Written by Stephen Callaghan

The airport looks empty, however, I know it isn’t due to the indistinct noise in the background . There is a green tinge to everything which makes me feel like I’m in some undefined corner of the Matrix. An alarm is sounding. The sickly looking flashing yellow light coupled with the camera slowly moving downward towards the baggage carousel seems to hint that something is about to happen. 

The luggage starts appearing. Returning to their owners from wherever in the world they departed from. First off the rank is a bright yellow duffle looking bag (I’m sure it doubles at a backpack). As it rounds the corner, simultaneously, the VO kicks in with a question and the camera rests down on the carousel.

The VO talks about all the things that hold people back. Fear, Routine, Hesitation, at the same time the camera starts moving backward away from the oncoming bag (like the viewer themselves is being held back).

“But exploration?” The VO asks as the camera stops, allowing the oncoming bag to approach. The ad ends with a strong CTA (Call to action) as a hand enters the frame and takes the bag.

The fact that for the majority of the ad you can clearly see ‘The North Face’ printed on the bag is somewhat irrelevant.

‘The North Face’ KNOW their audience. WELL. They know that they don’t need to blatantly “advertise their products” in fact, being a follower of their content for quite some time now; I imagine they don’t want to.

This video has always stayed in my mind. I believe it is an excellent example of advertising done right.

Rather than shoving prices and deals down the viewers throats (if this ad is anything to go by), it looks like they’d rather move and inspire their audience and evoke action. Which really is what ‘The North Face’ seems to be about as a brand.

Let’s play a game of ‘Would you rather’. Take a moment to think about your brand and answer the following.

Would you rather:

A. have a surface and shallow relationship with your target market? 

B. Speak to them on their level?

Seems pretty obvious doesn’t it? ‘B’ everyday of the week hey? So let me ask you another question.

Are you confident that the content you’re creating for your brand is speaking to your audience on the aforementioned level? Really?….. Really? Are you lying to yourself?

The reason I bring all this up is for (almost) 1 simple fact. Everyday I get 2 trains to and from work and whilst standing in all the braindead hustle and bustle, like most people these days, my head is down, my eyes glued to my phone. Scroll, scroll and scroll some more. Nearly everyday I hit a point where I have to put my phone away… and it’s not because my neck is hurting from looking down for so long, I swear.

It’s because all I see is basic, lazy, and to be completely honest, insulting attempts at “selling/marketing and promoting”.

It’s like people are producing video for the sake of producing video. Can I let you in on a secret? If your video looks sh*t and/or sounds sh*t; it’s is actually more damaging to your brand than doing nothing, because it makes your brand look sh*t.

I’m not here to spread doom and gloom! I don’t just want to see the world burn! I dream of the day I can get onto the train and be entertained!

I definitely don’t go about life thinking it’s all about me. However, if you want to sell me something, or offer your services to me, then it is all about me! and the person next to me, and everyone else on the train.

You have approx. 1 ½ hours a day to form a relationship with me. If you can engage me in a way that speaks to me (or whatever demographic you’re targeting) in the short time that I’m actually looking at my screen, I’ll remember.

So I’ll ask you another question. Let’s say I’m someone who falls under the umbrella of your target audience, how are you going to speak to me?

I hope that you take a moment to think about it next time you’re developing ideas to visually communicate with your audience. Like I said, I don’t want to see the world burn; so here’s 6 tips to help you with your next ideation session.

1. Put it on the shelf

The first thing that pops into your head. Put it on a shelf. If you’re having a group ideation, set some homework for them to bring 5 ideas each. At the start of the session, everyone reads out their ideas. Write them up on the board, then move to talking about your audience. Who are they? What do they like/dislike etc. etc. 

Now, you may return to these ideas throughout the session, but I almost guarantee you; if you get them out of your head straight away, it will most likely make some space for new ideas to form. Another way I like to approach it is this: Right, that’s the first idea I have. Now what am I going to do?

2. Get it all out

Every time you focus on a talking point. Get it all out! Everything. If you can, I’d always have ideation sessions with more than just yourself. Things start flowing as a group. Write it all down, or up I should say, up on a board/wall/whatever. Somewhere everyone can see it. Your thoughts plastered on a whiteboard will spark something in someone else and then things really start evolving.

3. The “hard sell” is lazy

I absolutely refuse to believe that the best thing you have to offer is a discount or a cheap price. C’mon? You’re better than that. You (should) know your brand or service better than anyone. I’m sure if you sat down and thought about it, in 10-15 minutes you could come up with AT LEAST 5 things that your company offers that is more valuable to your audience than just a few bucks off your already marked up price. (No judgement with the mark up, we all have overheads).

4. Your audience isn’t stupid

The stupidest thing you can do is assume that your audience is stupid. In fact, their intelligence is actually irrelevant. You’re trying to communicate with them to generate business. The most successful people in the world wear shirts just the same as people who’re going to court. Granted, they may come from different stores, but they’re shirts nonetheless. My point is, it’s not about your viewers IQ, it’s about their experience of living; work out how to talk to them on that level. 

5. What actually is it?

There’s a growing trend of people just doing whatever is popular – which I totally understand! Let me put it this way; Your first response shouldn’t be “let’s just do it like everybody else”. Your business/brand is unique and over time you’ll learn what works and what doesn’t work for it.

Don’t do video for something that really could be conveyed in a still image. If for example, you have a lot of “information” you want to communicate. Do you really think I want to see someone just sitting talking for 20 minutes? (the only exception to this would be “industry” news etc. which is more about knowledge sharing than promotion). Maybe an animation would work better? Is there a way to make it snappier or simplified? Could the content tie in with an ongoing social media campaign? You’re trying to sell something remember, call it what it is.

6. Plan for the future

In this day and age. Putting a whole heap of time and resource into just 1 asset, 1 video, 1 explainer, 1 whatever it is, probably isn’t going to cut it. You’ll get significantly more bang for your buck if you put some kind of plan or strategy in place.

You might have a great idea for video. Awesome! You share, you get engagement, it goes “viral”, great. What then? You… share it again in a few weeks/months?

From a video/photography production stand-point, there isn’t an exuberant amount more resource needed to capture a few alternate shots/scene’s/stills on the shoot day. Or perhaps in the editing phase you could think about some short “cutdown” versions of the video; to tease or focus on certain aspects of the content. This enables you to execute a content strategy. Allowing you to be in consistent/uniformed communication with your target market for a longer period of time. Doing this will not only enable you to build that relationship with me on the train, but build your brand image and the volume of your voice in your industry. 

If you have in fact read all the way to here. Thank You. I hope my ramblings have been somewhat helpful.

I was at a business breakfast the other morning and the guest speaker said something which I thought was great – “Be brave enough to recognise your weaknesses, then hire someone to do those things for you”. If you’re not in a position to do that (like me), I find YouTube tutorials are a great way to learn for free!

BTW – If you want to watch ’The North Face – Never Stop Exploring’ Video. Here’s the link:

https://www.facebook.com/thenorthface/videos/2218173065084193/

Using the ‘The North Face’ ad as an example. Gorilla Productions offer an exploration & insights to help you generate effective ideas.