Kellogg’s

Where was I? Oh yes, take something like Kellogg's kids' cereals. I'm not blaming them, because we've done some stunning ads with Kellogg's, and they're a lovely a client, they're one of my favorite. But you get this thing about it ... Like kids involved, and the basic premise of this ad was Coco Pops was actually good for kids, because it's actually just rice, chocolate, there's no preservatives, no calories, which apparently is a fact, it's got lots of vitamins and minerals in it. It's all good. [7356],[7361],[7341]
And then people start getting nervous. "Oh, we're talking to kids. Maybe we should say this and show more vitamins." But then what everyone's forgetting is it's a 30-second communication, so they want more vitamins and minerals, but then you have to take out things like chocolate. And then, "Oh, we can't take out chocolate, 'cause that's what kids like." So you've gotta put that in, and then this. [7372]
But then you get like ... You've got a simple ad, the ad's written, it's done, the script's approved, things are fantastic. And then people start getting nervous. "Oh, we're talking to kids. Maybe we should say this and show more vitamins." But then what everyone's forgetting is it's a 30-second communication, so they want more vitamins and minerals, but then you have to take out things like chocolate. And then, "Oh, we can't take out chocolate, 'cause that's what kids like." So you've gotta put that in, and then this. [7362],[7342]
And then people start getting very nervous and start running around, and then once that starts and the client starts doing that, then you get this micromanagement mindset takes over, and you end the pre-production meeting and the clients are all worried. So they say, "What color shoes is the kid wearing?" And we say, "Well, it doesn't really matter, 'cause you're not gonna see his feet." "No, but they can't be like red or yellow, 'cause that looks like preservatives. It's gotta be like a brain or a neutral color." And we're saying, "We're not gonna see his feet." "No, no, stills," you know? And things like that. [7363],[7343]
So they say, "What color shoes is the kid wearing?" And we say, "Well, it doesn't really matter, 'cause you're not gonna see his feet." "No, but they can't be like red or yellow, 'cause that looks like preservatives. It's gotta be like a brain or a neutral color." And we're saying, "We're not gonna see his feet." "No, no, stills," you know? And things like that. [7373]
Once a little bit of nervousness creeps in, and you start changing a creative idea ... 'Cause an idea on its own is the idea. But if you start changing the idea, the actual idea is gone, and what you end up with is a bunch of separate little five-second premises making up a 30-second commercial which is, what? Do the maths. Six separate ideas are being held together by 30 seconds, which isn't an idea at all. And that becomes very problematic. And I think you've watched enough TV ads in your life to see when there's one idea, or when there's someone saying, "Shit, I've got 30 seconds. I better fill as much information here as possible." And the consumer sees that and he goes, "Oh, I'm going for a piss." And that's a classic example of how selling stuff so horribly. [7364],[7344]
Don't go there, do you know what I mean? Everyone gets emotional, and you can't make a mistake and, "No, no, no." [inaudible 00:37:15] from there, 10 clients involved. [inaudible 00:37:21] starts like that, and everyone else starts having to have input, and you can see how things there can go wrong. [7374],[7375]
Kellogg's? 50. I'm not joking. On something like that, they'll go down to the tea lady, and they'll say, "Do you understand this?" 'Cause they don't wanna make a mistake. See, TV's expensive. See, once starts someone getting nervous, it just spread like a disease, and they're asking everyone's opinion to everything, and then everyone's got an opinion as you know. And it was a different feeling. And so suddenly, what started off as a very simple, simple idea, has got at least 50 opinions involved in it, and there's no idea left at all, so you might as well do the ad, start again. [7357],[7365]
See, once starts someone getting nervous, it just spread like a disease, and they're asking everyone's opinion to everything, and then everyone's got an opinion as you know. And it was a different feeling. And so suddenly, what started off as a very simple, simple idea, has got at least 50 opinions involved in it, and there's no idea left at all, so you might as well do the ad, start again. [7376]
Work it out yourself. [7345]
No, look it's a nice, safe, big American brand. They don't take risks. [7346]
I would think so. [inaudible 00:38:48] research. They'll do animatics first, that's the [inaudible 00:38:51]. Go, "I'll do that," and they'll research the animatic to death, and I'll get the feedback from every LSM group, from LSM five, that's some uneducated peasants living in the townships, to every hysterical mother, to people who go, "Oh, Kellogg's poison children." [7358],[7366],[7347]
Right through to like, "You poisoned our children." So you get all that feedback, then we'll have a huge big research, feedback meeting where every single bloody housewife's opinion's also added to the mix, to add into the script, to fix it. I say fix it in inverted commas, you can't see my hands doing this [7377]
So I'll get every bit of feedback from about 10 different research groups at animatic. Range from people going, "I don't like the ad 'cause it's a cartoon." It's a fucking animatic, bitch. Right through to like, "You poisoned our children." So you get all that feedback, then we'll have a huge big research, feedback meeting where every single bloody housewife's opinion's also added to the mix, to add into the script, to fix it. I say fix it in inverted commas, you can't see my hands doing this. And then we will like adjust the script to the preview stage, and then it'll eventually hopefully get made after like 10 or 12 revisions. And then it goes on air, and then it goes post-researched, and then everyone tells you how boring it is because there's too much information in it, so then we get shat on. [7359],[7367],[7348],[7349],[7353]
ime starts off being very adequate on these sort of jobs, and then once you've revised the script about 10 times because of 10 different idiot's feedbacks from the nutritionists to the tea lady, the time started to get tight. T [7378],[7379]
Time starts off being very adequate on these sort of jobs, and then once you've revised the script about 10 times because of 10 different idiot's feedbacks from the nutritionists to the tea lady, the time started to get tight. Then you make the animatic, and then you get more things. The time's getting tighter and tighter. Then the animatic goes into research, and then it's getting very tight. And then you get all this feedback from conflicting different groups and research, and then they all want these different changes. The nutritionist wants this more added in, and the client wants this, and the sales people want that. Night time's really tight, because you've got a 30-second add which has got about 80 seconds of information in it. Now that time's running out. You've still gotta brief directors, get director's treatments in. And when all these extraneous people start to get involved in the creative process, time goes out the window. [7360],[7368],[7350],[7354],[7369]
And then it gets stressful. [7355],[7370]
That one? It started off the normal way, and I think it ended up with piles and piles of cocaine, man, just to cope. No, it was the normal way. You come up with an ad for ... Working from Holly Davidson to hair shampoo for women to tampons to bras. It doesn't matter, it's all the same. A product's a product. You sell it the same way. So yeah, it starts off the same way. It can end differently, but it all starts the same. Well, my way. I don't know how other people do it, that's how I do it. [7371]
Yeah. Christmas lunch at Kellogg's is the biggest room ever. They're all girls there. The Kellogg's girls are there. They are very nice, conservative, hard-working ... They're young and they have fun, and then as soon as they get with the agency they go, "Oh, agency people, creatives, they must party." And these girls drink more tequila, more vodka ... Every tequila was Christmas lunch. Let me give you an example. It starts at 11 in the morning. The last one I remember finished at 4 o'clock the next morning, and I had to sleep from my car, 'cause I couldn't drive home, I was so smashed. And we have a rocking great time together. They're great, great people. They've got a hell of a huge trust in us at the agency, but they just are a serious American global company and they are, "I shall do this, and I shall not do that." [7351]
It was fantastic. The core team always gets on well, us and the client. It's just it gets frustrating ... Because it's such a good relationship, we don't wanna stuff it up by losing your rag with them. But it does get frustrating when nervousness sets in, and cowardice. I think it's cowardly to try to cover all these bases all the time. Either say your message, or don't. Don't try and say one message but then try and carpet it in another. [7352]
Reference Tags
[7356] Empathetic disposition,[7361] Insufficient Feedback,[7341] Risk compensation,[7372] Alignment,[7362] Insufficient Feedback,[7342] Risk compensation,[7363] Insufficient Feedback,[7343] Risk compensation,[7373] Alignment,[7364] Insufficient Feedback,[7344] Risk compensation,[7374] Alignment,[7375] Indecisive leadership,[7357] Indecisive leadership,[7365] Insufficient Feedback,[7376] Indecisive leadership,[7345] Risk compensation,[7346] Risk compensation,[7358] Indecisive leadership,[7366] Insufficient Feedback,[7347] Law of the instrument,[7377] Indecisive leadership,[7359] Indecisive leadership,[7367] Insufficient Feedback,[7348] Law of the instrument,[7349] Pessimism bias,[7353] Yielding conflict about ideas,[7378] Indecisive leadership,[7379] Reactance,[7360] Indecisive leadership,[7368] Insufficient Feedback,[7350] Planning fallacy,[7354] Resilience,[7369] Unbalanced workload,[7355] Resilience,[7370] Unbalanced workload,[7371] Unbalanced workload,[7351] Trust,[7352] Trust