“Ideas are like fish. You can’t make a fish. You can only catch a fish.” David Lynch
Jon Evans’ series of Uncensored CMO podcasts is usually full of insights and inspiration and this was certainly the case with his podcast with Andrew Robertson, CEO of BBDO (2nd March 2022). They got on to the subject of BBDO’s Snickers campaign, ‘You’re not you when you’re hungry’. Robertson described the moment BBDO Worldwide’s Chief Creative Officer, David Lubars, spotted the line in a script the agency was developing for a Super Bowl commercial and told his creative team to execute a campaign against it. Since then, the line has gained huge traction in a host of different executions, including one featuring ‘diva’ Joan Collins.
It was in this context that Robertson quoted David Lynch. Brought up on Lynch’s singular vision, Blue Velvet, Dune, and Twin Peaks to name but three, his take on ideas was thought-provoking.
Like many creative agencies we have a process that includes as deep a dive as possible into a client’s brand, market, target market, and competitive set - the whole kit and caboodle. This immersion creates the foundation for all our subsequent work, as it both informs it and substantiates it. Used to mining for ideas, the thought that they could be caught was intriguing and looking back over past projects it’s clear that this is actually often the case.
Heady Spirits
Commissioned to redesign the packaging for CAMUS’s core range of cognacs we met with the brand’s fifth-generation head, Cyril Camus, to get his deeply personal perspective on his family’s legacy and the particular approach his house has to producing cognac. Later, reading back through our notes from this meeting, we realised that what shone through in our conversation was his reference several time to the aromatic intensity of CAMUS’s cognacs - so much so that they have patented a process called Instensity to achieve this. Out of this realisation came the proposition Intensely Aromatic which now has pride of place on its packaging and provided the stimulus for its A&P campaign when the new packaging was launched.
Countering Cynicism
Similarly, when working on the branding and marketing of a 350-acre integrated township in Nagpur, Central India, we visited a property exhibition in the city. As well as seeing first-hand potential target purchasers, and the typical approach of developers to marketing their properties, we encountered a myriad of expressions of the integrated township proposition, with sizes varying from several hundred acres to single figures. This misappropriation of the government-defined integrated township denomination, and developers’ failure to deliver, had resulted in widespread consumer cynicism. The thought caught that we needed to not only create a brand name for the new development (Ensaara), but a new product name (metropark) to distance it from negative associations. Combined with a factual, substantiated approach to marketing - instead of promising the ubiquitous ‘heaven on earth’ or ‘your own paradise’ - the new product name helped differentiate the township in the market.
Smoke & Dram
Site visits are a vital aspect of the work our Architecture and Interior Design Team undertakes. They are fundamental to our understanding of the brief and the physical characteristics and parameters of a site. Sometimes they spark ideas or new perspectives. At Gleneagles our site visit to its Dormy Clubhouse also landed an idea that resulted in a space which whisky drinkers and cigar smokers can both enjoy, in comfort and in attractive surroundings.
At the time we worked with both Diageo, owners of Johnnie Walker, and Gleneagles. Our site visited included an inner courtyard used for bins and storage. Unattractive and ‘back of house’, on the face of it the courtyard offered little new potential. But a discussion about indoor smoking legislation and many guests love of a fine cigar with their dram sparked our idea for an al fresco whisky bar branded Johnnie Walker Blue Label, where cigars could be smoked and guests could socialise warmed by an open fire and heated banquette seating (because Scotland has been known to get cold at certain times of the year).
Research, analysis and insights are watchwords of any initial immersive process and typically the spur for ideas. David Lynch suggests we should be equally open to the potential of fish rising.
Copyright remains with the owners of the images.
