“The View From the Phlipside” is a media commentary program airing on WRFA-LP, Jamestown NY. It can be heard Monday through Friday around 7:30 AM. The following are scripts which may not exactly match the aired version of the program. Mostly because the host may suddenly choose to add or subtract words at a moment’s notice. WRFA-LP is not responsible for any such silliness or the opinions expressed. You can listen to a live stream of WRFA or find a podcast of this program at wrfalp.com. Copyright 2013-18 by Jay Phillippi. All Rights Reserved. You like what you see and hear? Drop me a line and we can talk.
Programs from the week of October 14, 2018
This Week’s Podcast
My name is Jay Phillippi and I’ve spent my life in and around the media. TV, radio, the movies and more. I love them, and I hate them and I always have an opinion. Call this the View from the Phlipside.
Interesting Advertising
As always, I’m keeping my eyes open for interesting things in the world of advertising. Most people try to ignore commercials, but I find a well written and produced ad is a joy forever. It’s the kind of thing that never gets the attention that the work deserves. So, I’ll spend a couple minutes shining the light when I can.
I have been fascinated for a while now by the TV commercials for the RXBar brand protein bars. They are the definition of minimalist advertising. The spot opens with a visual of the products minimalist wrapper art. The name, the basic nutrition info, the phrase “No B.S.” and very little else. Then a small door opens in the top right corner and actor and rapper Ice-T delivers his patented semi-glare at the world and announces things like “This RXBar commercial will be over in 8 mississippi, 7 mississippi…”, or that “This is an RXBar interruption to your favorite TV show. It’s over now”. Then he closes the door and the spot is, in fact, over. Ice-T’s deadpan delivery is perfect, and the idea of “No B.S.”, which is a core concept to the brand, is delivered dead center. When I see the bars at the store they are instantly identifiable in a market segment filled with look-alikes. Gotta give them a “nicely played” on the campaign.
Meanwhile, there is something new and exciting happening with Burger King. Late last month they launched a series of commercials that they claim were written by artificial intelligence, AI. The resulting copy would get you failed in any media class in America, but the spots are rather memorable. The spot for the flagship Whopper sandwich starts with:
“The Whopper is back. It never left, but it’s back. Flame grilled, just like you.”
All delivered in a classic Windows style male computer voice, meaning that emphasis is either missing or placed in strange positions. The real killer is the distortion of their longtime tagline, which is rendered as “Have it Uruguay”.
Last but not least, is the commercial for Clorox that spends almost no time talking or even showing the product. Instead, they focus on the “why” of cleaning, preparing for real life for the people we know and love. It makes a smelly disinfectant product into something warm, and fuzzy. That’s no small achievement either.
In the end, commercials that make you remember the product are a win. In very different ways, these are all winners.
Creativity and Statistics
One of my favorite science fiction series centers on a concept that says mankind’s future can be determined mathematically. Isaac Asimov created the idea of “psycho-history”, a mathematical discipline that could predict the future for humanity as a group, but not for individuals. It’s a fascinating idea that I’ve never bought into. Beyond my long-standing suspicion of mathematics in general, long story, there is my deep-seated belief in the creativity of people. When we are at our best, when we are “firing on all cylinders”, I believe that people are unpredictable and that that is one of our finest qualities.
The media, along with a wide range of other groups, wants to believe that I am wrong and that mathematics, in the form of statistics, is correct. One of my favorite ways to rile up the stat-heads in the sports world is to tell them that statistics do not predict future performance. Statistics can provide us with probabilities, even Asimov’s psycho-history spoke of probability, they can never offer us an ironclad picture of what is to come.
All of this came to mind when I saw a quote from media superstar Will Smith from the recent Advertising Week gathering. I mentioned elsewhere this week that Advertising Week is this monster gathering of all kinds of media folk. Like any good gathering of a clan, there are lots of times to sit and listen to speakers and experts.
Smith was talking about how the media uses numbers, commonly called “metrics” and how they can limit what is done. He said:
“The metrics are there to help you train your gut because at the end of the day you have to make the call on the extraordinary. The metrics keep you in the ordinary. The metrics keep you from failing more than they help you succeed. The thing that succeeds is going to be way outside from what somebody even thought was possible.”
That blew me away. In a world where we try to reduce everything to a number, this is a great reminder of what those numbers really offer. A metric should be used as a starting point, a reference from which we depart in search of something more, something greater.
I would love to see these words inspire more of us in the media “…make the call on the extraordinary”.
Advertising Icons
In the midst of an endless stream of awards shows, I am all in favor of the latest addition to the category. This fall, nominations were announced for the first ever Madison Avenue Walk of Fame Icon Awards. The announcement of the winners came during Advertising Week, an annual gathering of advertising, marketing, entertainment, creative, tech and media people. They have been honoring the top marketing concepts for the fifteen-year history of the event, but this year they took it a step farther.
As with any good media event, there was a red carpet and the obligatory photo ops for the advertising icons, a gala performance, a surprise appearance (when the Energizer Bunny crashed the stage) and, of course, the awards.
There were a lot of well-known icons nominated, the Burger King, Cap’n Crunch, McGruff the Crime Dog, Morris the Cat, and Captain Obvious to name just a few
So without further ado, here are the categories and their inaugural winners:
The Icon Millenium Award went to the Michelin Man,
Comeback Icon of the Year went to Carvel Ice Cream’s Fudgy the Whale,
Rookie of the year was won by Sprout from Green Giant vegetable fame,
#Throwback Icon award was picked up by the Trix Rabbit,
The Gone Fishin’ – Icon Retirement Award went to Toys R Us mascot Geoffrey the Giraffe. There’s the interesting note that at the beginning of October, the company that bought Toys R Us announced that Geoffrey was coming back.
McGruff the Crime Dog snagged the Icon For Good: Social Impact Award,
while Smokey Bear got the nod for Most Valuable Icon.
Finally, there was a nod to the international advertising world with QQ Penguin, the mascot of the Chinese Tencent company, the largest social media, and gaming company in the world.
The awards ceremony also recognized the top advertising slogans of the year. A little sentiment probably helped one of the winners there, as Toys R Us scored a second win with “I don’t wanna grow up, I’m a Toys R Us kid!” (which you just sang in your head, admit it!), and Hulu’s “Come TV with us”.
I was a little disappointed to see one of my least favorite campaigns getting a nomination. The IHOP to IHOB thing never clicked for me, it always seemed forced and phony. So was just as happy to see it get passed by.
But if there is one other thing that all awards shows seem to have, it’s a little controversy along the way. Sounds like an award winner all ‘round.
Call that the View From the Phlipside
Copyright Jay Phillippi, 2018
Theme music for “The View From the Phlipside” and “TVFTP – Podcast” is “Hustle”
Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
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