We just lost a pitch. And the process stunk. Cannes was a dreadful existential week of missing out and felt like holidaying inside Linkedin. AI has eaten our lunch, dinner and lions.
Apparently the woods are on fire. Advertising is dead. Everyone hates advertising.
Alright, shut the fuck up.
I love advertising. Obsessively. Borderline unhealthily. Because it has the power to change everything.
And advertising isn’t dead. Maybe it’s lost its way a bit. I get that people hate terrible ads. Terrible ads in any format are terrible. And the next generation doesn’t hate the art of great advertising. In fact, they aspire to be part of it. Recently, we worked on a government bid and loved that of the top 10 jobs students aspire to, advertising came in at six.
When we started the agency, 21 long, hard, anxiety-inducing years ago, we did so because we loved advertising. Didn’t really understand it, but loved it.
They shot the original “You know when you’ve been Tango’d” ad at the end of our street. Turned the off-licence into a quaint looking greengrocer and, by Friday, we were all slapping our friends in the face. The hit of the whole fruit was just an idea. A beautiful idea, perfectly executed, that changed everything for Tango.
That wasn't just a campaign. That advertising was culture. It wouldn't have mattered if it was shot on a camera or prompted on VEO3, they knew the power of a proper brand platform. They've iterated on it and, for Tango, it's still working today, working hard on every platform.
But let’s be honest: a lot of what passes for advertising today isn’t doing the job. It’s cautious, over-targeted, undercooked and built around the wrong metrics. It’s made to be efficient instead of effective. Cheap instead of cherished. We’ve convinced ourselves that personalisation equals persuasion, that programmatic media is strategy and that data will rescue bad ideas. It won’t.
It doesn’t mean there isn't power in the use of data or optimisation. It’s just that when correctly applied for a brand that’s meaningful, that has something to say in a meaningful way, and that connects with the audience on a meaningful level, it will be exponentially more effective.
Brands that invest in long-term brand advertising don’t just grow, they grow more profitably, more sustainably. Advertising done right doesn’t just entertain or persuade, it makes businesses more money. It makes them future-proof. It gives them value in the eyes of customers, shareholders and culture at large.
[Ogilvy UK vice-chairman] Rory Sutherland obviously said it better than me, and I'm paraphrasing: advertising at its best is alchemy. It can build empires and bring dead brands back from the brink. When it works, it works harder than anything else in a brand’s arsenal. (P.S. I hate Arsenal.)
What was true in the days of Bill Bernbach or Donald Draper is equally relevant today. AI will take jobs, provide wonderful, powerful tools, and redefine the production process, but the bit that genuinely has the power to change everything remains as important today as it did over a neat 11am vodka.
When the brilliant and devilishly handsome Dom Roe stumbled through our doors (50cc motorcycle helmet in hand) to become planning director 10 years ago, he had a simple blueprint. Now we call it The Four ‘tions’ (shuns) and it’s the basis for everything. It’s how we create work that works. And it’s how all great work that works, works.
It goes a little something like this.
Make it unignorable. Attention. In a world drowning in content, getting noticed is the job.
Emotion. Feel something. Joy, nostalgia, outrage, love. Anything but indifference. Emotion drives every big business effect more than rational persuasion.
Cognition. Land a message i.e. the implicit or explicit out-take.
Finally, Action. It has to lead somewhere. A conversation, act, decision, click, sale. How many seem to have forgotten these four simple truths?
At RCP we love advertising. It’s written on the walls. And the floor (finally got a floor decal away). Loving it means we care about how and why it works. We get under the hood. We argue over it. We obsess over it. We go further, dig deeper, try harder because we love it and because we believe in its four simple truths - our ‘tions’ - and its enduring power.
I love advertising, and will keep fighting for the kind that lasts. That changes everything.
Dan Jacobs is founder and ECD at RCP.