Brand homogeneity

Recently we pitched for a large brand in a certain B2C industry.

We lost the pitch.

Part of the feedback received said we didn't adhere to the typical communication style that has worked in the past for that specific industry.

I've read about this so often (BBH Labs's take was one of the best) but on such a big brand, it took me back that we received this feedback. We were punished for being too different. Isn't that the point? Are marketers that stuck that they specifically aim to adhere to formulaic creative?

Surely the goal is to create a distinctive brand and marketers should be actively pursuing ways of extreme differentiation that obliterates the formula? Creative worked for one brand in the past BECAUSE it was original, unique and emotive at the time. If you follow a formula again and again because the market leader or a competitor found success with it, that doesn't make you original, distinctive or cool. It makes you a sheep. And at best, muddies the water of the pool you're all swimming in. Yet the more I look, the more it's clear that no industry is exempt from this pattern of behaviour. It's most likely born out of the fear of failure. If you don't take creative risks, you can't fail. Well I hate to break it to you, it can't really succeed either.

Years ago, Allan Gray launched their famous ad with the little boy and girl. It was a massive success. The formula was simple, "tell an emotive story that portrays a valuable investment lesson". For 10 years, every asset management company in South Africa copied the formula with stories of rice, ice swimmers, Robert Scott to the south pole, blind doctors, elephants, James Dean and Stirling Moss. I can't even recall which brand did each of these takes on the industry formula. Every time one of these brands did another, I found myself giving more credit to Allan Gray and their agency at the time, King James.

The industry is not alone.

Supermarket ads all look the same. eCommerce brands are found advertising in the same place. Car brands are especially samey. Wine. Jewellery. Fast food. Beer. Whiskey. Banks. Mobile operators. They all have their industry formula and they will not break it.

If you still don't think this is true, have a look at the first Google image results of "watch adverts".

The job of advertising is to stand out, get noticed and be remembered. That's it. There is simply no other way of putting it. It's more important to be interesting than right. It's better to be first than second. Trends are short-term bandwagons to jump on that don't build long-term brand equity. And the sea of sameness that every industry swims in is precisely the reason why 91% of all adverts are forgotten about.

Agencies and marketers alike have to be better and become the black sheep.