10 More Things// Progressive Activists, Because I'm Worth It & Tube Ads
In this edition: How different Progressive Activists are from the rest of the UK, the origins of 'Because You're Worth It' & the tube ad critic
I’ve got a long list of links saved which I need to write up - expect another 10 More Things shortly!
The Good Stuff
Progressive Activists. A research company called More In Common have conducted an ironic piece of research that shows just how different Progressive Activists are from the rest of the country. Progressive Activists, who are more likely to be younger than 30, university educated and heavy news readers, are probably not dissimilar to many of the people who work in London-based ad agencies.
There’s some great research in here. Some stats that stand out:
PA’s are significantly more likely to want to protect people from harmful speech than protect free speech.
PA’s are over twice as likely to think breaking the law is ok in the pursuit of social change. If only Just Stop Oil released how different they are 3 years ago.
PA’s think Brexit was caused by the masses being misled. To be fair, this seems to be in proportion to how left or right wing you are.
Finally, they are the only segment where the majority think businesses should speak out about political issues even when the issues don’t affect their business.
The (Acquired) History Of Rolex. Lots of things I took out of this:
Rolex is British company… sort of. It was founded in London, in Hatton Gardens, about a 15 minute walk from the old Mediacom office, by Hans Wilsdolf, a German watch entrepreneur. Hans relocated Rolex to Switzerland shortly after WW1 for, you guessed it, tax reasons.
Rolex launched the Oyster - the first waterproof watch - by giving the watch to Mercedes Gleitze to swim the English Channel and advertising that is still worked at the end. ‘Advertising as showmanship’ at its finest.
Rolex isn’t a luxury brand, it’s a lifestyle brand. It just seems like a luxury brand because it’s, well… expensive. In the USA though, where wages are much higher than in Europe, it’s an (aspirational) affordable watch for many white collar workers. Patek Philippe is a luxury brand, characterised by their ginormous price tag and burning stock to protect resell value.
The point above was true up until digital watches became a thing. Now that mechanical watches are entirely redundant as a functional category (i.e. your phone or digital watch tells more accurate time than your mechanical watch), it’s fair to call them a luxury now.
Jonny Ive said that the Apple Watch would kill the Swiss watch industry. In actual fact, it revived the industry. Suddenly more people were wearing watches on their wrist, vastly expanding the amount of people considering different sorts of watches.
The (Provoke) History Of A24. The geniuses behind A24 started out as distributors who were really good at marketing films. Now they champion idiosyncratic film-makers whilst continuing to be really good at marketing.
The Entropy Economy. A call-to-arms to work quickly, iterate, push things in different directions, learn, recalibrate and repeat.
Strategic Entropy. Roger L Martin on a helpful metaphor for business: think of a company as building concentrations of energy. For example, Starbucks’ energy is coffee. The food and merch are distractions from that energy. Sure it might make money but it pulls energy (resource, investment, marketing & time) away from the core business. Eventually that takes it toll.
The Growth Delusion. “Businesses, like trees, cannot chase vertical infinity without consequence—eventually, the wind topples the unsustainable. But those who embrace ceilings, who shift from expansion to endurance, become something greater than just big”. This pairs nicely with Ritson’s latest Marketing Week column on why Coca-Cola are the best marketing company in the world.
Great Work
Because I’m Worth It. The story of the iconic L’Oreal line and the pioneering creative, Ilon Specht, who wrote it. Beauty advertising was written by men for men. Then Ilon changed the game by writing something from the perspective of the people who actually bought beauty products: women. The ad was so successful it became the slogan for the whole company after it was changed to ‘Because You’re Worth It’.
Pizza Hut’s Triple Box. Pizza Hut created a customisable triple box… so far so normal… the creative bit was the first person who ordered each combination could name that order for everyone else. With nearly 25k possible combinations that’s a lot of incentives to order something unique to claim a name.
Mentos’ Fizzooka. Mentos are known for creating a massive explosion when dropped into cola. Mentos have taken this to the next level by creating a custom fizzooka in Fortnite.
Pick N Mix
The Tube Ad Critic. Someone online is secretly (and quite accurately) rating OOH tube ads.
Google Whisk. Prompt with images.
Peace out ✌️
Alex