All I want for Christmas is a perfume ad.

I don’t care what anybody says, there’s nothing better than a good old, over-the-top, extravagantly produced, super-star studded, feature-length, bonkers bit of nonsensical but sensational loveliness than a perfume ad - especially at Christmas. I love ‘em! They make me smile. They are often draw-dropping. They stop me in my tracks. They are always totally mad. And, most importantly, I remember them, usually for years. That’s powerful.

Perfume ads are the perfect case study in making the most of your distinctive assets. Name, logo, bottle and a tone, look and feel that encapsulates everything the brand wants to be. Chuck in a super-model or Hollywood actor, a top drawer director and a killer bit of music and you’ve got yourself a stand out bit of advertising. Yeah, it’ll cost a bomb, but it will endure like an intense and musky cologne.

In many ways perfume ads are the purest form of brand marketing - and it’s what interests me.

They exude the brand. And I admire the commitment, craft and high production values.

For many, perfume ads are probably an evil. The epitome of consumerism, creating false fantasies that mean companies can whack extortionate prices on a scented spray. But then you realise that’s really the same for most advertising you see at Christmas. Despite some of the convoluted moral messages, they’re all selling us something and hoping for us to feel nice and fluffy about their brands.

You can keep your John Lewis ads. Weirdly, I think there’s an honesty in a perfume ad. Yeah, they’re usually total lunacy, but that’s what makes them what they are. I can enjoy them without the need to look for layered messages, meanings or stories. Some will say they’re pretentious, but for me it’s the ads that try so hard to tell us an emotional story above and beyond what they are trying to sell that lose me. Most Christmas ads have disappeared up their own chimney and I’d rather have it the William Morris way: useful or beautiful. And perfume ads are the bit of beautiful magic I crave this time of year.

At L-E-A-P we love brand. We also love talking about brands and advertising. If you ever want us to find the beauty in your brand or find the useful nuggets that will give your brand a chance to fly (or just pick up this conversation about what makes a knock-out Christmas ad), give us a shout and say hello@l-e-a-p.com.

Standing out and standing for.

There’s a bit of an obsession with standing out these days. We see it in people and we see it in brands. Everyone wants to be seen to be different. Or is it that we have to be different to be seen?

We deal with the concept of differentiation on a daily basis. Businesses are determined to find their point of difference. But very rarely do we come across a product or service that is totally unique and could own a position in the market simply by being first. We’ve come to rely on the modern-day brand adage (or excuse) that distinctiveness is what really counts and that’s where you can gain share of mind and competitive advantage. Distinctiveness is what will help you stand out from the crowd.

This is obviously true, but we need to be careful not become so preoccupied with standing out that we forget what for. It can’t be a licence for ‘anything goes’ because if we take the principle to its logical conclusion we end up with brands and advertising that might look fabulous, might even be memorable, might scoop all the creative awards but do they work? And what we mean by that is: do they build the right meaning (that can be strengthened with consistent efforts over time) in the minds of consumers that makes them want to buy our brand over others?

We’ve found, when we’re pitching, that clients are being told regularly by agencies that ‘they’ll do work that will make them (or their brand) famous’. We assume that they are also being told that the work will make them ‘stand out’. But our challenge is always the same: what is it that you want to be famous for? Work that out first and then put all efforts – for the long-term – into that. And we think that comes from thinking about what it is you want to stand for.

The desire to ‘be different’ has become a distraction to ‘do different’ by many in our industry. Marketers are often compelled towards change and trying something new when it’s been well proven that the best way to build brands and achieve long-lasting success is through repetition and consistency - and playing the long game. Chop and change at your peril.

We always come back to Hamilton – and why not, because who doesn’t love that show?

“If you stand for nothing, what’ll you fall for?”

This is great advice for brands and those looking after them. It’s an indictment of where we’ve got to that so often brands fall for anything and reinvent their strategies. And it might be one of the reasons (or one of the ironies) that we remain stuck in an age of forgettable advertising in the UK. More time spent defining what it is you stand for will be time and money well spent. It will galvanise your long-term efforts and provide something for everyone to get behind. We call it a positioning and, for us, it is the most important and powerful thing a brand has. And so it makes sense to focus as much energy as you can on supporting it.

We know we’re not the first to say this. And we know just by saying it alone does not make us different or stand out. But it is what we stand for. And you know what, we stand by it too.

If you think all this stands to reason and would like to get our thoughts on how we could help you define what it is you ‘stand for’ so you can ‘stand out’, then get in touch at hello@l-e-a-p.com.

What’s in a name?

A great question once asked by Shakespeare’s Juliet herself. 

But what if Juliet was now a brand manager on the lookout for a new agency to place on her upcoming pitch list? She’d be confronted by many ‘roses’, probably all offering the same services. But would they all smell as sweet?

We do a lot of work in naming and think about names a lot. But since we’ve started we’ve had a lot of people asking us about our company name. So that got us thinking about agency names. Today there are a plethora of agencies, across many specialities, all fighting it out for high Google rankings, all with snazzy websites and wall graphics, all looking to catch the eye of a Juliet or a John. And, it seems to us, that agency naming falls into a few buckets.* 

There’s the ‘named-after-founders’ bucket. Old-school, corporate, makes you sound like a lawyer. Works really well until the founders take a step back and then clients start to worry that they are no longer important if one of the names above the door isn’t in the meeting.

And what about this one? It’s what we like to call the ‘fruit/animal/service mash-up’ bucket. Not a day goes by when we don’t see a ‘Banana Elephant Media’, a ‘Strawberry Giraffe Digital’ or a ‘Tomato Dinosaur Social’. It’s like a lucky dip for naming, and with infinite combinations it sure must make finding the right URL easier.

And then there’s the ‘One-worder’ bucket (this is a big one). There are many single-word agencies out there, often with enigmatic titles or names alluding to what they can do, or what they offer. Some relate to location; the building they’re in, or the type of characters who own it. And it’s this category where we put ourselves. 

We wanted to be the answer to their problem and the means to their end.

But we wanted something extra from our name. We wanted our name to be a call-to-action. We debated our name for endless months, trying to find something that was right for us, but also something that was right for clients too. We loved the idea of a name that is automatically associated with the type of work we do, and that clients already use in their everyday work vocabulary. We wanted to be the answer to their problem and the means to their end. And we wanted something that worked on many other basic levels. ‘What sounds good on the phone?’, ‘What works well on a screen?’, ‘What’s easy for a client to type into an email?’ (Okay, we didn’t quite tick this box!). 

We know that names, like brands and logos, are empty vessels and without investing in them (meaning and/or money) they are just words on a page. You can’t create a culture through a name, or win business via it, but you can set the direction for which everything else can follow (or leap). And when a name has meaning behind it, it can become a galvanising force, for staff and clients. 

Names are fragile things; easily broken and quickly forgotten without constant attention.

We also know names need to be nurtured, respected, and treated with care. Names are fragile things; easily broken and quickly forgotten without constant attention. What takes years to grow and build in reputation, can be eroded and lost through the decisions you make. Afterall, what are clients, talent and eventually investors buying if not the name above the door, the reputation it comes with, and the people who have made that name mean something?

When it comes to naming a company there are a lot of things to consider, but perhaps none more so than this: ‘does it make you proud to say it aloud?’. That’s the real deal-breaker, and one that we often put to our clients. The chances are if you believe in your name, you’ll believe in what you stand for, and others will believe in you too. That, or you might get lucky and be called ‘Robin’, in which case you probably fall into all three buckets and have come up trumps.

If you’d like us to call you some names, just drop us line at  hello@l-e-a-p.com or visit www.l-e-a-p.com.

*This is neither a scientific analysis nor an exhaustive review of naming strategies. For that, we really would have to charge.

I hate the word strategy.

It might seem like a stupid thing to say coming from someone who, just a couple of months ago, literally picked his own job title and decided on ‘Strategy Partner’. But the truth is, it’s a word I’ve always struggled with. Not so much what it means (if it means much at all) but how it is used.

Throughout my career, the word ‘strategy’ has often been used by people to sound smart. And on many occasions it’s been used by people to make others look or feel inferior: ‘What’s the strategy here?’, ‘We need to be more strategic’. In all honesty, I don’t think anyone ever really knew what they were talking about. It’s a bit of a pompous word, used by many in our industry to look good in meetings and achieve sweet F.A., as my mum would say.

The word ‘strategy’ is often used by people to sound smart.

So, it’s safe to say I’m wary of the word. My ears prick up whenever I hear it in meetings and then I look out for the ‘Emperor’s New Clothes’ effect. You’ve seen it. Everyone nodding around the table, lots of long, convoluted sentences and people referencing so-and-so and such-and-such. In these moments it hits me that, despite all the words, nobody is saying much at all. In fact, nobody is even saying what is probably uppermost in their minds: ‘What is everyone talking about?!’. When the word ‘strategy’ rears its ugly head, more often than not, it has the opposite of its intended effect. Rather than helping to get to the point, it adds confusion and clouds clarity. Rather than providing direction it bamboozles and disorientates. Rather than creating action it causes inaction.

Thankfully, over the years, I’ve become pretty skilled at listening and picking up on the right things, filtering out the clutter and honing in on the stuff that can make a difference. And I’ve spent most of my career working closely with and learning from creatives, fascinated by the creative problem-solving brain. I think I’ve got good at fixing complicated problems, simplifying issues and finding a way forward (oh, a strategy you might say!). It’s at the heart of the way we do things at L-E-A-P. Strategy and creative working hand-in-hand to deliver better thinking and better work for the businesses and brands we help.

What’s the best way of getting from A to B?

We have a tendency to elevate issues in marketing and make it all sound much grander than it is. But in reality, we – like the real-life human customers we’re ultimately trying to communicate to - are simple creatures. We need to bring things back down to earth and provide practical solutions to problems that we can do something about, rather than add to the waffle. That’s how I think about ‘strategy’. What’s the best way of getting from A to B? And always being sure on the destination (the objectives and goals to achieve) before heading off. And then the great thing about the creative process is that it will get you there – it will find a way (just like Jeff Goldblum said in Jurassic Park). There’s no single right answer, but there are better routes and approaches, and we live and learn. But find an angle, find a story to tell, find something that gets everyone interested in the problem and your solution to it. Sell your own strategic sizzle. Be proud of your brief, your approach and what you believe is the right way to go. Embrace the idea that great strategy should be creative and great creative should be strategic.

So, why call myself a Strategy Partner? Because just as our business is based on partnership, our whole approach to brand development is based on the partnership of strategy and creative – defining the problem, setting the end-goal and working together to find the best way to get there, giving our clients the confidence to L-E-A-P. We call it Clever Creativity, but really there’s nothing clever about it at all. And besides, Unstrategy Partner just seemed a bit daft. 

To find out more about how Clever Creativity and unstrategic thinking can help your business, say hello@l-e-a-p.com or visit www.l-e-a-p.com.

What are you going to be famous for?

There’s a great quote from Jeremy Bullmore about fame: ‘the image of a brand is no more nor less than the result of its fame’. I’d forgotten about it until very recently, then Bob Hoffman wrote that brutal but brilliant article on how the only three words a brief really need contain are ‘make us famous’, and it got me thinking about it again.

 If you haven’t read the article by Bob Hoffman (the Ad Contrarian) then you really should. 

Are we adding to the layers of unnecessary meaning and complexity used to justify ‘brand building’?

It’s a sobering read for anyone that works in the world of marketing. And, without meaning to be too dramatic, it got me questioning what I do for a living! Is it all just a load of nonsense? Are we adding to the layers of unnecessary meaning and complexity used to justify ‘brand building’? Have we all just become a bit beguiled by some notion of ‘brand meaning’, when really all that matters to a consumer is that they are buying a brand they’ve heard of?

I studied Philosophy at University and I loved reading Wittgenstein. He was great at cutting through the crap too. He was very wary of the dangers and deception of adding ‘meaning’ that wasn’t there. He said ‘philosophy is a battle against the bewitchment of our intelligence by means of language.’ Basically, we need to be careful not to get so sucked in that we start to believe our own bullshit. But I think, more than that, we need to not create the bullshit in the first place.

So, I agree with Bob, the primary role of advertising is to make a brand famous. But then I remembered the rest of Jeremy’s quote: ‘the image of a brand is no more nor less than the result of its fame: its reputation. And like a reputation, it can be found in only one place: the minds of consumers.’ And I began to feel that my life had worth again. Because you’ve got to be famous for something. 

When you create advertising it has to be about something.

Fame based on nothing (although better than no fame at all) is fleeting and will fade quickly. But reputation sticks in the mind. Yes, you have to spend to keep it there, but a brand will lodge harder and stick for longer when it has a ‘reputation’. Even Bob concedes ‘when you create advertising it has to be about something. So you might as well make it about something useful like positioning and differentiation.’ And I think these are the things, if done well, if true and not adding complexity and layers (i.e. bullshit) can form the basis of reputation. Of course, not every brand has the means to achieve fame, but starting out by trying to answer the question ‘what is it you want to be famous for?’ is powerfully instructive for brands. 

We’ve recently launched a brand agency and although I’m not sure whether Bob Hoffman would ever endorse us or not, I hope that what we do does, in some way, ring true with what he says. We’re not complicators, we’ve never subscribed to marketing jargon and we’re as down-to-earth as they come – founded by two working class Essex boys who understand what it’s like to be everyday punters. The reason we focus on brand positioning is because we want to ensure the brands we work with are based on solid principles and stand for something rather than nothing – so that others can go off and make advertising about something that makes a brand famous. If what we do provides the basis of the reputation that forms in the minds of consumers, then I’m well happy with that (as we’d say in Essex).

So, if you would like to find out more about L-E-A-P and the work we do that will help your brand become famous for something, then say hello@l-e-a-p.com or visit www.l-e-a-p.com.

Brand new and no different.

Something keeps playing on our minds. Advertising has gone a bit… well… downhill over the last 10 years (or probably more) and it’s bothering us. There’s been so much written about it by people far wiser than us, so we don’t want to go over old ground. But we do want to offer our perspective. And then tell you what we intend to do about it.

We better first clarify our sweeping assertion. We’re talking about positioning. All the great ads position the brand - they find and own a space in the mind of the prospect that wasn’t there before and then, over time, that brand becomes a mental short-cut to their purchase decision-making. We know this. It’s been proven for decades. We’re saying nothing new here. But, what we think has changed is the power of ‘the advert’ to truly position brands. It is becoming more and more impotent. 

The amount of messages people are subjected to is an ‘assault on the mind’.

 Al Ries and Jack Trout said it over 40 years ago in ‘Positioning’ (still one of our favourite books on marketing), that ‘communication itself is the problem’. Even back then, they saw that the amount of messages people are subjected to as an ‘assault on the mind’. What would they think today, with the endless multitude of channels and social media platforms trying their best to suck our eyeballs from out of the sockets?

Good agencies have become slaves to ‘content’, having to deliver to relentless multi-channel schedules and we are now literally pumping it out. We have become pre-occupied with getting it done, getting it out there, and less focussed on ‘is it good?’, ‘will it work?’ and ‘will this help position the brand?’.

The age of the ‘advert’ positioning the brand and doing all the heavy-lifting is over. It’s too much to expect of advertising. The days of ads that launched ‘Think small’, ‘We try harder’, ‘Think different’, ‘I never read the Economist’, ‘Colour like no other’ and all the other great ads or campaigns that just lasered brands into our minds, have surely passed. There is too much of a burden on advertising and ad agencies to do it alone when there is such a voracious hunger for more ‘stuff’ to put out there (we’re not saying that’s right by the way, but that’s for another day).

The ‘battle for the mind’ is still the most important battle.

We believe in positioning. For us this is the single-most important job in creating a brand. And we must start with it – get it right, before even thinking about marketing communications or ‘the ad campaign’. It may appear that we live in a world that is ‘branded’ to within an inch of its life. Every independent coffee shop, barber, online retailer or new app service has a slick logo and flash visual identity. But this is not ‘brand’. This is ‘branding’ and, as consumers, we’re numb to it. Brand starts with clarity of positioning; being clear on the space you want to own – yes, the ‘battle for the mind’ is still the most important battle. And, unlike Al and Jack’s provocative final word on the matter that ‘creativity is dead’, we believe the only way to win is with creativity. Today as much as ever.

We’ve learnt that a brand’s long-term success lies in having rock solid foundations and a crystal-clear positioning and the work we do provides a launchpad for business growth

That’s why we have launched a brand agency. In fact, we think we’re the only brand agency in Birmingham, dedicated solely to the creation, definition and development of brands using our unique combination of strategic and creative skills, which we call Clever Creativity. We’ve learnt that a brand’s long-term success lies in having rock solid foundations and a crystal-clear positioning and the work we do provides a launchpad for business growth – ensuring that every effort, every bit of activity (including advertising), and every pound spent supports a brand’s positioning. We see it like this: the stronger your foundations, the higher you will fly. Guess that’s one of the reason’s we’re called L-E-A-P.

What we’re doing is brand new and yet no different to what has always been of fundamental importance in creating and building brands – it’s just been forgotten by so many and we are putting primary importance back on it. So, here’s our rally cry as we kick off our new venture and look to make our mark…

We will work with businesses to do what we do amazingly well: creating clearly positioned, tightly screwed together brands with substance that will allow others to do what they do best: hopefully making highly creative and potent marketing communications that will connect with the target and, just maybe, will have a better chance of truly positioning the brand in their minds. And our hope is that the role we play helps make an industry we love better. Better work, for better brands that maybe even make the world that bit better too (why not?). That’s our commitment and we look forward to playing our part and making a difference. We’re ready to L-E-A-P and we hope you are too.