All hail Martin Weigel

Everybody in advertising and marketing needs to study this slide show prepared by this Wieden and Kennedy Amsterdam deep thinker (a deep thinker in advertising. I know!).

To me it serves a wake up call to marketers and ad agencies.

To get real. And to live in the real world. The world where sane people think and worry about themselves and the people and things they love. Probably not your brand in other words.

To stop with the social media bullshit and jargon and talk normal like.

And to attack problems on their own terms. You want me to give a sh**t about your brand? Then make me. Do something that makes me give a s**t about your brand. It really is that simple.

You can and should watch the slideshow here.

I couldn’t agree more

Just read this amazing post over at the always excellent canalsideview blog of WK Amsterdam planner Martin Weigel. This guy is ALWAYS on the money. WK are lucky to have him. He’s a real thinker.

You can read his post here.

He basically makes the case that because nobody gives a shit about advertising overcoming this indifference is the key to great work. And he’s right. And that assuming an audience is a big mistake. The Superbowl is the conspicuous exception to this rule.

That nobody gives a shit is an excellent starting point for all creative advertising work. Because you can bet that it’s true. It certainly has guided my work.

But so many advertisers act like because their message is in the paid media, they are home free.

Quite the opposite. That’s just round one.

You have paid to play the game, so play the game. Max out the media opportunity you have been given in every way. Mess with people’s heads. Be the most interesting thing they have seen that day.

It’s not as hard as you might think.

Read this if you work in advertising or marketing

An extremely well thought through and concisely written piece by an advertising planner from Amsterdam.

We at the escape pod have had more actual experience than most in the online and social media arenas.

We’ve gotten our hands dirty so to speak.

So we actually know what we’re talking about! Imagine that. Advertising people who don’t just spout theory and jargon.

I get the feeling this guy is a like mind.

As he says himself, his piece isn’t a Luddite rant against new technology. It’s a plea to marketers and agencies to stop getting high on digital bullshit, essentially. And to get real.

So put down the seth godin and malcolm gladwell books for a few moments and read this.