All you need is lust and self-delusion
No, this post is not an advertisement for my personal services, but a paraphrase of johnnie moore's review of Lovemarks by Kevin Roberts.
Johnnie is against Roberts's's's attempt to persuade us that more cuddly advertising will produce the sort of emotional loyalty he apparently feels to brands like Gillette and Steinlager!
Personally, I love people; not brands.
Of course I understand how brands can generate lust, or at least a strong and irrational desire to POSSESS them.
But could I ever feel that lust towards a lager or a razor?
Only if I were an alcoholic or perhaps a shaveholic like Jason from Big Brother...
Perhaps, inadvertently, I have stumbled across the key to Roberts thinking. He wants to create a nation of brand addicts.
This is not love. It's insanity.
Just say no to brands. Get some dignity instead.
posted by Tim at 8/04/2004 03:25:00 pm
3 Comments:
Kevin Roberts is showing quite how superficial adland's understanding of the world is.
The idea that brands can be turned into Love Marks that people will feel great emotional affinity with is just a rehash of what agencies have been peddling for the last fifty years.
Once he realises that the rest of the world has MOVED ON, he might be able to come up with something relevant.
Strikes me that the problem is not with Kevin Roberts, but the rest of the world. Give the man some credit for trying to build brands which actually fulfil their promise.
A robust defence Johnnie. On balance, I'm with you.
If Mr Roberts thinks clever marketing can make Cheerios into a 'valued member of the family', and thus a lovemark, he's clearly lost the plot.
The more grandiose the claims for these dire brands, the harder they will eventually fall. A ban on childrens advertising may be a direct result of all this extravagent hypocrisy?
In a see-through world, what can be exposed, will be exposed - eventually.
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