefore most easily accessible, texture of our cultural and
social reality. We can choose to ignore them or to go deeper, but they are
there, and they always present themselves to us. The catchphrases can be
texts, images, sounds, music: what they have in common is that they are
what Richard Dawkins in The Selfish Gene defines as “memes” - an
expression that has in turn become a catchphrase... the internet meme,
which is the more accessible and social media friendly version of memes.
Memes (double etymology, imitation and memory) are the cultural
equivalent of the gene. There is also a natural selection among
contents/symbols/ideas to proclaim the victorious ones that will be
transmitted from one mind to another through imitation, mutation and
memory: like when a content is shared, parodied, re-mixed online and
becomes mega-viral. Bazinga!
CELEBRITIES/INFLUENCER
Gods walk among us. Maybe I am exaggerating , they are not really gods.
They are more like stars: they tell us significant stories through their
artistic, sporting, even culinary performances. These media deities aren’t a
religion, yet we want so badly to believe in them. That’s why celebrities
have always been wonderful marketers. Because they possess a charisma,
a credibility, an aura capable of seducing millions of people. For now, there
is no AI like them: in order to interact with a Brand, the public continues to
prefer a star in the flesh, albeit a media one. Even more so, now that
celebrities have come down from the sports podium and from the
television/cinematographic pedestal, and have become user friendly. No
longer stars, who are as distant from the common man as Milan is from
Hollywood, they are now influencers, close to anyone with an Instagram or
Youtube account. This difference, compared to traditional celebrities,
deserves to be emphasised: influencers are not far away. They are
everywhere, and they can be anyone. That’s why it’s easy to recognise
yourself in them. That’s why they manage to build a huge following.
Because they are not the stars of the media pantheon: they are the power
users of the digital tribe. They have a daily and constant relationship with
myriads of people who are influenced by them and who, in turn, extend the
contagion to all their contacts. The community of influence gets broader
and broader, at the speed of 5G.
CHARACTER
He who goes slow... Milan brings him low! Who says so? Commendator
Zampetti, father of Sharon of the Boys of the Third C (a Famous Italian TV
Show from the eighties)? Maybe. Certainly, it is said by the Milanese
Imbruttito, who is Zampetti’s son or digital heir: read See You Later, Guido
Micheli’s biography, to be convinced. Both of them are the expression of
the Milanese cumenda, all action and no problems: a character that has
been transmitted from the stage of clubs to the cinema, to Facebook and
YouTube, through the generations. Both are anthropomorphic versions of a
place, Milan, and its most pop values. This is the power of character:
transforming abstract concepts into living narrative. Because every story
revolves around a character. And when the character embodies something
that belongs to us, by birth or commuting, then we are part of that story
too. Not only as spectators, but also as co-character: we are there together
with them, inside their story. With a great desire to pull in the others we
know. Just a quick impression of the character with friends at the pub, or a
share on social networks, and the viral contagion is immediately
irreversible. Taaaaac!
GOSSIP
Did you see Monica Bellucci and Vincent Cassel at the 2019 Venice Film
Festival? Smiles in the spotlight and frost behind the scenes. They haven’t
spoken to each other since their separation. You do know, right, that they
were married and then divorced? Of course you do. No one is immune to
the gossip contagion. August 31 was the anniversary of Lady Diana’s death.
Do you know that she spent a “secret” night with Freddy Mercury? You don’t
know? But you’d like to know, wouldn’t you? Of course you would. You can’t
resist the lure of gossip. According to Robin Dunbar, in his Grooming,
Gossip, and the Evolution of Language, gossip originated as the linguistic
glue for tribes that were beginning to grow in number. It was impossible to
know everyone in person. It was necessary a way to keep up to date on the
merits and flaws of everyone, so as to be more aware of the real
capabilities of their tribe, in a possible clash with other tribes or animal
predators. For the good of the species, all secret, embarrassing,
ambiguous, disconcerting information must be spread quickly and
effectively. Gossip was the first form of social network of homo sapiens.
Nothing strange, then, that when the Internet and digital social networks
came on the scene, gossip exploded in all its viral potential.
INNOVATION
In January 2007, Steve Jobs introduced the first iPhone. As you might
expect, I was one of the nerds logging in to follow his keynote, with the
same adrenaline in my body as a Marvel fan waiting in line to see Avengers
Endgame. Remarkably, even non-nerds had been talking about it for
months. The contagion of this tech hype was truly universal. I especially
remember the moment when Steve swiped his finger across the screen and,
WOW, the songs were flowing smoothly. For the first time in a smartphone,
digital content could be touched.
That excitement, that adrenaline rush, is exactly the thrill of technological
innovation. It is the satisfaction of the vital impulse to what’s new, which
man naturally possesses as a spring towards the future. Together with this,
it is also the satisfaction of a playful instinct. It’s no coincidence that we
talk about Tech Joy: innovations are toys for adults disguised as something
socially or professionally useful. Mind you, the new Tesla is truly a car that
can do cities some good. Yet, its popularity is not limited to
environmentalists, but is due to that infectious WOW in the face of
technological innovation. That emotion that fills us, even as adults, with
childlike wonder. That awareness of being in front of something magical,
according to the famous quote by Arthur C. Clarke (“Any sufficiently
advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic”). The real magic of
technological innovation is this: to infect us all with an irresistible viral
WOW.
Humor, Shock, Catchphrase, Celebrities, Character, Gossip, Innovation are
so ingrained in our culture, in our DNA, in our cognitive, emotional and
narrative fabric, that their effectiveness is inescapable. Especially for homo
s-app-iens, who live in both the physical and digital worlds. New
information and interaction technologies, particularly social media, amplify
the power of viral levers. Their power is overwhelming: to the point that
anyone who tries to “vampirize” their viral power to their own advantage
would instead inevitably be vampirized. That’s why I call them viral
vampires: because they spread a contagion first and foremost on their own
behalf, self-referencing, sucking visibility, memorability, and virality out of
everyone else. Fortunately, there’s an “unless”: the 7 viral vampires suck
blood, “unless” you practice the same arts with which the Hellsing family,
in the Japanese anime of the same name, turned the most powerful of
vampires into the most powerful of allies.
By applying the right training rules, Dracula becomes Alucard (that’s the
name of the powerful and invincible allied vampire you see above). What
are these rules? Let’s look at them right now.
3.1. THE POWER OF THE HUMOR VAMPIRE
Vampire humor has the viral powers of empathy and memorability. That’s
why it’s widely used during the Super Bowl, which is a veritable race to go
viral. In 2016, one of the commercials that succeeded was Puppy Monkey
Baby. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQcfK9EKfL4) The hilarious
doggie, monkey, and baby hybrid, which keeps repeating like a mantra
(precisely) “Puppy Monkey Baby,” is actually mesmerising and memorable.
This is unlike Mountain Dew: such grotesque fun vampirizes the Brand and
product, which inevitably fade into the background. In order to turn the
vampire into an ally, and use its power in one’s favour, humor must be
treated as a spring to trigger the Brand’s message. The transition must be
immediate, not filtered through laughter. Moreover, this spring must not be
isolated: on the contrary, it must be embedded in a narrative, written to
immediately trigger the message.
Humor, laughter, should not be the end, but a means (a spring) put in the
right context (the right narrative). It’s what happens with Dollar Shave Club
(https://youtu.be/ZUG9qYTJMsI). The video is a narrative in a surreal comic
key, and it immediately triggers the Brand Message: unlike Puppy Monkey
Baby, here the laughter doesn’t happen instead of Brand, but together with
her. In 3 years, their launch video (which cost 4,500 dollars) had a total of
21 million views, and 48 hours after its launch on Youtube, the Brand had
already gained 12,000 new customers. Alucard effect achieved. Humor is
sometimes looked at with suspicion, or even avoided, by Brands that want
to be taken seriously. In reality, since people always prefer to be
entertained than informed, a well-calibrated humor predisposes the
audience to accept and remember any message. Just like BBDO agency’s
2012 campaign for Aspirin.
Like Dollar Shave Club, the comic idea here is the narrative (since this is a
press announcement, it takes place in our imagination) around the spring
that immediately triggers the product message. Alucard’s power does not
water down the seriousness of the pharmaceutical message; on the
contrary, it amplifies it, making it more empathetic and memorable.
3.2 THE POWER OF THE SHOCK VAMPIRE
The shock vampire possesses the powers of attention and emotion. The
adrenaline rush it induces you to watch. Even if it upsets you, you can’t
look away: because it activates you emotionally. When the video of a prank
in which a devil baby in a wheelchair scared NewYorkers started running on
YouTube, it quickly climbed the charts of the most viral videos of the year
(it was 2014). The video was called Devil Baby Attack
(https://youtu.be/PUKMUZ4tlJg).
Truth be told, this horror prank was seen far more than the film it was
supposed to promote. The Shock, which the video punctually elicited, just
as punctually vampirized Devil’s Due, which ended up becoming one of the
most forgotten titles in horror film history. How was the shockvertising of
The Blair Witch Project different? First, the shock aroused was purposedriven. The emotion was intentional: it was deliberately intended to create
a cognitive gap (what happened to young filmmakers?) that only watching
the film could fill.
Second, those who had already closed that cognitive gap were in a higher
position in the social chain, and could take advantage of it with friends:
watching the film raised your coolness level. And those who have a high
coolness level, arouse in those around them a desire to emulate: so the
contagion spreads. In order to transform the power of shock from vampire
to ally, it is therefore necessary to take into account these three factors:
emotional intention, coolness level and emulation. Just as the controversial
master of all shockvertisers, Oliviero Toscani, did.
His photographic campaign of 3 hearts for Benetton in 1996, for example,
had the precise intention of making us reflect on how equal we all are, thus
giving an ethical and social resonance to the company payoff United Colors
of Benetton. Its shock images are intended to arouse strong emotions in us
against taboos. A brand that rises above social taboos increases its social
reputation and its level of coolness, thus triggering a process of emulation
in its public that spreads contagion along with the message. A similar
example, more recent and homo s-app-iens-friendly, is Ogilvy&Mather’s
award-winning unwomen.org campaign in 2013, in defence of gender
equality.
In its perfect visual synthesis, it elicits an outrage, an emotion intentionally
directed at reflecting on the paradox of a society as much technologically
advanced as it is still flawed by severe cultural bias. In addition to a shelf
of creative awards, the campaign became the most shared campaign of
that year, with 1.2 billion impressions, according to Adweek and Ad
Council.The viral powers of shock, when used according to emotional
intentionality, coolness level and emulation, allow for the spread of
emotionally gripping messages that can push people into action.
3.3. THE POWER OF THE CATCHPHRASE VAMPIRE
Like humor, the catchphrase vampire possesses the power of
memorability, combined with the power of the remix. Being fundamentally
a meme, the catchphrase not only sticks in our memory, but also induces
us to make it our own, to imitate it, to change its context: to make our own
remix of it. This is what happened to the very popular Buonaseeera by Leo
Burnett in 2002 (https://youtu.be/L8NvcCzPtlo) which, as soon as it was
on TV, was immediately remixed by radio and TV hosts, various comedians,
and ordinary people for several weeks.
This ability of the catchphrase to be transmitted in contexts different from
the one in which it was born, however, also represents its vampire-like
side: it arrives so far away from its origin that it ends up being left behind,
forgotten. In fact, the success of Buonaseeera has vampirized that of Brand
Fiat Auto, of which it was originally the TV commercial. In order to make the
vampire our ally, we must make it useful: the catchphrase must not only
make a laugh, it must serve a purpose.
Let’s take Dumb Ways to Die (https://youtu.be/IJNR2EpS0jw).The song’s
refrain has the utility of making memorable a series of warnings, recounted
in the video for the Australian public service, about how to avoid “dying a
stupid death” particularly near moving trains. Not only was the public
service objective achieved, managing to reduce near-miss accidents by
over 30%, but the catchphrase became so viral that the McCann Melbourne
agency chose to make an Official Karaoke Edition of the video. The
usefulness of the catchphrase doesn’t necessarily have to be practical; it
can also be narrative, to trigger the narrative built around the Brand
Message. #IHMO the most memorable catchphrase in Advertising history is
Whassup? (https://youtu.be/JJmqCKtJnxM)
After the airing of the commercial, the catchphrase has become a real pop
phenomenon, infecting even movies like Scary Movie, or TV series like The
Office. With the characteristic of always evoking a situation of extreme
relaxation, decidedly a bit jackass (it’s the slurred version of what’s up),
from when we have a beer with friends. This is what the original spot is
about: an authentic situation (the campaign claim is True), without
advertising hypocrisy, depicting when you have a beer to relax “watching a
game, having a Bud”, even better if you’re having a laugh with your friends.
When the catchphrase has a practical or narrative utility, which triggers the
Brand Message, the remix power of the vampire becomes the power of
memorability and contagion of the Brand.
3.4. THE POWER OF CELEBRITY/INFLUENCER VAMPIRE
Above you see the most viral selfie ever, taken at the 2014 Oscars by host
Ellen DeGeneres, taking advantage of a celebrity-packed night. Below,
instead, you see a celebrity marketing activity to promote the then latest
Samsung smartphone model. Same celebrities, same situation, same
photo: different contagion.
Celebrities, like influencers, possess the viral power of desire: as soon as
we see them, we wish to be in a relationship with them. If before the
relationship
was
mediated
at
multiple
levels
by
a
television/cinematographic screen, or by a magazine, or by a nightly wait
under the windows of the hotel in which he/she is staying, today with
social media the relationship is (almost) immediate: thus, desire also flows
(almost) immediately, infecting us profusely. And vampirizing everything
that comes close to it, even if it’s an already popular brand like Samsung. Is
there a way to channel this viral power? Of course, otherwise the chapter
would end here. As with other vampires, the celebrity must be chained to a
narrative constructed as a spring to trigger the Brand’s message. In
particular, the celebrity must be chosen as one chooses the protagonist of
a film, evaluating the talents and specific characteristics: the narrative
must be tailored to these characteristics. In this way, when the spring is
struck, the celebrity transfers its credibility and charisma to the Brand
Message. Much of the success of a film depends on the casting: even in
advertising,
as
David
Harbour
demonstrates
for
Tide
(https://youtu.be/nzX6k_HYgo4).
Who better than the actor, best known for playing the down-to-earth,
pragmatic, no-nonsense sheriff in Stranger Things, can bring sense to the
nonsense thesis that whatever the Brand is, if there’s white or clean it’s a
“Tide Ad”? Not only did the spot win the Film Grand Prix and Titanium Lion
at the Cannes Film Festival, but it was also the most viral spot of Super
Bowl 2018. Coming to Italy, a second example is my Digital Advertising with
Tess Masazza for Yves Rocher (https://youtu.be/qAe0VgWtXw4).
The narrative was driven precisely by the expressive ability of the
protagonist, already known to the public for its format Insopportabilmente
donna: so perfect a narrative spring as to make viral the care that Yves
Rocher devotes to the expressiveness of the female face and to get the
video into the Youtube Ads Leaderboard 2018. If we build a narrative
around the celebrity that uses their already viral talents as a trigger for the
Brand and their message, we also build their viral desirability.
3.5. THE POWER OF CHARACTER VAMPIRE
The powers of the vampire character are recognizability and durability.You
can be in the middle of an ocean of people, but if you hear someone say
“ué, we never laugh when our profit cries” you recognize him immediately:
it is the Milanese Imbruttito (https://youtu.be/kp6P5F_MsD0)
When a character is right, you recognize him everywhere and for a long
time, even outside his original narrative context. Because, just like the
catchphrase (not by chance, they often go in pairs), it too is a meme. The
characters are so recognisable that everything else immediately fades into
the background. We have a vague awareness that in the video of the
Milanese Imbruttito linked above there is a Brand of... what were they,
tires? online billing? phones? Character recognition and memorability are
stronger than Brand Placement.
The most emblematic case is Mr Bean, one of the most famous characters
of the last 30 years. Known all over the world, he has overcome
geographical and generational barriers and infected everything, online and
offline. Even advertising, which has used him extensively to take advantage
of
his
power
of
recognition
and
durability.
(https://youtu.be/9e0ofZIVeNY)Yet, if we try to remember specifically for
which Brand, we can’t focus clearly. Because the character is too powerful,
and it vampirizes everything else, relegating it to background noise.
How do we make this vampire our ally? Precisely because it’s a meme like
the catchphrase, the character also demands to serve a purpose: we need
to make it useful. Let’s enjoy one of the most viral characters of recent
years:
the
man
in
the
bathrobe
from
Old
Spice
(https://youtu.be/owGykVbfgUE).
His monologue, delivered in an absolutely recognisable (and contagious)
way, serves to express the usefulness of the character which, not by
chance, is called The man your man could smell like: a character designed
to seduce women into buying male scented shower gel for their men, and
thus make them smell like the character. In 2010 the campaign won the
Film Grand Prix at Cannes and a Primetime Emmy Award, as well as having
contributed to a substantial increase in sales of Old Spice. The advantages
of the vampire character also lie in its power to last.Which we find at work
in the extremely long-lived Get A Mac campaign. (https://youtu.be/1rVdbDMS18).
The original campaign was a single 3-year television season, lasting from
2006 to 2009: a hilarious series of comedy episodes, all built around the
personification of a Mac and a PC. The usefulness of the two characters
with respect to the Brand is already explicit in the title: Get A Mac. When we
adopt (or build) a character taking into account its usefulness for the
Brand, the power of the vampire becomes our ally in the viralization of a
recognisable and long-lasting Brand.
3.6. THE POWER OF THE GOSSIP VAMPIRE
Gossip has the viral powers of emotion and curiosity in their most animal
form. Meaning that we humans, as social animals, are evolutionarily
programmed to pry into the affairs of others, and to feel instinctive
sympathy or antipathy for one or the other: this is why social media is so
totally successful. It’s why gossip has fueled numerous forms of reactive
marketing. Like when Carrie Fisher died: Cinnabon saw fit to take
advantage of the emotional wave that immediately rose up on social
media. The point is that the empathy was aimed at Carrie Fisher: not at
those who disguised a cynical product placement as a tribute to Princess
Leia. This gossip hack actually expressed its viral power, causing an
immediate contagion of emotions, especially on Twitter: unfortunately for
Cinnabon, mostly emotions of outrage against the Brand. Another gossip
we can’t resist then are the celebrities who fall from grace. Like Charlie
Sheen, who went from Hollywood blockbusters to wild parties and rehab
clinics.
His personal stories, in addition to ending up in Ricky Gervais’ comedy
monologues, also ended up in a viral commercial for... what’s the Brand?
(https://youtu.be/XnuLK-qYbjc). Emotionally heightened (euphemism for
“morbid”) curiosity about the dissolute Charlie Sheen manfully and
copiously vampirizes the Brand Direct TV, which can’t hold a candle to such
gossip vampire. Yet, it would be enough to apply a spring to the vampire to
trigger a Brand message able to raise our level of coolness, and the power
of gossip would become our ally to polarize emotions in such a powerful
way as to move to actions which are more persistent and effective than a
click on like button. For example, the action might be to book a flight to Los
Angeles: to hit on Brad Pitt. As the Try Oslo ad for Norwegian Airlines, 2016,
suggests. Norwegian Airlines’ genius idea employs gossip about
Brangelina’s split as a trigger for its Call to Action. And it does so in such a
cool way (it even included a 50% discount for passengers named Jennifer,
like Brad Pitt’s former wife Jennifer Aniston) that everyone took it up to
raise their own coolness level: symbolically, by spinning it online; and
actually, by flying to Los Angeles.
Another example is the so-called Feud Gossip, like the one between
McDonald’s and Burger King: the latter for Peace One Day, proposed to the
historical antagonist to do something together: merge their most famous
burgers
in
a
McWhopper.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=UCSe70qa21c)
That burger never actually saw the light of the oven. Still, the idea of
turning the gossip about their historic rivalry into a springboard to do
something real together was so cool that the people immediately took it
up: again, both on a symbolic level, making the campaign super viral; and
on a real level, siding emotionally and commercially with Burger King. When
the wave of gossip rises, let’s ride it like a spring to trigger a Call to Action
able to raise our level of coolness: its viral power will become our ally in
arousing enormous curiosity and sympathy towards our Brand.
3.7. THE POWER OF INNOVATION VAMPIRE
(reading time: 3 minutes)
A few years ago, an email started going around the agency with a link. It led
to an interactive video on youtube, the first of its kind. A great innovation in
digital advertising. In short, it went viral. Not only among advertisers, but
also among the people. The video was A Hunter Shoots a Bear.
(https://youtu.be/4ba1BqJ4S2M) This video demonstrates two things very
clearly.The first, is that innovation possesses the viral powers of wonder
and play. The second, is that these powers are a powerful vampire.
Everyone WOWed at this interactive innovation. Everyone wanted to try it,
to play with it. Everyone, or almost everyone, was so amazed, so engrossed
in the game, that Brand TippEx and its message remained vampirized.
Of all the viral vampires, innovation is the most crucial one today. Because
technology is no longer just a tool, a gadget, but has become a behavior.
Because it is the hashtag of these last few years, populated by business
accelerators, design thinking and the spasmodic search for innovation as a
distinctive lever of excellence. We are in the era of homo s-app-iens:
culturally, socially, and professionally. Therefore, the powers of the
innovation vampire can become the most powerful allies for our business,
our Brand, and the impact we want to have on the world. Of course, there is
a “as long as”. Innovation becomes our ally as long as we keep behaviors
and usefulness in mind. Innovation must trigger a Call to Action, it must
serve to make the audience do something. Something related to the Brand
and its message. So, first of all, Brands must ask themselves: what do we
want our audience to do? what impact do we want to have on their lives?
how do we want to change their world?
This is what Elon Musk did, when he launched Tesla: he did it literally,
launching it into space aboard a SpaceX rocket to the sound of David
Bowie’s Starman, and with the words “Don’t Panic” taken from the
Hitchhiker’s
Guide
to
the
Galaxy
by
Douglas
Adams.
(https://youtu.be/aBr2kKAHN6M)
This way, with Zero$ of advertising budget, he realized one of the most
successful shots in recent advertising history: confirming that a Tesla is not
an electric car, it is a piece of our future: a future without road pollution.
This is its viral power: its customers want to create this future together with
the Brand and its technological innovations. Of which they become
advocates with the rest of the world, spreading the contagion. Something
very similar happened to another viral innovation, the GoPro micro-cam.
(https://youtu.be/wTcNtgA6gHs)
Their technology has made subjective point of view videos accessible, and
fun. To the point that more and more sportsmen and sportswomen are
wearing (at least) one. Snowboarders, cyclists, runners, skydivers, surfers:
the GoPro Hero have created a community of heroes, people who live life
heroically, intensely. And who put it on display. As with Tesla, it’s not the
technology that’s contagious, it’s the action. GoPro has turned the name of
its model, Hero, into a viral Call to Action: live like a hero and show it off.
When combined with a strategic consideration of behaviors, usefulness
and Call to Action, the viral powers of WOW and play transfer from
innovation to the action the Brand invites its audiences perform. From viral
Branded Content we move to viral Branded Action, and the homo s-appiens is the Viral Actor.
CHAPTER 4. VAMPIRE TAMERS
(reading time: 4 minutes)
Vampires can move alone or in groups. Some possess natural affinities,
such as Character and Catchphrase, and reinforce each other. As we saw in
the previous chapter, viral vampires have the power: to create empathy; to
arouse intense emotions; to stimulate curiosity; to ignite desire; to stick in
memory; to capture attention; to be recognized; to re-mix in new and
different contexts; to be long lasting.These powers can be activated either
individually or combined. The choice should not be random: rather, it
should be the result of careful strategic thinking. With the same attention,
after having chosen the mix of viral powers, it’s important to apply the rules
to train the vampires you intend to awaken. Just as the young Hellsing girl
did when she awakened her precious vampire ally Alucard. Let’s spend a
few minutes delving into these rules.
SPRING
Viral powers must never be considered ends, but always means: tools to
trigger the ultimate object of viral contagion. Like a spring that takes us
immediately, without intermediate steps, to what the Brand wants to tell
us, or to what the Brand wants us to do.Do you remember when we in Italy
we started to drink, or rather, to enjoy American coffee? I do. Before a given
event, that black swill was just black swill: coffee in Italy was espresso,
period. What was that event that triggered, like a spring, this new
consumption behavior, and this rampant appreciation of American coffee?
Brunch. Before influencers, social networks and the internet, Brunch in
Milan’s coolest establishments, packed with celebrities, was the field
marketing idea that allowed Brand Nescafé to become the new coffee of
choice for Milanese and Italian weekend brunches.
Emotional Intention. Emotions are contagious, but blind. That’s why they
must be guided by an intention that channels their viral power.
Anger, Joy, Fear, Hope: whatever the emotion, it is crucial that it is designed
to direct us, without deviation, towards a clear and precise goal. As Nike
did during Covid19, when it inspired people to get excited about sporting
activity, not out of agonism, but out of altruism: Play inside, play for the
world.
USEFULNESS
The emotions unleashed by viral powers don’t have to manifest and then
run out. On the contrary, their power must have a utility: narrative, if it
serves to get the flow of the branded story going; or practical, if it serves to
make something real happen in the physical world outside of the narrative.
Have you already thought about what to cook for lunch? Haven’t you? Well,
thank goodness for Tasty, then. On his YouTube channel, thry’ve practically
reinvented video recipes, creating the typical shot from above video format,
with paced editing, fun graphics, and upbeat music. Their video-recipes
quickly became wonderful viral content. Why? Because of their usefulness!
All the details, creative and productive, are geared to help you memorize
and practice the recipe. Like the one for Baked Parmesan Chicken Strips
(https://youtu.be/NJ47O2vg2XA).
COOLNESS LEVEL
The perception that others have of us, especially in the digital sphere, is
linked to how cool we feel and how cool we appear. Therefore, any viral
power should be considered taking into account its effectiveness in making
us cool: in turning us into magnets, able to attract other people who want
to become as cool as us. That’s what happens when we post a photo
#foodporn. No one would post a less than WOW food photo with that
hashtag, right? Certainly not, because that hashtag resonates as a social
accreditation regarding our culinary expertise. #Foodporn has become one
of the most viral hashtags in social media history because it is an
expression and catalyst of our desire to be perceived as super-cool food
experts.
EMULATION
This is the most powerful mechanism of viral contagion. What ignites
emotions attracts us, and we want to imitate it, make it our own, and
exhibit it to others, who will then be infected by it. When we activate a viral
power capable of triggering strong emotions, we take into account the 3 E’s
of emotional contagion: Exaggeration (of the emotion), Emulation
(contagion by imitation), Exhibition (we share the product of our
emulation). This is what happened, for example, with Cadbury chocolate,
when
it
made
the
Eyebrow
Dance
TV
Spot
(https://youtu.be/qGtWmrd4guE), in which two children kill time by
choreographically wiggling their eyebrows. Their bizarrely exaggerated
performance spurred a number of copycats, who were quick to exhibit their
expressive eyebrow skills. Like this girl who went viral on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/o0Ub2AG52u0
BEHAVIORS
Viral powers are best expressed if they are rooted in our behaviors, social
and technological: in the way homo s-app-iens live, act, and communicate.
To be effective, the contagion must start with a deep awareness of these
behaviors, and then inspire a viral effect more effective than just a click.
Richard Schnorr, Digital of Digital Media at the NYPL (New York Public
Library), created the wonderful Instanovel initiative in 2018 from a
consideration of teenagers’ technological behaviors: if they’re used to
gluing their eyes to Instagram instead of a book on the subway, then NYPL
puts books on Instagram! As you can well imagine, the initiative has
received an enthusiastic reception both in the creative awards circle and
among young Insta-readers. This proves that the healthiest creative
attitude is not a judgmental one, but a phenomenological one. Not to
become the new Edmund Husserl - there would be nothing wrong, of
course, if this were a book of Philosophy, instead of Advertising - but we’d
better start from the reality of phenomena, of behaviors: in order to
understand how to enrich them, how to make them evolve in a memorable,
pleasant and useful way for the people and for the Brand.
NARRATIVES
This is the most obvious of the viral vampire taming rules. Yet it’s the
hardest to adhere to, because it requires creative ability, and therefore also
a creative professional or agency to hire. Indeed, storytelling is so viral that
it moves the audience to action. A bit like McDonald’s Iconic Stacks
campaign, which managed to tell a product demo directly in the viewer’s
head, using only colorful words. By composing the Burger with our
imagination, we anticipate it: so we feel like eating it for real, and we go to
a McDonald’s restaurant. The right words, told in the right way, have the
performative power to move neurones, to move the imagination, and thus
to move us to action: as Winston Churchill did when he used words that
could convince the English to resist, to fight; and the fervor he inspired was
propagated by viral contagion.
CHAPTER 5. ACTION COPYWRITING
(reading time: 20 minutes)
What can we learn from Winston Churchill, to become viral storytellers?
Definitely, the use of rhetorical figures: which are the real narrative and
emotional hacks of homo sapiens, and s-app-iens. For example, the
Paradox, or juxtaposition of contrasting elements; the Enstrangement, or
distortion of the natural meaning of a detail; the Metaphor, or transfer of
meaning from one element to another; the Personification, which is a
metaphor always directed toward a human element; and the Hyperbole, or
unrestrained exaggeration. Here, these five rhetorical figures, which
experienced a moment of brilliance within the surrealist aesthetic, are
examples of what I call performative rhetoric, that is, capable of igniting
the emotional engines of behavior and action through language. And with
that the journey through Action Copywriting begins. Get comfortable. The
first stage of the journey, the Manifesto you see here on the side.Act or
Shut Up: this title sums up the entire program. Words have a performative
potential that is not limited to telling stories (no reference is intended here
to storytelling, a subject we will perhaps discuss in another book, or when
we happen to cross paths online) or informing. Action Copywriting intends
to squeeze out of words all their magic of making things happen and
activating human behaviors. It is these actions and behaviors that can, and
should, go viral, infecting other people to take action and amplify the
scope of what they can make happen. The difference between narrative
Copywriting and performative Copywriting is that one aims at creating a
perception of the Brand (whether personal or corporate) or product, while
the other also goes as far as creating and nurturing a Reputation of the
Brand, or product. There’s a warning here: in the perimeter of Action
Copywriting, Brand Reputation is not simply the analysis of online
conversations about it, and the emotional polarization that is associated
with it, but it is more precisely what people say about us even when we are
not present. Even when the Brand is not soliciting its audience, even when
there is no active social media sponsorship, even when the Brand is not
doing anything: the Viral Reputation of the Brand is propagated by the
people who become Advocates, Viral Actors, and Earned Media (free media
coverage because it is earned spontaneously, as opposed to that
purchased through sponsorship or purchase of media, and that is called
Paid Media). This happens when every word that comes out of the Brand’s
mouth is a Word of Action, i.e. a word that is not content, and on the
contrary goes as far as expressing a program, a will to act. The so-called
Copy Strategy, the communicative strategy, the message that will be the
keystone and the engine of the entire communicative architecture, will no
longer be just a narrative of the Brand, but will then become the plan of a
Branded Action. An action the public can and will want to join. Why?
Because the Branded Action will represent a Deep Usefulness Value. Ok,
before explaining this last concept, let’s pause a for a moment and take
advantage of a quick recap. Here it is, in one sentence: Action Copywriting
chooses the right words to express the will of the Brand (corporate or
personal) to change things. In favour of whom? Changing things in favour of
both, the Brand and its Audience: this is the Deep Usefulness Value, that
quid that is useful to both the Brand and its Audience, because it can make
the difference for both, here and now. This quid of usefulness is a deep
value, precisely because it possesses the depth and breadth to embrace
both. To identify it, start by asking yourself So what, who cares?, and keep
doing it until the answer is something that can make a real difference (“so
what?”), both to the Brand and to the People (“who cares?”). Okay, but
what about the performative rhetoric? I mean, it’s not kind to leave Winston
Churchill waiting too long. Certainly not, and in fact I’ll state here right
away that the 5 rhetorical figures above are the performative tools that
every Action Copywriter can and must master, to activate the emotional
engines that move us toward achieving deep usefulness values. Let’s see
how.
PARADOX
A milestone in contemporary advertising, and a magnificent example of
copywriting by the uber-brilliant David Abbott, the classic campaign for the
Economist inserts a paradox in the second line, in the small one where a
42-year-old is still an intern. This paradoxical juxtaposition of two elements
that it is not usual to see together creates the emotional aftertaste of the
headline “I’ve never read the Economist”. Result? The viral vampire of
humor is tamed by the rhetoric of paradox: Of course I want to have a
career, but not like that 42-year-old intern. By the way, I’m going out for a
minute. I need to go buy the latest issue of the Economist. Wait though,
here I want to answer in advance the question I sometimes get asked: yes,
Action Copywriting existed even before I codified it as a methodology. After
all, there are things you make up, and things you discover. Or were you all
floating in mid-air before Universal Gravitation was discovered?
ESTRANGEMENT
Remember The Persistence of Memory, by Salvador Dali? Here it is. This is
one of the most famous examples of surrealist art, and a magnificent
example of Visual Enstrangement. It is what happens when an object, a
situation, a character or an event assume, in the context in which they are
dropped, an overturned expressive value, and a completely changed
meaning. As in the ad for Perrier water above, which expressly quotes Dali,
creating soft objects, totally enstranged, in order to convey an impelling
sensation of unbearable heat. Thus, our emotional resonance in front of
this image activates us to drink, almost with a Pavlovian effect: it is so hot
that it seems to be in that Perrier ad, let’s buy a bottle of water, come on.
Let’s make sure it’s a Perrier.
METAPHOR
You know when you get the urge to play a video game? It’s kind of like
breaking out of the prison of the flesh and into a digital world of gaming,
excitement, and fun. It’s kind of like your brain wants to break out and get
an hour of air and lightheartedness. There, in that “it’s as if” lies the signal
for a metaphor - visual, in this case, underscored by the Claim “Escaping
24:7” - that transfers the meaning of escapism to the brain and thus to
video games. The visual metaphor of this ad, which I created at Leo Burnett
in 2005 for Nintendo, and which in 2007 was selected by the Louvre
Museum for its Musée de la Pubblicité, tickles the emotional engines of
anyone who feels the need for mental escapism. Mine too, I must confess:
in fact, after the intense days of work spent conceiving, presenting to the
client, and supervising the realisation of this ad, I immediately allowed
myself a mental escape. With my Nintendo console, of course!
PERSONIFICATION
If a Tampax were a student, she would already be a graduate. This verbal
metaphor transfers the qualities of a human person to the product, which is
why it is more than a metaphor, it is a Personification (If you applied
yourself as good as a Tampax, you’ll graduate tomorrow). Now, why give a
human connotation to an internal tampon? Because, according to the
researches that client P&G presented to us in 2005, Italian girls feared that
this small object could hurt them. Hence the copy strategy of this Branded
Content, with which we managed to soften that psychological rigidity:
because if it’s like a person, or rather, like you would be if you applied
yourself like it, then it’s no longer an object to be afraid of, but an ally to be
trusted.
HYPERBOLE
How strong are Altoids mints? Are they really as strong as they say they
are? Actually they’re even stronger: they are so strong, they had to lock
them up in a cage. Here is a masterful hyperbole in perfect Copywriting
form, when a detail of the product, or of the Brand, is emphasised to the
point of verging on the grotesque, the paradoxical (a mint so small and a
strength so great), and moves us to smile. In fact, more than that: it moves
us to choose it. Because when we want a mint, we want it to refresh us
properly. So, welcome to the hyperbole! May your exaggerated imaginative
solicitation activate the viral powers of popularity along with the emotional
engines of choice. There, I knew it; my mouth is dry from talking, do you
have a mint? Only if it’s Altoids, mind you.
VIRAL ACTIONS
Viral vampires, tamed as we saw in chapter 4, and guided through Action
Copywriting, allow us to build a narrative and emotional structure capable
of moving homo s-app-iens to perform an action that infects other people
to imitate it: people who will be willing to do more than tap on like,
implementing the Brand Action and spreading it among their contacts. This
is how we will have a Viral Action, together with its Viral Actors. Our
marketing and communication activities, accelerated by the viral powers of
the Vampires who have now become our allies, will therefore be more than
just Brand Narratives: they will be Branded Actions capable not only of
creating a Brand perception, but above all of activating and making our
viral Reputation, spread and amplified by the Viral Actors who will function
as Spontaneous Media (Earned Media).
Since you’ve followed me this far, I imagine now that your question will be:
how do we write Viral Actions that activate Viral Actors to spread
contagious Brand Reputations? The answer is that a Viral Action consists of
4 key elements: Title; Narrative; Call to Action; Place. Read on so I can show
you them in more detail.
TITLE
The Title is the name of the campaign, which must already contain in nuce
the entire Narrative. It must be like the trailer of the idea, whose name
(whose title, in fact) must be able to become a catchphrase, a meme, a viral
#hashtagh.
An example? Will it Blend (https://youtu.be/KWqw5SpITg8). It is a series of
videos, started in 2006, where the founder of Blendtec exhibits the power
of his blenders, pulverising the most hype objects of the moment. The title,
Will it Blend, already contains the entire narrative, and is also a #hashtag
made immediately viral by the great many viewers, evolved into Viral
Actors, of each episode.
NARRATIVES
We have already written about narratives in chapter 4, so let’s go a bit
deeper in this chapter: it is the Action Copywriting that we have developed
for Brand, Corporate or Personal. Lingering on the example of Will it Blend,
the narrative here is the result of the Innovation vampire (blends the most
innovative gadgets, at the height of their WOW power) and Humor vampire,
in order to entertain us with a surreal and hyperbolic parody (respectively,
through the performative rhetorical figures of the Enstrangement and
Hyperbole: by blending unlikely objects to fine dust) of 1950s American TV
salesmen (like the very popular Dan Ackroyd, Bass-o-matic salesman on
Saturday Night Live (https://youtu. be/0BQFv83QJ2Y).
CALL TO ACTION
A Viral Action goes beyond a “click and buy” or a “tap like and get a free
something”. Call to Action here is not promotional, but literal: a Call to
perform an Action. This is the ultimate goal of any authentic viral action: to
act, to accomplish something contagious. Viral powers should be used as a
pragmatic means to answer the questions: how do we want to change the
world? What are we asking our audience to do in order for this change to be
implemented? What is the reputation we want to develop and make viral?
Cadbury, during the first phase of the pandemic, answered these questions
by removing the words from the iconic pack of its milk chocolate bar to
raise awareness about donating words to those who need them the most:
London’s elderly who were alone and locked in their homes during the first
lockdown. So, the call to action is #DonateYourWords.
PLACE
The Place is where Viral Actors can perform the Action proposed by the
Brand. It can be a physical, digital, narrative, symbolic place, or it can be
several different places connected to each other. What matters is that the
Action is designed together with the Place where it can best develop and
propagate: the Place of viral contagion. Let’s say you’re in the mood for a
Burger: since we’ve already written about McDonald’s, we’ll now turn our
attention to Burger King, and its Whopper Detour Viral Action
(https://youtu.be/Tea-M817hJY).
As one juror at Cannes Lions 2019 called it, it’s the “most indirect idea to
win the Direct Lion Grand Prix,” since to unlock a 1-cent Whopper you’d
have to digitally order it via app, and also physically move to get geolocated near a McDonald’s. This dual viral Place (the Burger King digital
app where you can unlock your 1 cent Whopper, along with McDonald’s
restaurant) was shared in countless Videos, Stories, and Posts by countless
users, who acted as perfect Viral Actors and Earned Media for the Brand. To
give you some numbers, know that in addition to the well-deserved creative
successes, Whopper Detour developed 3.5 billion impressions (the number
of times a piece of content was viewed by users), and generated an ROI
(Return On Investment) of 37 to 1. So: Copywriting becomes Action
Copywriting, Perception becomes Reputation, Vampires become Allies,
Audiences become Actors, Call to Action becomes Viral Call to Action.
Advertising then - what does that become?
CONCLUSION. CIRCULAR ADVERTISING
FOR HEALTHY BRANDS
(reading time: 7 minutes)
Advertising which tames Viral Vampires through Action Copywriting, in
order to promote Brands’ health, is no longer linear. It has become Circular
Advertising. It’s Circular, because it is against the waste of budget, time,
and especially ideas and words: the latter two, in fact, are the most
important renewable resources of homo s-app-iens. Two inexhaustible
resources that, if activated in an effective and efficient way, allow to
promote Brands’ Health. It’s Circular, also because it creates a synergy
between Excellence, Effectiveness and Creative Efficiency. Creative
Excellence alone is not enough; yet, even today the Agency market and
their clients are fetishists on a leash. Go and attend any creative award jury
to have proof of this. Creative Excellence is still today the fetish worshipped
by the relative majority of professionals who work trapped in an advertising
paradigm that is as sick as are the Brands which that paradigm is no longer
able to cure. If we look closely, a sign that heralds a paradigm shift was the
inauguration in Cannes of the category to reward Creative Effectiveness in
2011. Nevertheless, even Effectiveness alone is not enough: because you
can still embellish it with vanity metrics in order to get a client drunk on the
ambrosia of a million likes. Remember that a million likes are not worth a
single fist slammed on the table: in other words, having a huge audience is
of no use if they just tap like without doing anything else. It’s much more
effective, and efficient, to have a small following, but of people all willing
to take action. Metrics emptied of pragmatism and action are a second
fetish, too often used to satisfy the pathological (in the sense of Brand
Sickness) need for reassurance of Brands which are disoriented by the
chaotic transition between a paradigm that no longer works and another
that still doesn’t work too well. The boundary between what no longer
works and what doesn’t work yet is by definition a dysfunctional territory, in
which it is necessary to move with great caution, or even more: to make it
work, it is necessary to move with method. For this reason, Circular
Advertising adds a third element, which is normally considered only in the
management of budgets and production plans: Efficiency. A creative idea is
truly excellent if it is also effective, and it is effective if it is also efficient.
The creative quality is really as such, only if it starts from a mapping of
behaviors and emotions of the homo s-app-iens, and from a check-up of
the strengths and weaknesses of the Brand. This way, it will be possible to
identify the so-what-who-cares (and then-who-cares) that, as we saw
above, identifies the perimeter of the Deep Usefulness Value. When
creative development starts from what can make a real difference, here and
now, for both the Brand and its Audience, then the emotional activation
generated through Action Copywriting will be effective. And, since we have
as allies the most powerful Viral Vampires of all Advertising, analog and
digital, then every like, every impression, every follower, will not be the
result of a superficial entertainment; instead it will be the methodical result
of a deep emotional activation of persons, who will be willing to do what
they feel useful, and that they recognises to be useful for the Brand. Those
people will freely adhere to a branded project activated in a transparent
manner: this is what happens when healthy Brands establish a healthy
relationship with ltheir audience.
When your Brand (personal or corporate) is healthy, every resource is
expressed to its full potential. Every single word, every visual, every sound:
every detail is considered according to its ability to activate the pre-
existing emotional resources in the audience, which in this way will
become our ally both as a Viral Actor of the Brand’s Viral Reputation and as
a spontaneous media resonance tool. This is also because the homo s-appiens is now wary of the promise that a Pepsi is enough to change the world
(I’m referring to the flop of the commercial with Kyle Jenner
https://youtu.be/U8y9i1gkAFQ).Likewise, homo s-app-iens knows how to
reward those who risk their own, like Patagonia did in support of Climate
Strike, when they closed all of their stores worldwide for one day
(https://www.patagonia.com/actionworks/campaigns/strike-for-climateaction/).
This is real Creative Excellence: the one that is beautiful because it works
and that works because it is efficient. Just like the Bauhaus‘ Functional
Design, applied to the consumer market first by Dieter Rams at Braun, then
by Jonathan Ive at Apple. In an iPod from 2001 or in a T3 radio from 1958,
every detail is the result of methodical care, to be in the right place, to work
in the right way with the least effort by the user. They are both such
beautiful designs because they are also efficient in facilitating their use by
humans. Similarly, when Advertising becomes Circular, marketing becomes
humanistic, meaning that it draws on human qualities of both Audience
and Brand. In the Circular Advertising paradigm, both Brand and Audience
are groups of homo s-app-iens living in a world accelerated by technology.
A healthy Brand does not need to treat people only as customers, but it can
activate them as supporters and actors of a branded project aimed at
changing the world and improving our lives, here and now. Well, we’ve
reached the end of the book. Maybe you’re still wondering why you should
do Circular Advertising, identifying Deep Useful Value, taming Viral
Vampires and guiding them with Action Copywriting. If you are, here are 5
key reasons:
- To activate the emotional potential of your Brand, personal and corporate,
so to emotionally activate your audience and customers;
- To give value to your Brand values, which otherwise remain trapped in
clumsily written briefs, clumsily translated into ineffective creativity;
- To be noticed and remembered like Seth Godin’s Purple Cow;
- To attract people who are more like us, therefore who are more likely to
get involved and more likely to give us satisfaction;
- To be asked more often, “how much do I owe you?” by customers who
understood and appreciated our value before they were afraid of our price.
Most of all you should, and could, do it, because it all adds up to having a
Brand bursting with health. When’s your check-up?
PAOLO GUGLIELMONI
Theoretical Philosopher at the Catholic University of Milan. Visiting Scholar
at Cambridge University. Clarinetist at the Conservatory of Piacenza.
Essayist and translator for Bompiani. Audiophile, Digital Adoptee, Runner,
Nerd.
Copywriter and Creative Director in Leo Burnett for 15 years. Awarded at
national and international level. ADCI Executive Director.
Founder of GeekAdvertising in 2006, to study and use the potential of
Technology as a behavior, medium and creative tool.
Contract professor on Advertising and Viral Creativity.
National and international Lecturer and Keynote Speaker.
Included in the 2018 Youtube Ads Leaderboard.
Creator of the first Internet of Sonic Buildings in the world, for the City of
Piacenza.
The only Italian creative included in the Louvre’s collection of advertising
art.
Founder of RADS_ResponsiveAds, the first open source creative agency in
Italy, active on local and global projects.
Head of Experience at Healthware International.
Creator of Action Copywriting®, the only neuro-marketing validated
creative method, to promote health and performance of Brands.
He agrees with Dumbledore from Harry Potter that words are our greatest
and inexhaustible source of magic.
You can find him online at https://www.linkedin.com/in/paologuglielmoni
and at https://www.instagram.com/dottorcopy/