making ads suck less (or why brands should be more like bill murray)

Making Ads Suck Less

(or why brands should be more like Bill Murray)

Bill Murray’s Transformation

1980 1988 1996 2004 2012

Consistent Unpredictability

He knows his “brand” allows flexibility.

He has a gut reaction to a situation.

He responds to the situation the only way he knows how (his brand voice).

He does not pass up an opportunity to do something awesome.

“No one’s ever going to believe you.”

Frat Party Dish Washer

Karaoke Enthusiast

1-800-Bill-Murray

DJing with Wu Tang

BillMurrayStory.com

The Bill Murray Brand

It’s not real-time. It’s not experimental. It’s not emerging media. It’s a larger, but simpler idea than that.

The key is being able to recognize a unique set of circumstances that compliment who your brand is, and reacting to those circumstances.

Brands can’t afford to shy away from doing something awesome

Everything you do in life is essentially an ad (whether or not you show up to a party drunk or if you’re a huge brand that donates 250k to charity.)

People react a certain way when you do things in life.

Brands should have an “awesome shit” budget. Seriously.

Inspired by one man’s love of rainbow, sugary goodness: $1,300

Nike: Something awesome, just do it.

The shoe we’ve all

wanted for 25 years:

$10,000

Timely responses to current, and the occasional controversial event

Spirit Air: Relevancy, F*ck Yeah!

Stepping outside of their comfort zone IS their comfort zone

Real time relevance

Fathead: Turning crisis into opportunity

...and then going above and beyond

Oreo: Advancing the human race

It was incredibly clunky, high pressured, and a logistical nightmare

A bunch of decision makers in the same room at the same time preparing for the unknown

When it happened they recognized the opportunity and reacted

And every brand/agency in America went to work the next morning and said “How can we

do that?”

Awesome Shit Budget ACTIVATED

But what would Bill Murray do?

Bill Murray would light a cigarette in the face of the unknown. Embrace going outside of your comfort zone.

If you know your brand you can take the leap.

Bill Murray wouldn’t stress out about it. There are successes and failures in any endeavor, the question is “Hey man, did I make my point?”

Bill Murray would keep it simple. Is it awesome? Cool let’s figure it out.

Is this kind of lame? Let’s move on.

Thanks for coming.

XOXO Mike mikecole@reddit.com