Nothing new under the sun, good writers simply steal well,
homage, pastiche, parody, satire... the assorted excuses that
come up for shamelessly ripping off other advertising ideas may
as well be named Legion, for they are certainly many.
Emblematic of this phenomenon is the Mac/PC ad format. The
initial idea was clever enough — personalizing the PC vs. Mac
experience with actual actors standing in for the machines ties
into storytelling techniques that have gone back to the Greeks
and the Babylonians, if not further. We as a people have
personified lightning, war and other concepts into gods and
heroes for time immemorial, so there's no reason the trend
should stop now.
Inevitably, of course, the copycats came up. For example,
consider Sprint's recent G4 smartphone commercials. There is an
element of delicious reversal in these; after all, Sprint is
making fun of Apple's iPhone the same way that Macs were
trashing on PCs not too long ago. Still, the entire thing has an
air of "we've seen this already." The format is identical,
with the white background, the two personalities bickering in
passive aggressive wordplay... what's new here?
Granted, this isn't the first time the web and society have seen
branding styles copied. Every new automobile model that comes out
has scenes of it being driven over rough fields, empty roads, or
racetracks depending on what the design is trying to accomplish.
Medicine commercials all seem to have caring moms or smart people
in lab coats; even telling action movie posters apart is an
exercise in higher art criticism given the homogenizing trends
that are making themselves known in that industry.
A Case for Branding Independence
Before we go down the road of originality for originality's
sake, let's bring things back a little bit. Simply backlashing
against the trend and coming up with something different for no
other reason than trying to be different doesn't work, either.
Thinking about it is enough to make anyone schizophrenic, so what
is there to be done?
Well, consider how some of the branding success stories of the
web have gone about making themselves known. The Nostalgia
Critic, Penny Arcade, Google, Memebase/Cheezburger — they all
have one thing in common that they did with their brand: They
made it work.
Each of these examples put together an organization to accomplish
a task the creators loved. Penny Arcade talks about gaming and
various social issues touching on it, and appealed so strongly to
its target audience with its simple adherence to this core
concept that it was able to kick off a charity for sick children.
Google started out as a web browser with a weird name, and now is
basically the first course in SEO 101 classes, with every other
browser out there filed under "other."
These companies didn't start out with the idea of making a
powerful brand; they began with the idea of marketing a product,
a service, an activity that they were good at, and stuck to it.
Take Google in particular — not only did Google make searching
the web simple, they strove to make it ethical. They adopted
their unofficial slogan of "don't be evil" and leaked it into
the world. This appeals highly to the dedicated web user — the
Internet and the web gained the power they have because people
were adamant about the freedom to share information and the
technology to do so, and having the most powerful web browser in
the world on their side appealed to them and brought them into
the brand.
Now, there have been rough spots. Google's wishy-washy policies
with China, the potential privacy invasion of Street View and
other projects... these all have Google's fan base talking
animatedly to Google about what's seen as a problem.
But notice what they're doing: They are talking. Notice what
they aren't doing: They're not leaving. Google has established
its brand as a company that listens to its consumers and tries to
do the right thing. Whether that perception is true remains to be
seen, but the brand has convinced people it IS true, because
Google has MADE it true in the past, so the client/customer is
willing to stay and talk things out.
What does this mean for your brand? Simple — do what you love,
and do it well.
It is, of course, naive to say that Google doesn't think about
marketing at all, or that the guys behind Penny Arcade are some
kind of gamer saints who never "sell out" for advertising
considerations. But their branding efforts clearly come as an
extension of their core, unfailing missions.
So if you want to build a solid brand, you have to build a strong
foundation to support it. Don't try to cash in on the latest
style of advertisements, whether for popularity, edginess or
"irony." Instead, make sure your brand conveys that you do
whatever it is you do the best way it has ever been done. Let
your branding be an extension of your core business model, an
effort to bring your passion to the world so customers will want
what you have to offer, and your brand will thrive long after
Sprint is still living down the shame of copying Apple.
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