Strands of Genius: Nuance of Nostalgia, Your Personality is Not Set in Stone & Spotify's Podcasting Bet
Plus, our thoughts on the Super Bowl: brought to you by our friends at Zappi
WRITING FROM | Nashville, TN
WORKING ON | finishing touches for our presentation with the team over at Trade Republic
LOOKING AHEAD
Feb 21-26 | Nashville, TN
Feb 26-March 10 | Long Beach and New York, NY
:: WHAT’S NEW & WEEKLY GRATITUDE ::
After a long weekend in St. Simon’s Island with friends, we’re now wrapping up our month in Georgia and headed to Nashville for a few days before our first *in-person* workshop of the year in Long Beach, NY. After an old shoulder/neck injury came back (from sleeping weirdly?! gosh getting old is great, huh?), I’m reconsidering my backpack and have opted to order some new luggage to try out for this NY trip.
And while we initially planned to be in Mexico for March/April, we have a new client we’re working with on a strategic sprint, and we’re opting to stay in the USA until the first phase wraps on April 26th. We were thinking about renting a place in Chattanooga, or maybe Charleston, or even Louisville…or perhaps somewhere else entirely (but somewhere that is driving distance from Nashville, because that’s where we have a car we can use.) If you have any suggestions for us, please let us know. All we need is a cute Airbnb, great wifi, and walkability. Good art and great food are a bonus :)
This week, we’re especially thankful for:
a weekend trip to St. Simon’s Island with Morgan&Colin, long walks and talks, tiki cocktails, a low country boil, crab legs, a couple of low key nights with Alex&Collin, The Last of Us, Magic&Nicole, all our friends & YOU.
:: THE LINKS ::
THE NUANCE OF NOSTALGIA IN ADVERTISING
We partnered with Zappi to test every ad that aired during the Super Bowl. If you caught our newsletter last week, you know that the Farmer’s Dog stole the show to become the night’s best. But that wasn’t the only way brands looked to hit viewers in the feels.
Nostalgia was a big factor in this year’s ads; we tracked 16 in total that featured cultural references 10 years or older. From Breaking Bad to Disney’s 100-year celebration, we watched brands tap into our favorite pop culture memories to relate to viewers.
The problem: consumers found nostalgia distracting. While these ads tested above-average for likeability, they also saw a 5% decrease in brand linkage – a sign that the brand became secondary to the memories they inspired.
The good news: there are exceptions! Disney and Paramount+ performed the strongest for brand linkage because they tapped into nostalgia using their owned and established brand assets, while Popcorners heavily featured the product to outperform the norm. You can check out more findings and tidbits about maximizing creative effectiveness by visiting Zappi! (Zappi)
THE BIG IDEA: YOUR PERSONALITY IS NOT SET IN STONE
First, “There are many ways of measuring personality, but much of the research has centred on five specific traits that are thought to comprise our most fundamental characteristics. Known as the “big five”, they are: extraversion – how outgoing and sociable you are; conscientiousness – how organised and disciplined you are; agreeableness – how concerned you are with social harmony; neuroticism – how nervous and sensitive you are; and openness to experience – how imaginative and curious you are.” It’s often assumed that if we’re introverts, we’ll be introverts for life. But what about an introvert who wants to be more extroverted? Is it possible?
In recent studies from psychology professor Nathan Hudson, they “prescribed interventions” - short tasks to help cultivate more of the characteristics the individuals desired. (For example: “Their interventions typically involve prescribing regular activities that reflect the personality traits people wish to adopt. An introvert who wished to be more extraverted, for example, might have the goal of introducing themselves to a stranger once a week, or making small talk with the cashier at their local supermarket. Someone who wished to be more conscientious might be asked to carefully proofread an email before sending it, or to write a to-do list before going to bed.”) And because we are our repeated actions, or as Aristotle said, “we become what we repeatedly do,” studies show that the interventions work “remarkably well.” (The Guardian)
HOW SPOTIFY’S PODCAST BET WENT WRONG
Apple and iHeartRadio have seen some early podcasting bets pay off — so why is Spotify struggling, when they have talent like the Obamas, Kim Kardashian, and Harry and Megan? While they saw some initially high viewership numbers, they were unable to build loyal audiences. Spotify acquired Gimlet, and then ignored the fact that a big part of Gimlet’s revenue came from branded podcast content — something that Spotify wasn’t interested in. And then there was Joe Rogan. From Prince Harry to Brent Brown, other podcasters on the platform pressed executives to explain how Spotify was planning on reining Rogan in. Spoiler alert: they tried to quiet internal dissent instead. As a podcast fan (on an individual level and as a media format overall), it was interesting to read more about the implosion behind the scenes — and definitely raises the question: Will Spotify be able to succeed with podcasts?! (Semafor)
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:: ICYMI: ROSIE’S SUPER BOWL PREDICTIONS + WHAT WE ACTUALLY SAW ::
Last year, we were in Mexico for the Super Bowl, and while I watched some ads online, I picked based on industry conversation and USA Today’s Admeter. There were no celebrations, no wings, no hangovers. This year, not only were we in the USA, but we were with our very best friends, Rachel and Mike — and Mike is from Kansas City and a huuuuge Chiefs fan. (In fact, we hosted a Super Bowl party with them in Greenville, SC the last time the Chiefs won.) But, knowing we were on the hook to provide commentary on Zappi’s podcast, I wanted to stay relatively sober and take notes as the commercials aired live. (Still, we had wings!)
I didn’t watch any commercials in advance, and just before the game, while our Buffalo Wild Wings were heating up, I tweeted some predictions — so let’s see what happened…
We saw Pizza Hut make the world’s biggest pizza, but then there was a disclaimer at the bottom that said it wasn’t actually the world’s biggest pizza and if you’re doing an ad for the Super Bowl and it’s about a big pizza, wouldn’t you just go ahead and make the world’s biggest pizza?! Then there was also a world in which, where, if Adam and Eve had only known about avocados we would have all been able to live, together, in nudity. Or something.
The BIG ended up being with celebrities. One wasn’t enough! But we’ll come back to that.
And yeah, no ad that was as disruptive as Coinbase, but Tubi’s prank (which made it look like you had exited the game and selected the Tubi app instead) was pretty solid.
Brands back from last year included: Michelob Ultra, Planters, Busch, Uber, Skechers, Uber, Pringles, Bud Light, Avocados from Mexico, Kia, Draft Kings, and Amazon. Maybe more?
AB-InBev / Anheuser-Busch (the parent company for Budweiser, Michelob, Busch etc) gave up exclusivity, so for the first time since 1989 we saw other beer ads. That said, Anheuser-Busch was still a big spender, with 3 minutes national television and another 30-second regional ad. Bud Light, Michelob Ultra and Busch Light were featured nationally, and Budweiser ads aired in a few select markets.)
We also saw Heineken team up with Paul Rudd for a non-alcoholic beer ad. And while Molson Coors may have led you to believe that it was a Blue Moon commercial, let’s be honest - Coors Light and Miller Lite got plenty of air time.
For me, the winner in the beer category was Bud Light — I absolutely loved their commercial ‘Hold’ which was rooted in a consumer / behavioral insight: sometimes you gotta get your groove on to the hold music. Now, I had no idea that either of the people in this ad were famous in any capacity, so when I found out they were famous I thought WHY?! This ad stood on its own and didn’t need celebrity talent. It was a feel good spot and I’m just so thankful we didn’t have to deal with the boring Clydesdale horses.
In the words of Morty, “aw jeez, Rick!” I mean, we expected celebrities… But did we expect that many?! It was utter insanity. 70% of the spots featured celebrities, according to one analysis.
The most ridiculous was when we saw a spot for Michelob Ultra featuring Serena Williams and a spot for Remy also featuring the G.O.A.T. …IN THE SAME AD BREAK! Serena, girl, get that brand money! You are an absolute queen and we love to see you slaying but as for the brands… I’m not sure that $$ was well spent. These celebrities entertain, but what do they do for brand recognition? I was especially confused by the Remy ad.
Pepsi using Steve Martin and Ben Stiller to encourage sampling was smart because it *relied* on using actors, people who are good at, well, lying ;) There was a lot of love for T-Mobile’s spot, I assume because people like Scrubs and people like Grease and they can get over the fact that there are so many benefits loaded into the musical act.
Did everyone see that VMS ad?! It was that weird one about menopause featuring another celebrity I’ve never heard of. I love seeing more people talk about menopause, but I didn’t love the execution of on the street interviews with women pointing out that they didn’t know a technical term I’ve already forgotten. Felt like a missed opportunity, though it was an experiment. I’d say a lot of the gambling/betting ads around placing bets fall into this category. But more generally, there were fewer real-world stunts than I was expecting.
Bass Pro Shop scored highly with this messaging and their ad on Zappi’s report, and Booking.com kinda played in this area, but this wasn’t a big theme of the night.
Welp, I totally missed on this one. I really thought we would see a star-studded night, but Ri Ri performed by herself, albeit with plenty of backup dancers. Damn, that queen can sing!! And, performing at the Super Bowl on a floating platform while pregnant?! She gets a standing ovation from me for sure.
I also saw a hot take from The NY Times:
When I shared it with my friend Alex, she said, “I love that they call her the queen of nonchalance in this - I feel like it’s partially what Rihanna was going for. So it comes down to whether you respect that or not. Which I do 🤷♀️😂💖”
(She also followed up with an Instagram post with some of Rihanna’s Twitter best clap backs which made me love her even more.)
Oreo, I love you, but meh. Not as many digital integrations as I was expecting, but I did think that Avocados from Mexico nailed their response to the Farmer’s Dog commercial:
And more generally, the copywriting was enjoyable on all their responses. I maybe enjoyed that more than their ad itself?
No more crypto, but plenty of betting/gambling apps. The lasting impression of Coinbase lingered though… there were so many ads with QR codes. How have we not made more attractive QR codes? They all looked like an after thought.
I’ll admit. This was disappointing. As Jeanine Poggi wrote, “As Madison Avenue approaches year two in its commitment to create a more diverse and inclusive ad industry, most Super Bowl advertisers are either still struggling to create commercials that depict true representation or don’t appear to be trying at all.”
The hispanic population in the US is 60million+ and I loved the flag football spot with Diana Flores (which even featured some dialog in Spanish) but I was surprised we didn't see more representation here. And while some brands hired celebs that were POCs, it would have been great to see higher diversity in the non-famous actors.
Phew. That was a lot.
And what did I miss in my predictions?
Nostalgia. I mean I should have known. It’s a frequent topic of discussion between Faris and me (and Faris wrote a great piece about toxic nostalgia several years ago.) But the number of throwbacks this year was hard not to notice… My Gen X throwback list includes: Safety Dance, Scrubs, Grease, Human League, Indiana Jones, Clueless, Michael Keaton Batman, Caddyshack, Zoolanders, Cliffhanger, Snoop Dogg, E*Trade talking babies, Dave Grohl.
So many QR codes. I know I referenced it above, but again - hard to miss this year.
Humor. But like weird absurdist humor that could have originated from Tik Tok. To be fair to myself, I actually *did* predict this, in my iPhone notes — I just forgot to tweet it ;) From Tubi’s ‘Down the Rabbit Hole’ to Sam Adam’s ‘Your Cousin in Boston’ to keyboard cat for the new Sunday Ticket on YouTube TV to UberOne’s ‘Diddy don’t do jingles!’ Speaking of…
Music. I woke up and giggled thinking ‘Diddy don’t do jingles.’ Then we also had the T-Mobile musical. And booking.com with Melissa McCarthy. And Busch brought back Sarah McLaughlin’s ad because, ya know, if you like beer, you like the outdoors, you like animals, you’re old enough to remember that ad with her song that was all about saving animals. I assume that was the insight ;)
Trailers. So many trailers. I had forgotten that was such a big part of SB advertising, if it was in the past. Zappi removes trailers from their data for the top 10, which got us discussing: are trailers ads? Because they’re mini-stories about real stories, they have a leg up with consumers. They’re ads for stories rather than ads for products and services as we’d typically think. But on the podcast we discussed: Brands should be aware that when they are competing on this stage, they’re competing with some damn good storytellers for attention during the big game.
Jesus. Who knew he had such a large advertising budget?! The commercials were designed to welcome those who are often ostracized from religion, but people very quickly realized that the campaign was funded by far right extremists. Plus, I’m with AOC on this one. "Something tells me Jesus would *not* spend millions of dollars on Super Bowl ads to make fascism look benign," she tweeted. According to Fox News, who normally don’t agree with AOC, “the Servant Foundation donated "more than $50 million to the Alliance Defending Freedom, a group that has led fights against abortion and non-discrimination laws, and is designated as an anti-LGBTQ hate group."Additionally, the Alliance Defending Freedom is the conservative legal group that "drafted the Mississippi law at the heart of the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe V. Wade," and pointed out that the group is "behind a Texas lawsuit seeking to reverse the FDA’s approval of the abortion pill." Thankfully, plenty of people are calling out the hypocrisy between what the ads are claiming and what the organizations funding them are actually doing.
Speaking of hypocrisy, the ads that most annoyed me were from Turbo Tax and H&R Block. I’ll use every opportunity and every platform I have to remind people that these two organizations spend millions and millions of dollars lobbying to keep your taxes as difficult and confusing as possible. My blood starts to boil when I see a Turbo Tax or H&R Block logo. Brands are a culmination of all their actions — not just the communications they put into the world. It’s not enough to simply utter something nice, consumers are aware of so much more than advertising these days. So before you celebrate a dancing man or some guy tending to his plants, let’s remember:
By my back of the napkin counting, only 4 of 70+ commercials (Farmer’s Dog, Amazon’s Saving Sawyer, and the two Jesus ads) went the serious and touching route. I cried during the Farmer’s Dog ad and I don't even have a dog. Incredible storytelling. And in the Amazon ad, they create some real tension, making you think the dog might be given away or put in a kennel all day… But instead, it’s a new dog in a kennel. (But for the record you still can’t order a dog from Amazon.) With so many brands going for those happy/feel good emotions, those four certainly stood out.
And finally, some (dog)food for thought… the consumer’s favorite ad of the night (Farmer’s Dog) didn’t involve an advertising agency.
What trends did we miss? What did you notice?
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It's called Genius Steals because we believe ideas are new combinations and that nothing can come from nothing. But copying is lazy. We believe the best way to innovate is to look at the best of that which came before and combine those elements into new solutions.
Co-Founders Faris & Rosie are award-winning strategists and creative directors, writers, consultants and public speakers who have been living on the road/runway since March 2013, working with companies all over the world. Our Director of Operations is nomadic like us, our accounting team is based in Tennessee where our company is registered, our admin extraordinaire is based in Playa del Carmen, and our collaborators are all over the world. Being nomadic allows us to go wherever clients need us to be, and to be inspired by the world in between.
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