For Creatives, Strategists & Marketers

The Germans have a word for when you try to demonstrate that something is faulty only for it to work perfectly – vorführeffekt – which translates as the ‘presentation effect’.?

The archetypal example of vorführeffekt is the rattling car engine that hums like a finely tuned instrument when you take it to a mechanic, but the phenomenon can strike anywhere.?

Ad Age for example had its own vorführeffekt moment last week when it published an?article ?about the declining quality of creative work over the past few years.?

The article wasn’t necessarily wrong – we said something about the lack of visually iconic work in 2022 – it just had the misfortune to arrive at the same time as some very good ads.?

The same week that Ad Age published its piece on the parlous state of commercial creativity, Nike and streetwear label Corteiz were drawing effusive praise from both industry commentators and punters alike for a cameo-packed?spot ?promoting the release of the new Air Max 95 trainers.?

Also that week, Nandos announced its new brand platform with an?ad ?that blended consumer insights and storytelling to entertainingly communicate the experience of visiting its restaurants (and introduced a distinctive sonic logo).?

And cast your mind back a few weeks to Hilton’s 10-minute?TikTok ?ad that, even if it didn’t hold people’s attention all the way through, gave it a bloody good go by being self-aware and partnering effectively with popular social media personalities.?

Then of course there was McDonald’s Raise Your Arches?spot ?in January that claimed the eye-brow jiggle as a brand cue, and which stood out as excellent even amongst the fast-food chain’s above-par stable of ads.?

It would be premature to call this batch of confident and competent brand ads a return to the industry’s glory days, but it’s a promising start.?

For sure, the issues affecting creativity highlighted by Ad Age – the demise of long-term brand-agency relationships, the rise of remote working, the effect of constant digital distractions – are still worth addressing. It’s just nice to know that the engine of commercial creativity still runs smoothly every now and then.

Join us on Thursday for a free live-stream session with Weber Shandwick’s global CCO about the new cultural narrative taking hold.?

At 2pm (GMT) on 9 March Tom Beckman will be chatting with Contagious co-founder Paul Kemp-Robertson about why the rich are fast becoming the go-to bad guys in films and TV shows.

Learn what Beckman believes is driving the narrative?– and why it wasn’t prevalent during the previous economic downturn – and how it’ll play out in advertising. Register here to secure your place.?Contagious .

Photo by Product School on Unsplash

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