Is Smirnoff Full of Shit?

shaolintiger

Rob Campbell of cynic - a conversation starting company has called me out on my previous post and quite fairly suggests that Smirnoff are only interested in the purity of their distillation process and not the purity of the environment that we live in. I still live in hope that what we are seeing may well be a small but nonetheless tectonic shift in the future of branding values.

I'll be very disappointed if its a case of greenwashing as has been extensively documented by my esteemed colleague and one of the smartest planners in the business John Grant, on his ace blog Greenormal. But it remains to be seen if Diageo, the parent company of Smirnoff is to use this as an ignition point for their brand. Otherwise it would only be appropriate to add the usual film disclaimer at the end of the commercial that: Any characters and incidents portrayed and the names herein are fictitious, including any resemblance to the issues raised in The Stern report relating to climate change where the polar caps melt and large statues will be covered in water because of our reliance on fossil fuels, best dramatised with the use of oil rigs in advertising.

I think I need a stiff drink now!

Get over to Robs blog for some of the best conversation on the net. He's the future of marketing communications and is fearless about his beliefs, even if that means he has to go right to the top.

Lemon

fillmyeyes

It's easy to understand that most people think good design is largely a style affair. However a fundamental pillar for the role of design is to facilitate our lives and hopefully do it with flair, imagination and delight (insert a string of adjectives). It was a bit of a giggle seeing the convulsive British reaction to the Olympics logo because clearly it had been 'focus grouped', and the only reason that it could have been such a Yoof effort is because it was meant to be that way. It was designed to annoy the living hell out of a certain age demographic and thus appeal to the 'kidz' who are the real target audience for winning over to sport now that we've exposed them to the delights of 'consumer culture' obesity.

Isn't it a bit embarrassing when the waiter presents a seemingly erroneous dish and we immediately fly off the handle with an irritable and disgusted mien, only to find it's actually for a dining companion who then relieves you of the plate while trying to put on a brave face about their choice of meal, that you've looked at as if it were served on a fully laden poopa scoopa complete with hundreds and thousands sprinkled on top?

Wolf Ollin's earned their fee for this project through the paradoxical PR from the collective aneurysm of middle England. I guess they are unable to admit that its meant to offend (because then the Kidz wouldn't be down with it) until after the Olympics is over, if anyone cares by that point (which they wont). Anyway, the point of this post is to reaffirm the discussion of placing proper design at the heart of the marketing communications process because in an age of ubiquitous product parity, all we're often saying is love my ad/logo love my product.

Here are two examples from the wonderful Core77 that give me the design 'orn so to speak.

The Cardboard chair that weighs only 2 Kilograms.

The reusable notebook packaging that converts to a carry case

And one extra. This little cheeky fella, from Worn Again, is right up my street for a birthday present from anyone at anytime until the end of my days. Make yourself useful and get me this Charlie bag made from recycled army cape, seat belt and inner tubes.