Ger Roe, Board Creative Director at Publicis Dublin, talks to Deanna O’Connor about the latest trends in advertising, why comedy is too risky for some and the impact of AI on the industry

The advertising challenge of cutting through the noise has never changed. It has never been easy. It requires brilliant insights and extremely well-crafted executions. Some brands accept that and still create below par work and then buy audiences. But are they achieving mental availability? With attention spans reducing and media obliteration, having strong creative work is no longer a nice–to–have, it’s an imperative. 

Like fashion and culture, advertising always reflects trends, changes in our behaviour, or matches consumer sentiment in the economy—for example, too much confidence and positivity might be out of step in a recession.

 In the last number of years, we’ve seen lots of changes borne out of good reasons. ‘Sadvertising’ ads come to mind—they’re the ones that make us feel very emotional and were very common around the pandemic. But when lockdown ended, and our spirits lifted, they mostly disappeared. Likewise, anyone buying a manifesto-styled campaign (as exemplified by Apple’s ‘Here’s To the Crazy Ones’) will be very late to the party. Sadly, very few who were inspired by it got anywhere close to Apple’s, and in their ambition to seem authentic, they unintentionally undermined themselves.

The Power of Sonic Audio

 What we’re now witnessing is the power of sonic audio; sometimes they’re irritants but they’re often super-effective for brands looking to stand out. Pot Noodle’s recent ‘Nothing Satisfies Like Pot Noodle’ effort showed a woman in her office canteen slurping down noodles, and received hundreds of compliments, as well as outraged complaints. Pot Noodle countered with a clever compensation scheme devised to stir up more publicity, as well as a hilarious clapback edit of the ad with the female slurping sounds replaced with a male voiceover.

Sonic treatments like this are a well-known Japanese tactic called ‘nodogoshi’. So successful was the slurping noise in Japanese beer commercials that in 2017 Japan’s major brewers mutually agreed to an advertising restriction that stopped the use of gulping sounds in their beer commercials, after the Japanese government expressed concerns that sound effect could cause mental distress in viewers with alcohol-dependency issues.

Music is the Answer

We’re all aware of great brands that assign a famous musical track to their brand, but when a brand launches itself, or a product, alongside a new track by an artist, their advertising can really blow up. One example that stands out in my mind is Apple’s launch of the HomePod in 2018, with a four-minute short directed by Oscar-winning director Spike Jonze featuring FKA Twigs dancing to Anderson Paak’s new song ‘‘Til It’s Over’.

We have very much established a music style with the work we do with Virgin also (such as the 1980s earworm ‘Word Up’ in the Virgin Media ‘It’s Playtime’ ad). In contrast to this, one of the

more expected ways to use audio and music in advertising is where you take a famous or well-known track and simply change the lyrics to suit your narrative—for example the ‘30 in Town’ speed campaign for the RSA which rewords ‘Dirty Old Town’. Regardless of my personal preference there is a very good reason for this in behaviour change style advertising; it can be extremely effective when you need to create mental availability faster.

Is Comedy Too Controversial?

When we scroll through our socials, we are often reminded of hilarious ads from the 1990s or the 2000s. A recurring question I’m asked is ‘why don’t we see as many funny ads anymore?’ Sadly, comedy often relies on a victim, and unless your victim is non-human, like the badger in our recent Gas Networks Ireland (GNI) ‘Dial Before You Dig’ campaign, it can be very tricky. These days whether we want to believe it or not people can be quick to find offence and even mobilise against a brand. It requires a very confident and less conservative client because comedy isn’t easy; it requires a lot of experience and understanding in order to execute it authentically. Done correctly—as in our ‘Jedward Split’ campaign for GNI—it can be extremely effective and really cut through.

The Trend of Iconicity

 Iconicity is a new genre used now by a number of the bigger more confident brands. To explain, brands like Ikea, Coca–Cola, Heineken, and McDonald’s are so infamous that they can play with their fame. Heineken ran a 150th anniversary campaign which riffed on people mispronouncing and misspelling their name all over the world. Another example is Coca–Cola’s ‘Every Coca-Cola is Welcome’ campaign which applauds homespun efforts at recreating the logo outside remote and intriguing shops around the world. Ikea probably went furthest where they listened to consumers complaints that their life wasn’t like a catalogue—and referenced this in their latest campaign where a beautiful lifestyle scene is interrupted by the stark realism of the mom getting sick in the background, or the view of a stunning bedroom scene shattered by the family pet having a pee on the good rug.

The State of Social Media

With the shift in user attention away from broadcast channels, audiences have greater agency in their choice of media consumption, easily skipping past a lot of advertising on social and digital channels or paying subscription fees to avoid advertising altogether. Advertising to consumers via social media does not ensure their attention. The fragmented user attention on the platforms requires a different creative approach in how to storytell. A good creative strategy should leverage the available formats and work with multiple exposures over several experience points which can increase cost and complexity for advertisers in delivering successful campaigns.

Additionally, factors such as negative opinions under posts, fake news, and controversial brand posts in social media advertising can adversely impact brand image and purchase intention among consumers, so it’s essential for brands to carefully manage their image on social networks.

Is AI Coming for Us?

AI is easily the biggest threat and the biggest advantage to the advertising and marketing industry. What I would say is AI will most likely mop up all easier or basic asks.

Most of the bigger agencies are employing AI regularly on tedious tasks that didn’t have a great deal of value anyway. Will it take jobs? Certainly, if someone can employ a better use of AI better than another person of course they would be of more value.

While AI might be able to create an ad or even offer up a sort of campaign in the future, that’s not how professional organisations use their agency partners these days. Most big brands and organisations use their agency as a strategic partner and tend to have very smart creative people consulting in problem-solving. This often goes beyond just marketing problems. In fact, very often the last answer is an ad.

Agencies as Strategic Partners

I think the role for strategic communications partners is going to become even more important with more and more content becoming AI generated as consumers struggle to identify what’s real and what’s fake. There will be winners and losers with the most authentic brands winning out. The best agencies know how to develop and maintain authentic personalities for brands. For me, that will be the key difference going forward.

 The strongest brands are using their agencies to position them and develop unique purposes. Outwardly, agencies will help them to find accurate and intuitive ways to either change behaviour or attract the audiences they need in newer ways. Inwardly, it’s about making sure the entire organisation has also bought into the brand purpose.

In this way, agency employees are not just selling a product – they are selling the brand experience or service which sometimes also has a product attached.