Comments on: Beware of The Clownvertising Virus http://walternaeslund.com/beware-of-the-clownvertising-virus/ Walter Naeslund. Founder and CEO of The Advertising Agency Honesty. Professional Speaker. Sat, 17 Dec 2011 23:17:53 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Why Swedes Rock in Advertising Competitions – WalterNaeslund.com http://walternaeslund.com/beware-of-the-clownvertising-virus/comment-page-1/#comment-6937 Why Swedes Rock in Advertising Competitions – WalterNaeslund.com Tue, 18 May 2010 09:25:02 +0000 http://walternaeslund.com/beware-of-the-clownvertising-virus/#comment-6937 [...] to help our clients reach goals, not primarily score gold statuettes and pens. That only encourages clownvertising and other deceases. But when it comes to college competitions I’m a bit more positive. The [...] [...] to help our clients reach goals, not primarily score gold statuettes and pens. That only encourages clownvertising and other deceases. But when it comes to college competitions I’m a bit more positive. The [...]

]]> By: ANGER WARNING: Amazing a New Advertising Award! The Golden Gut 2010. – WalterNaeslund.com http://walternaeslund.com/beware-of-the-clownvertising-virus/comment-page-1/#comment-5387 ANGER WARNING: Amazing a New Advertising Award! The Golden Gut 2010. – WalterNaeslund.com Thu, 07 Jan 2010 15:31:00 +0000 http://walternaeslund.com/beware-of-the-clownvertising-virus/#comment-5387 [...] term Clownvertising was coined in 2009. This was no coincidence. It was a year of rampant clownvertising because of the [...] [...] term Clownvertising was coined in 2009. This was no coincidence. It was a year of rampant clownvertising because of the [...]

]]> By: Digital kultur » Blog Archive » Två anledningar till varför humor i reklam ofta misslyckas http://walternaeslund.com/beware-of-the-clownvertising-virus/comment-page-1/#comment-5185 Digital kultur » Blog Archive » Två anledningar till varför humor i reklam ofta misslyckas Sun, 03 Jan 2010 20:58:59 +0000 http://walternaeslund.com/beware-of-the-clownvertising-virus/#comment-5185 [...] Ett uttryck som jag bara älskar är clownvertising. Jag tror att uttrycket är Walter Naeslunds skapelse och han har skrivit om begreppet i sitt blogginlägg Beware of the clownvertising virus. [...] [...] Ett uttryck som jag bara älskar är clownvertising. Jag tror att uttrycket är Walter Naeslunds skapelse och han har skrivit om begreppet i sitt blogginlägg Beware of the clownvertising virus. [...]

]]> By: Walter Naeslund http://walternaeslund.com/beware-of-the-clownvertising-virus/comment-page-1/#comment-4572 Walter Naeslund Thu, 03 Dec 2009 20:25:57 +0000 http://walternaeslund.com/beware-of-the-clownvertising-virus/#comment-4572 @Park Howell I read your well written post with great interest, and I think this is an important discussion to take. I agree with your points on "good advertising". The problem that I see both in reality and in portfolios though is that "funny" is enough, and that too many shoehorn the "fun" position into the strategy just to give their creatives a free ride on the viral train. Because, let's face it, creating "funny and irrelevant" is not <em>that</em> hard if you have somebody else's (your client's) budget to play clown with. What <em>is</em> hard, and what is also our purpose, is to do "valuable and relevant", to create a win-win barter between our client and their fan base. In my mind, having Volkswagen in the "fun" position is like saying that Justin Timberlake is <em>the king of pop</em>. He just isn't, no matter how many moonwalks he tries. The "fun" position could <em>possibly</em> have worked for BMW, Mini Cooper or Smart, but for Volkswagen? Never. The Fun Theory is simply a free ride for the creative team and an irrelevant campaign for Volkswagen. It's the school book example of clownvertising, and it's also the one I'm using in my lectures to illustrate the phenomenon. Trust me, you'll get a lot of portfolios coming to your office pretty soon with advertising students trying to motivate the "fun" position for all kinds of different brands because it's the easiest one to do creative on. It's really nothing new. Before the age of "viral" we saw a lot of<em> "the strategy is that there is no strategy"</em>-strategies when somebody wanted to motivate a "pretty" but utterly irrelevant ad. And it's not only in ad schools. Diesel actually tried to claim that precise non-strategy about a year ago. So, I agree and I don't agree – which is the situation which usually leads to interesting discussion. Thanks for taking the time to comment, and also congrats on an excellent blog! @Park Howell
I read your well written post with great interest, and I think this is an important discussion to take. I agree with your points on “good advertising”.

The problem that I see both in reality and in portfolios though is that “funny” is enough, and that too many shoehorn the “fun” position into the strategy just to give their creatives a free ride on the viral train. Because, let’s face it, creating “funny and irrelevant” is not that hard if you have somebody else’s (your client’s) budget to play clown with. What is hard, and what is also our purpose, is to do “valuable and relevant”, to create a win-win barter between our client and their fan base.

In my mind, having Volkswagen in the “fun” position is like saying that Justin Timberlake is the king of pop. He just isn’t, no matter how many moonwalks he tries. The “fun” position could possibly have worked for BMW, Mini Cooper or Smart, but for Volkswagen? Never. The Fun Theory is simply a free ride for the creative team and an irrelevant campaign for Volkswagen. It’s the school book example of clownvertising, and it’s also the one I’m using in my lectures to illustrate the phenomenon.

Trust me, you’ll get a lot of portfolios coming to your office pretty soon with advertising students trying to motivate the “fun” position for all kinds of different brands because it’s the easiest one to do creative on. It’s really nothing new. Before the age of “viral” we saw a lot of “the strategy is that there is no strategy”-strategies when somebody wanted to motivate a “pretty” but utterly irrelevant ad. And it’s not only in ad schools. Diesel actually tried to claim that precise non-strategy about a year ago.

So, I agree and I don’t agree – which is the situation which usually leads to interesting discussion. Thanks for taking the time to comment, and also congrats on an excellent blog!

]]> By: Simon Sundén http://walternaeslund.com/beware-of-the-clownvertising-virus/comment-page-1/#comment-4566 Simon Sundén Thu, 03 Dec 2009 10:43:32 +0000 http://walternaeslund.com/beware-of-the-clownvertising-virus/#comment-4566 @DangerousDolly I couldn't agree more: "A linkbaiting creative that actually communicates the brand would be the best example of course ;)" I will try to write a blog post about what I mean, can't promise that it will be up this week - have some other posts that got to come out first and they are all about... Link Bait! ;) @DangerousDolly I couldn’t agree more: “A linkbaiting creative that actually communicates the brand would be the best example of course ;) ”

I will try to write a blog post about what I mean, can’t promise that it will be up this week – have some other posts that got to come out first and they are all about… Link Bait! ;)

]]> By: Park Howell http://walternaeslund.com/beware-of-the-clownvertising-virus/comment-page-1/#comment-4554 Park Howell Wed, 02 Dec 2009 16:01:49 +0000 http://walternaeslund.com/beware-of-the-clownvertising-virus/#comment-4554 "Good" advertising is about telling great stories that involve your customers. It can be humorous, heartfelt, sad, scary, you name it. I agree with Adners that the most difficult part about being funny in your ads is actually being funny. However, I think advertisers and their agencies often take themselves (oursleves) way too seriously. Having a little fun with our work has always been beneficial for all involved. I wrote a post on Monday about Volkswagen's http://thefuntheory.com/ campaign. I like it because it engages its customers in fun and entertaining ways to, "Change behaviors for the better." I like it because it's a nice expression of the Volkswagen brand, it involves its customers in a tangible way, and it's viral. These are all wins in my book, and the humor is found in the cleverness of the ideas coming from the every-day person. You can read the article here: http://bit.ly/64KCJr Please let me know what you think of their campaign and my thoughts on the subject of "Fun in advertising" by commenting on the post. Great article, Walter, and thank you for sending me a note this morning. I was in Stockholm 7 years ago and loved it! Cheers. “Good” advertising is about telling great stories that involve your customers. It can be humorous, heartfelt, sad, scary, you name it. I agree with Adners that the most difficult part about being funny in your ads is actually being funny. However, I think advertisers and their agencies often take themselves (oursleves) way too seriously. Having a little fun with our work has always been beneficial for all involved. I wrote a post on Monday about Volkswagen’s http://thefuntheory.com/ campaign. I like it because it engages its customers in fun and entertaining ways to, “Change behaviors for the better.” I like it because it’s a nice expression of the Volkswagen brand, it involves its customers in a tangible way, and it’s viral. These are all wins in my book, and the humor is found in the cleverness of the ideas coming from the every-day person. You can read the article here: http://bit.ly/64KCJr

Please let me know what you think of their campaign and my thoughts on the subject of “Fun in advertising” by commenting on the post.

Great article, Walter, and thank you for sending me a note this morning. I was in Stockholm 7 years ago and loved it! Cheers.

]]> By: DangerousDolly http://walternaeslund.com/beware-of-the-clownvertising-virus/comment-page-1/#comment-4552 DangerousDolly Wed, 02 Dec 2009 13:33:20 +0000 http://walternaeslund.com/beware-of-the-clownvertising-virus/#comment-4552 @Walter @Simon Guys, you both have interesting angles on this and I would really like to read another post (or two) about examples. Not necessarily ones that you KNOW to be baiting or just clownvertising - but those that you would describe as such. A linkbaiting creative that actually communicates the brand would be the best example of course ;) @Walter @Simon

Guys, you both have interesting angles on this and I would really like to read another post (or two) about examples. Not necessarily ones that you KNOW to be baiting or just clownvertising – but those that you would describe as such.

A linkbaiting creative that actually communicates the brand would be the best example of course ;)

]]> By: Walter Naeslund http://walternaeslund.com/beware-of-the-clownvertising-virus/comment-page-1/#comment-4551 Walter Naeslund Wed, 02 Dec 2009 11:08:21 +0000 http://walternaeslund.com/beware-of-the-clownvertising-virus/#comment-4551 Yes. Like I said, #clownbaiting (or #linkbaiting in non-walter-lingo) is a useful tool. #clownvertising however is when there is no valid strategy, and where a "fun"-positioning is shoehorned into a strategy just to give creatives an free ride on the viral train. It ruins creative output much the same way cocaine ruins human happiness – it's basically an easy way out. Did you know, by the way, that Wikipedia has the following to say about shoehorns: "A shoehorn, sometimes called shoefucker..." Yes. Like I said, #clownbaiting (or #linkbaiting in non-walter-lingo) is a useful tool. #clownvertising however is when there is no valid strategy, and where a “fun”-positioning is shoehorned into a strategy just to give creatives an free ride on the viral train.

It ruins creative output much the same way cocaine ruins human happiness – it’s basically an easy way out.

Did you know, by the way, that Wikipedia has the following to say about shoehorns: “A shoehorn, sometimes called shoefucker…”

]]> By: Simon Sundén http://walternaeslund.com/beware-of-the-clownvertising-virus/comment-page-1/#comment-4548 Simon Sundén Wed, 02 Dec 2009 10:56:46 +0000 http://walternaeslund.com/beware-of-the-clownvertising-virus/#comment-4548 I do get your point Walter, but... I will never embrace a word like #clownbaiting for this! These things can be so crucial regarding Marketing, Link Baiting, Viral Marketing and everything else. By referring it to a clown makes it a bit of a rant instead of embracing how important it can be. I do get your point Walter, but…

I will never embrace a word like #clownbaiting for this! These things can be so crucial regarding Marketing, Link Baiting, Viral Marketing and everything else.

By referring it to a clown makes it a bit of a rant instead of embracing how important it can be.

]]> By: Walter Naeslund http://walternaeslund.com/beware-of-the-clownvertising-virus/comment-page-1/#comment-4547 Walter Naeslund Wed, 02 Dec 2009 10:51:32 +0000 http://walternaeslund.com/beware-of-the-clownvertising-virus/#comment-4547 Precisely. But then fan acquisition or link generation (for instance) is part of the strategy. Then it's not #clownvertising any more, but #clownbaiting. It's like the difference between salt on popcorn och eating salt with a spoon. Precisely. But then fan acquisition or link generation (for instance) is part of the strategy. Then it’s not #clownvertising any more, but #clownbaiting. It’s like the difference between salt on popcorn och eating salt with a spoon.

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