Hi there. How are you?

It’s been a while, hasn’t it? I think its fair to say we’ve really pushed the ‘weeklyish’ guidance on frequency to its absolute extreme.

We’ve not written anything since April.

Cannes has come and gone. The World Cup has come and gone. But we’ve both been a bit busy with work and family and other stuff.

This is just a quick one, prompted by a wonderful new 4minute telly ad by the BBC.

We try and stay away from highlighting telly ads typically. Whilst we appreciate the craft of a well made ad, sometimes you run out of things to say where media activation is concerned.

But, sat here in July 2026 with Count Binface facing off against Nigel Farage in the Clacton by-election and my Netflix subscription currently sat at £12.99 a month whilst not really offering much in the way of ‘things to watch’, an ad which restates why the BBC is, despite some clear flaws, such a wonderful part of British culture, felt like something worth celebrating.

It’s a brilliant ad. But, beyond the obvious ‘craft’ on display, it makes a very serious point at a very important moment in time.

As media planners we’re conscious that more and more of the money we help our clients spend goes off-shore: To brands and platforms whose roots lie outside of the UK. Into media where context-collapse, lack of moderation and lack of editorial input acts not as a benefit to society, but an ill.

You might not always agree with the way the BBC does things - and they certainly make mistakes. But on balance we think the money we spend on our license fee is a good investment. The BBC does more than just telly. It does radio. And news. And provides a route for grassroots talent of all types to flourish. It creates economic value for the UK and acts to bolster our country’s ‘softpower’.

There is a clear ‘prisoners dilemma’ at play here for the UK to consider as the Beeb approaches charter renewal. Collaborate and maximise our collective benefit or choose selfishness and end up with nothing.

Not unlike the NHS, this is a national asset. A source of pride in our minds at a time when we might not have that much to be proud of. And if it were to go away, there would be no economic case for rebuilding it. It would be a shame if it disappeared.

Until next time…

Cheerio.

Tom x

Hello there!

We’ve been offline for a couple of weeks as the combination of work, rest and play have gotten the better of us (well Matt, Tom is always very reliable) at IWL towers across the Easter break and run-up to it.

However this week, we’ve got a hum-dinger of an idea we’re excited to share as it came from the head and unbelievable levels of graft across the past few months from friend of IWL and previous contributor in PHD’s Ben Fraser, alongside his creative peers at AMV BBDO.

The Idea: Škoda DuoBell 🚲 🛎️

Škoda has unveiled the first-ever bike bell designed to penetrate noise-cancelling headphones. A potential game-changer for urban safety, it has the ability to help cyclists be heard in cities once again.

Why now? 🩻

According to Transport for London data, bike–pedestrian collisions in London rose by 24% in 2024.

One contributing factor is the widespread rise in the use of noise-cancelling headphones.

Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) tech, by its very nature reduces people’s awareness of approaching cyclists, cars, other people and pretty much anything else posing serious danger to pedestrians and cyclists alike.

Prompted by Ben, from lived experience navigating the treacherous crossings between Bankside & London Bridge, put together researchers and acousticians from the University of Salford in partnership with Škoda, long-time partners of cycling’s Tour De France, to try and do something about it.

Through a series of acoustic tests, the team identified a narrow frequency window, a potential “safety gap” between 750Hz and 780Hz that consistently cuts through ANC.

This became the foundation for the DuoBell, which can be detected up to 5 seconds earlier and as much as 22 metres further away than a standard bike bell.

Woah…

It’s no April’s Fools Idea either.

It works and it’s a genuinely amazing WTF moment when you witness it through your headphones.

Despite the deep technical thinking behind it, the DuoBell has been designed to be simple and cost-effective to produce; setting a new benchmark for what a modern bike bell might need to do and in-turn what other forms that safety signals might take in the future to keep pedestrians, cyclists and drivers safe too.

Importantly, this wasn’t just proven in controlled lab-like conditions for a PR release.

The bell was tested in real-world environments, including a two-week trial with Deliveroo riders navigating busy city streets. Their day-to-day feedback helped refine the final prototype, with one rider noting that the technology meant he “finally had a voice in the streets.”

As part of the initiative, Škoda has also published its findings in an open-source whitepaper; positioning the research not just as product innovation, but as a small step towards making urban environments safer for everyone that uses them.

As their head of design noted, “it’s an elegant analogue solution, to a digital problem.”

We couldn’t agree more.

Check out the launch-film below.

Why we love it…

Making things people want > Making people want things 😻

Both of us are alumni from the IPA’s (excellent) Excellence Diploma.

One of the contributors to the course during our time was a certain John V. Wilshire, formerly of PHD too, who made this provocation.

In this context, Skoda could spend many, many years and many, many millions of pounds building equity around the category entry point of safety using conventional media and messaging.

Or, a bit like Volvo’s 3 point harness, they could just solve something that makes the streets a much safer place to move about.

Signalling these folks over at Skoda care about what they’re putting together and out into the world, so if you’re in the market for a safe, well put together car, at a reasonable price you will likely put them on your list.

Magic = memorability 🤯

Can you remember any of the advertising you’ve seen in the last 24 hours across the places and spaces which naturally take the lions share of advertising investment?

A TV ad from whatever you may have been watching last night and what it was for.

A sponsored reel flicking into and out of your (insert algorithmic short-form feed-factory of your choice) as fast as it was loaded.

There aren’t very many interactions with brands that make you think WTF the first time you come across them and re-wires the way you think, act and interact from that point onwards.

Apple Pay. Ordering an Uber. Spotify Discover. ChatGPT. Noise Cancelling Headphones. Now. Noise Uncancelling Technology.

This type of interaction is something everyone, should it achieve significant scale will want to play with, and with it create a very memorable interaction people synch to Skoda.

If you liked this you’ll love…💕

Not going to say what we’d do with this, this idea, this time, just point towards some analogous ideas with safety at their heart.

Volvo’s 3 point harness 🚘

The original benchmark for safety in service of everyone, not just those who buy or can afford to buy Volvo’s.

Volvo invented the modern three-point harness… and then gave the patent away for free so the whole industry could adopt it.

Google’s Global Earthquake Detection System 🌍

Google turned millions of Android phones into a global earthquake detection network.

Using phone accelerometers, it can detect tremors and send alerts before they reach users.

Tesla’s Sentry Mode 💂

Tesla Cars become active home security systems; recording threats, warning potential intruders and notifying owners.

AAMI Warning Spots ⚠️

Where Ogilvy Australia used geo-targeted Spotify ads to warn users of nearby accident hotspots for Insurance brand AAMI.

Until next time

Matt & Tom

Fundraising Request:

Marathonning for Macmillan

Just over a year ago, Matt’s family lost a wonderful mum and granny; so this year The Prentis family are marathonning to raise money for Macmillan Cancer Support.

https://socialsync.app/fundraiser/cr-x7314qd9knwo

Matt’s boys, Jack & William are taking on London’s Mini-Marathon across the final 2.6KM of the London Marathon course on the 25th April.

Matt’s wife, Helen is taking on the whole thing the next day for her first 26.2 miler with the London Marathon.

Matt himself, is running not one but two marathons in Brighton & Cape Town across the next few weeks to do his part.

While these runs are for her, it’s also for the thousands of families who are facing cancer right now and need support every single day.

Macmillan do such incredible work. From specialist nurses, to simply being there at the end of the phone when someone needs to talk, they make an unbearable situation feel just that little bit less lonely. They don’t just support people living with cancer; they support whole families, through the hardest of days.

Training for a marathon is tough (very tough!), but it feels like a small challenge compared to what so many people go through. If you’ve enjoyed the blog over the 89 issues so far and are able to donate, no matter how small, it would mean the world. And if not, your encouragement and support will carry us through our respective 2.6Ks 26.2 and over 50 miles over the next few weeks.

Donating through MacMillan is simple, fast and secure. Your details are safe, once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity.

Hi there. How are you?

Chupa Chups, the lollipop loved the world over has long had a problem. Their wrappers are really bloody difficult to open. As parents we’re often on the receiving end and are left feeling more than a little helpless as we struggle to open these things for our kids.

Last week, the brand and BBH London responded. Rather than apologise and quietly ship a new, easier-to-open wrapper, they announced the hardest-to-open lollipop in history. The Chupa Chups Impossible. This version of the lolly is encased in a carbon composite shell, wrapped in aramid fibres, coated in silicon carbide and dipped in liquid rubber. Per the press release, it is “Blade proof. Flame proof. Quite possibly human proof”

‘The final boss’ of Chupa Chups was sent to influencers including The Hydraulic Press with a challenge to get inside. Buried within this toughest of tough nuts to crack, is a lolly with an all new easier-to-open wrapper - the product we’ve all been waiting for.

BBH’s ECD Felipe Serradourada Guimaraães put it simply: “Doing the complete opposite to what you should do is the obvious answer.” Or, to use a classic BBH maxim: when the world zigs, zag.

The idea: Features, Not Bugs 🐛

This isn’t just a very good piece of work, it kicked off a broader conversation on the IWL whatsapp group: When can a perceived problem or issue be reframed as a net-benefit?

In software development there is a long-running joke: When users report an unexpected issue, and that issue turns out to be useful, then developers may respond “that this is not a bug, it’s a feature.”

We started to think about other great brands who have, knowingly or otherwise, been playing exactly this game. Not covering up their liabilities. Not apologising for their idiosyncrasies, but leaning in so deliberately as to create an asset out of an issue - and in the process, reframing ‘bugs as features’.

#1. Guiness: Good Things Come To Those Who Wait ⏳🍺

Apparently, a properly poured pint of Guinness takes around 119.5 seconds to settle. That’s because nitrogen carbonation is a slower process than the CO2 used in most beers. In a pub, objectively, it’s less convenient than ordering almost anything else apart from those fancy cocktails that Matt is so fond of.

Faced with this in the 1990s, Guinness and AMV BBDO put the wait centre of their advertising. ‘Good things come to those who wait’ remains one of the most well known strategies in British brand history. Genuinely famous in the Paul Feldwick sense of the word and the driving force behind some truly iconic ads, like the Jonathan Glazer directed Surfer above. This tag line reframed an inconvenience into ritual. Perhaps more interestingly, it made the pint something you watched, as well as drank.

#2. Angostura Bitters: the label that is too big for the bottle 🍸

Staying in the alchohol category and per a story we found on wine site Vine Pair: In the mid-19th century, the two brothers who ran Angostura each took responsibility for a different element of the product launch: one handled the bottle, one handled the label. They failed, magnificently, to communicate. The label arrived substantially larger than the bottle, overhanging it on all sides. Rather than reprint or delay, they shrugged and sent it out into the world.

A century and a half later, the oversized label is Angostura’s most recognisable asset. It looks like nothing else behind the bar, but it was never meant to look this way. It was a happy accident and rather than fix it, the right move was simply to never change it.

#3. American Airlines: The Unpainted Fleet ✈️

You might think American Airlines’ famous bare-metal aircraft was a deliberate positioning move and a statement of confidence. The reality is more ordinary, at least so the story goes... Unpainted aluminium is lighter, and at the scale AA operated, the fuel savings were genuinely significant. The original decision was an operational one, driven by engineering economics rather a brand strategy.

But after 75 years of flying a silver fleet, the bare-metal look had become so thoroughly associated with the airline that it was doing serious brand work in its own right. In 2013, they finally painted the planes, in part due to the changing nature of aircraft fuselages.

#4. Marmite: You Either Love It Or Hate It 🍯

Both Matt and Tom were exceptionally fortunate to work for a brilliant strategist called Toby Roberts earlier in our careers. He used to use Marmite as a way of explaining the difference between an insight and a fact to graduate trainees entering the agency. 50% of people disliking Marmite is a fact. Marmite being the UK’s most polarising foodstuff is an insight - a thought that can change the way you approach a problem through creativity.

Somewhere in the late 1990s, someone at Unilever or at DDB made the call to embrace Marmite’s divisiveness. Running advertising that actively acknowledges half your potential audience doesn’t like your product requires a level of confidence that we might describe as brave in today’s business terminology.

What followed was decades of advertising built on this central insight. More interestingly, the campaign tried to amplify apathy for the product. People who had never tried Marmite had opinions about it. The ‘hate it’ camp became almost as valuable as the ‘love it’ camp. The bug here became the propelling force at the heart of Marmite’s ‘brand key’. This gives the brand license to dramatise pet-rescue style scenes as they did in their brilliant Marmite Neglect ad (above) or to lean into political hot-potatos like Brexit.

#5. Nobody ever got fired for hiring IBM 👾

This one is different from the others, because the bug isn’t in the product — it’s in the reputation of the company.

By the 1970s and 80s, IBM had become the default choice for corporate technology procurement. Safe and more than a little bit grey. The line ‘nobody ever got fired for hiring IBM’ wasn’t invented by IBM or their agency — it emerged from the market, spoken by the procurement managers and IT directors who chose IBM precisely because it was so safe.

A lesser brand might have fought this, attempting to reposition as innovative, dynamic, forward-thinking. IBM did the opposite. In B2B technology purchasing, where careers genuinely are on the line, ‘safe’ is an extraordinarily powerful promise. The perception of bureaucratic dullness, looked at differently, wasn’t a bad thing at all. It was exactly what the buyer wanted. IBM never wrote the line themselves. They simply declined to fight it and, in doing so, let the market do their brand work for them. We’ve taken to calling this ambient revisionism — the art of allowing a flattering story to take hold without actively authoring it. A quieter form of strategy than the others on this list, but no less deliberate. It’s also a great name for a band.

All roads lead to a 2x2 🧵

Thinking about using this in your next client workshop or brainstorm? There are probably a few things to consider based on our reading around the topic.

The bug has to be real. Manufactured quirks rarely work and the honesty of the underlying product truth or market perception is what gives the strategy its credibility. You can either choose to dramatise a ‘bug’ or embrace it, but you have to commit. Half-hearted or non-commital admission of a liability looks defensive. Chupa Chups works because BBH didn’t just lean into the difficult packaging, they made it five times more difficult and sent it to people with hydraulic presses.

With those observations in mind, it wasn’t long before we found ourselves absent mindedly scribbling out a 2x2 on a post it note. Each quadrant represents a different approach to turning a potential failing into an asset. We've named each quadrant based on the nature of the strategic choice involved.

The examples we used earlier slot in neatly: Guinness and Marmite are authored. Someone made a deliberate decision to dramatise an issue. Angostura chose to embrace something after the fact, refusing to change. IBM didn’t deliberately say they were a safe pair of hands, but they adopted the reputation that they had developed in the market and chose it as a way of building advantage.

Until Next Time 💕

Next time you find yourself writing a brief that begins ‘the challenge is that consumers perceive our brand as X’, it might be worth asking whether X is actually a problem. Or whether a perceived problem might be turned to your advantage. Hopefully, the 2x2 above gives you a way of evaulating the situation and a potential way through if you encounter this issue or opportunity.

As always, our lists of examples are non-exhaustive. We’re sure we’ve missed some brilliant examples, so please share them in the comments if any spring to mind.

Until next time, cheerio.

Tom & Matt x

Hi there. How are you?

UK Broadcaster Channel 4 is a brand that we have a lot of affection for. Not only are they respsonsible for many of the shows we loved growing up, but the brand also played a central and formative role in our careers too. Tom spent the first 6 years of his career working on the brand at agency OMD UK before joining C4’s marketing department for a stint as marketing manager on 4oD. It was also in a meeting room at C4’s Horseferry Road HQ that Tom & Matt met for the first time 🥺

Channel 4 also plays a very special role in the UK media landscape. It was set up in the mid 80s as a home for diverse and alternative programming that wouldn’t have found a home on either the BBC or ITV. When Tom worked with them, their mantra of ‘be first, cause trouble and inspire change’ was central to both the programming strategy and marketing strategy - and whilst those words may be long gone, you can still see how that spirit comes through in C4’s marketing with it’s ‘altogether different’ proposition.

When the campaign for their new show Dirty Business broke, we were going to write about the work. But, fortunately for us, we share a building with the media team who helped plan the activity and instead decided to talk to Annie Jarvis about the work. Annie is a Creative Partner at OMD UK and worked on the launch….

Hi Annie 👋

Tell us about the Dirty Business campaign – how would you describe it for someone who might not have seen or heard anything about it? 🤢

Dirty Business is a new factual drama on Channel 4. It tells the story of two real retirees who began investigating how water companies have been dumping sewage into our water, unchecked, for decades.

The brief from marketing was to draw viewers into the show by highlighting the human cost of the scandal: we’d engage audiences by enraging them. The real human stories were the unlock.

(Inhouse agency) 4Creative’s response was this incredibly visceral and provocative vomiting fountain, ‘The Fountain of Filth’: a 10-metre-wide installation featuring bronze-like statues of real people who believe their lives had been affected. They’re seen vomiting murky brown water, with a fatcat-style businessman on top, pockets full of cash. It’s a devastating piece, it really stays with you.

The fountain was our north star, the jewel in a very polluted crown! Everything else was built around it: from digivans sent to water company HQs and affected areas (with bespoke and relevant copy) a full Guardian takeover and partnership. This included in depth interviews with victims and campaigners depicted in the fountain, a brilliant satirical cartoon (below) and a review of the fountain. Beyond this we had a Time Out partnership that treated the fountain as a real London destination, a must-visit… oh, and rail station takeovers, local press cover wraps and a Metro cover too.

What was the role of media and media thinking in bringing the idea and campaign to life? 👀

Marketing, creative and media worked in lockstep and we went big. We were driven by a sense of collective outrage. That outrage dictated the strategy: where in media could we leverage more outrage, or deliver it so people could share in ours? A lot of the places depicted in the show are also beauty spots – gorgeous beaches, picturesque rivers – or Water Company HQs – places that naturally don’t have lots of ad inventory, so we had to create ways for media to show up in those places too. The contrast was super jarring.

We thought about how the scandal *should* be playing out in media and now, post-fountain, we’re seeing that amazing wave of coverage and this issue is finally getting the airtime it deserves. Channel 4’s MO is all about creating change through entertainment! The fountain - an art installation - has led to the show dominating the news cycle. We created the campaign we wanted to see.

What are the components of the campaign that you’re most proud of? ❤️

We always make that joke about media being PR not ER, right?! This brief was different. It had such purpose; we needed to do the story justice. The Guardian cartoon was a real highlight as it captures the scandal so beautifully and made it feel like we’d gone beyond media and into culture. David Thewlis shared it on his Instagram and we all squealed…!

Free from money or client approval – where else might you have pushed this? Were there things you loved left on the cutting room floor? 🧑🏻‍💻

Absolutely! As you can imagine for a campaign like this, everything had to be watertight from a legal point of view (pun fully intended) – there were some compelling data plays that didn’t make it through the very necessary layers of scrutiny. Certain partners also weren’t able to show the fountain in all its pukey glory as they had their own restrictions on the depiction of bodily fluid - they also got the chop.

But you’d never know how many pivots we had to make with the plan – the restrictions, legal, curveballs, timing, all of that – it’s such a formidable campaign; a total career high.

Channel 4’s track record of bold, creative marketing is well known in the UK. How do you balance doing the stuff that works for the entertainment category with the need to do new, innovative work? 🤖

Our collective goal is talkability – what will make people stop, look up, give a shit about what we’re saying, watch the show we’re promoting? We have to stay faithful to the brief and central marketing creative – but beyond that, we have a remit to push the boundaries. Some of the simplest ideas are the best and most impactful – we don’t want to be chasing newness just for the sake of it.

It’s about balance and creative ambition. When we’re doing our jobs properly, we can deliver ratings and creative media innovation, and that’s why C4 is the best account in the country, hands down, because it offers the chance for both. Creativity is not optional.

Inhouse agency 4creative has driven the creative work of C4 for 20 plus years alongside their marketing department, how do you collaborate with those teams to bring work to market? 🤝

They are world-class creatives and marketers - it’s both a pleasure and a privilege to work on campaigns with them. It’s so important that the media is as good as the central creative, so the more joined up we can be, the better.

For this campaign especially, the fountain had to be the north star and everything pushed to that. We have clear roles and remits, that and brilliant communication has unlocked some next level collaboration. It’s a real testament to the OMD, Marketing and 4Creative leadership that have actively helped design and drive such a positive relationship.

There is a lot of change in the world of TV. From how audiences are discovering content to the role and remit of ‘PSBs’ in an age of global streaming. How is your approach to building media plans for C4 evolving to meet these challenges? 📺

It’s not just TV - all brands are behaving like entertainment brands now! The bar for creatively interesting work is so high, across the board. I think it goes back to the talkability point – how can we be more artful in engineering our reach or cultural relevance with real clout? How can we tap into different subcultures or things people care about to join the dots in different, more interesting ways? It can’t be brand-out anymore, no one cares. It’s got to be through shared interest, by our ads being more than ads - our campaigns being entertainment in their own right. The battle for influence is getting wilder by the second.

During the creation of this campaign where did you and the team look for inspiration? 💡

To the people behind the story. As a mum of two, as a human, you can’t not be affected by what happened in the show. What’s happening still. It’s beyond outrageous. As we researched the show, dug into the scandal, read more into Ash and Peter’s investigations, I think we all felt driven by something so urgent and outraged… hopefully that commitment shows in the work.

Thanks Annie! 💕

The thing which drew us to this idea was the Fountain. It’s genuinely ‘stop you in your tracks’ stuff - but the other thing we’re interested in is how media planning can help elevate an idea like this. And whilst there is an element of our favourite “do stuff tell people” maxim here, there is also a really interesting and powerful media strategy about using the news and news agenda to surface a really important issue that hasn’t been scrutinised by the press appropriately.

Many thanks to Annie at OMD UK for chatting with us.

Until next time

Cheerio.

Tom & Matt x

Hi. How are you?

This week we received a text message from long-time friend of the newsletter David Wilding. It read simply “IWL?” - and included a link to a post he’d made on Linkedin about what he described as “a very good week” for flat-pack-furninture specialist IKEA.

Over the last couple of weeks we’ve started quite a few posts that have gone unpublished. Partly due to time. Partly cus of low-level niggles about whether the work in question was actually that good. Sometimes the logic of the seemingly brilliant thinking fell apart under closer scrutiny. Anthropic’s Superbowl ads were one such example. So sometimes, when someone bothers to get in touch and suggest an idea, we’ll gladly accept the invitation of some inspiration.

The work that prompted David’s note was the retailer’s new Iftar At Ours activation, developed in partnership with Mother and agency Amaliah. According to Amaliah’s CEO, the work is built on the insight that this year “millions of Muslims will be breaking their fast on the way home” and so IKEA has set up pop-up houses in London and Manchester to offer an alternative.

David’s wider observation is a good one. And when prompted, a couple of other things that the brand has done in recent weeks sprang to mind.

Firstly, new product ads. These broke at the end of January and work as a riff on the very well established art direction that the brand normally employs for its product advertising. We all know IKEA offers stuff at lower-than-you-might-expect prices, but what about the quality? As Vikki Ross says in her analysis, “the non CTA, CTA is smart” and we absolutely agree. We like that there is room for the consumer to do some of the work here and whilst dialling up the quality credentials, the low prices the brand is known for is implicit.

The other thing which seemed to cut through in the last week or so, was a story about Punch the Monkey. Punch had been abandoned by its mother and so the keepers at Japan’s Ichikawa City Zoo, where Punch lives, gave him a Djungelskog Orangutan Plush to comfort and console him. Videos of Punch playing with his toy went viral and then IKEA moved quickly to capitalise on the footage: organic social posts from the brand across the globe, a formal ad, a visit from the CEO of IKEA Japan to the zoo and a donation of cuddly toys to the zoo as well. The Djungelskog was rebranded as ‘Punch’s comfort orangutan', to boot. The toy in question has sold out and IKEA was able to turn this fleeting moment into a boost in sales for the soft toy.

Now, neither the case study of Punch or indeed the Iftar example above are without their critics. Some people have been quick to suggest that the brand doesn’t invest in these causes in a meaningful way long term and might be attempting to profit from the issues at hand. This is of course a fair criticism. Brands are a device designed to enable businesses to make money and are not entirely benevolent. What we would say though, is that a consistent brand strategy, built on the foundational idea of ‘democratising’, leads IKEA and its marketing teams across the globe to work in culture (whatever that means) in both a proactive and reactive way with a legitimacy many brands are likely very jealous of.

The other thing to say, is that on top of all the nice, cultural types of activations they do - they also do all the good line and length brand and media things you’d expect a successful brand to do. We’re sure Andrew Tindall would approve. The Affordable Quality campaign above is one example, as is their One Bag to Rule them All campaign which was used to support the launch of their inner city branch on Oxford Street last year. Distinctive assets etc etc etc - but also, big, ‘costly’ demonstrations that seek to create fame and talkability and all of those types of things.

The other thing we’re often impressed by - as covered all the way back in IWL#30 - is how the brand really leans into everything communicating. Their use of media is broad - both as a means of transmitting messages, but also dramatically demonstrating the capability and credibility of the brand.

As David would say - well played everyone.

Until next time

Its been a bit of a short and sweet one today, but we hope you’ve enjoyed it. We’ve long-talked about a sort of greatest hits of IKEA post - and in some ways this is that…. Thanks again to David Wilding for the nudge. If you think we should write about a certain idea or brand, please get in touch - it really is nice to hear from you.

Until next time. Cheerio.

Tom & Matt x

Hello there,

Hope you’re all well.

Matt spotted this idea on his way to mountains, started tapping up the issue on his phone only for it to blow up on LinkedIn whilst he put his phone down for a couple of days of play.

But it’s a banger, even if Stelios Haji-Iannou might be somewhat miffed at Nike’s choice of colours for this one so we’ll go with it anyway.

The idea: Nike’s All Conditions Express 🚃

Where Nike ACG, Nike’s ‘All Condition Gear’ Line, that’s built to help you take on the best and worst conditions that the world can throw you…

…have only gone and taken an alpine train and turned it into the All Conditions Express; by fully wrapping a locomotive on the commuter line between Milano Central and the Italian alps just in time for the start of the Winter Olympics.

Not just fully wrapped however, they’ve fully kitted it out in ACGs rugged aesthetic with some lovely little touches and fine details throughout the train.

What an ACE idea ; )

Why we love it 💕

It’s big, bold, brand re-building that’s a statement of intent 💪

Unlike many of the categories they operate within, Nike are a challenger brand in technical gear for the outdoors, neither deemed as credible or as desirable as brands that were born in the mountains or the trails relative to their dominance in say road running or football.

Putting ACG in proper terrain signals intent that this is a performance label with taste, as opposed to a fashion drop with hiking props.

What better terrain to prove this promise than the backdrop to the 2026 Winter Olympics. Nice panorama.

But more than just being fun and irreverant, if this can be the kick-start that can get this part of the portfolio firing where obsessives are happy to part ways with €1,000+ for technical jackets, can become a much needed and very lucrative shot in the arm as they continue back on their path to relevance after their much publicised over-indexing on performance marketing a little while ago.

Borrowing credibility from the system it rides on 🚆

This choice, of a train, an engineered object that’s both built to last and built to perform in all conditions, in this terrain… well that’s a neat analogue for technical outerwear: the medium quietly reinforces the message nicely here.

It’s also the opposite of “content” but in doing so becomes content anyway.

Much like many of the murals that our friends at Global Street Art put out into the world, this isn’t a social ad, but it’s an activation that is unexpected, because of that it’s likely to get photographed and shared, a consequence of novelty in the real world, not a brief to “go viral”.

It’s all in the details 🕵🏻

What always made me wince when CGI handbags were making their way down Oxford Street is that when it’s so easy to “fake” something as outwardly expressive as comms, however fleeting those Instagram Reels are meant to be, well what does that say about the efforts that go into producing the goods brands are expecting people to part with their hard-earned cash for at ever increasing price premiums.

The All Conditions Express isn’t just a wrap job, it’s a full-on world build.

From expedition-inspired interiors and topographic maps to gear labs, recovery zones and café cars, every carriage is designed down to the last lantern and luggage rack.

That level of craft signals something important for a premium brand: that when they go to these lengths in places most people will never see, it shows belief in the product and the story, not just the spectacle.

When others are CGIing they’re way to contextual relevance in programmatically served media, this idea is all about the very costly signalling coming from Nike here that they know the outdoors and what needs to be worn in the wild as well if not better than any other apparel brand.

Bravo.

What we’d love to do with it…

Given the details they’ve gone to with this, it would be pretty churlish to even suggest some additional stretches but that’s what we do over here so here goes.

#1 Equip the conductors 🧥

ACG-equipped train staff on the route not as influencers, just as people doing their job in proper kit, that’s a proper fit. Like product placement, but in real life.

Where for any traditional “campaign” extensions Nike might take ATL become an irreverent celebration of the real drivers, conductors and restaurant cart attendants who enable people to get around the mountains.

You could see them having some fun with that.

#2 Turn sightings into social and shoppable currency 👀

A simple mechanic where spotting the All Conditions Express unlocks something small but meaningful; a patch, a digital badge, early access to ACG drops, an instagram DM from new ACG ambassador Jannik Sinner.

Nothing gamified to death, just a nod to those who were there and witnessed the train in the wild or in the feed; they’ve got the merch, make some of it available for people who can’t rock-up in person as well as those who can.

#3 Long Streams 🎥

There’s plenty a rabbit hole in YouTube for “slow” viewing that a train slicing through the Italian Alps could be the perfect instalment of for any creators in this space.

A Go-Pro or an iPhone-Pro stuck to the top of the train to give a real-time view of the ACE, with an accompanying tracker to show the live conditions the train is travelling through: temperature, snowfall, altitude, rainfall etc could be fun and could feature some cameos from some famous friends of Nike getting on the train or waving from the side of the tracks.

A product demo disguised as a journey log that quietly reinforces the “All Conditions” promise.

If you liked this you’ll love…

Moncler’s takeover of Courcheval last year that we featured on issue #49 where they put the catwalk show by the world’s most exclusive runway by the side of the piste.

The North Face’s store that had exclusive lines available within it with one small catch… it was (almost) impossible to access in the Aosta mountains unless you had the tekkers to get to it.

Volkswagen Sweden’s release of the rugged new Amorok where one lucky person could drive it away from a Hidden Showroom and keep it but only they could find it; with cryptic clues hidden all around the Amorok’s media plan.

We hope you liked this idea as much as we did.

Until next time,

Matt & Tom

Hi there. How are you?

February is here & January is now behind us. Somehow most of our resolutions from the new year remain in tact.

The work is definitely ramping up and both of us find our desks (such as they are in the modern, hybrid workplace) laden with a wide range of new and interesting projects.

Sometimes, by happy coincidence, the things that occupy us during the working day crosses over heavily with things that might make for an interesting edition of the newsletter.

When you’re as long in the tooth as we are, its fair to say that we’re tired of telling our mums that we don’t actually make the ads. The task of a media planner could be thought of as one concerned with the creation and management of distribution. But, as media evolves (fragmenting or consolidating, depending on your POV), the difference between what is on-screen and how it appears in front of an audience’s eyes is growing smaller and smaller all the time. Given the increasingly technical nature of media planning, sometimes its important to ask about how something works as much as why it works.

The idea: Formats, formats, formats ✉️

This week we’ve been thinking about content. And more specifically, about formats. And whilst we wouldn’t claim to be anywhere near as expert as the brilliant Storythings team and their equally brilliant Formats Unpacked newsletter, we’ve been trying to think about why in our increasingly algorithmic, attention poor media environment a well crafted format is a winning strategy for cutting through the clutter.

When we say format, what do we mean? In this case, we mean a content series which has a set of consistent beats, segments or chapters that repeat across episodes or installments (not unlike this newsletter).

These might involve a consistent visual setup (e.g. a subway train or a chicken shop), a recurring premise or mechanic (expert reactions, stranger interviewed, a thing explained in X seconds) a predictable set of segments (intro hook, middle section, payoff) and recognisable sonic or visual cues (the same font, the same transition, a catchphrase).

Formats in and of themselves aren’t new. Desert Island Discs is a fantastic format and that’s been on the radio since 1942. We’ll get onto our favourite examples shortly, but before that, why do these things suddenly feel like they’re all over our feeds?

From a consumer standpoint formats work because they balance consistency and novelty. The pleasure comes from ‘the freedom’ within a familiar framework. It's the same reason people enjoy genre fiction, sitcoms, or sudoku. You know the rules, so you can appreciate how a particular iteration plays within them, or chooses to subvert them. When you know roughly what you’re getting, there’s lower friction to starting a video or podcast. You’re not taking a punt on something unfamiliar: in a world drowning in content, the cost of getting something wrong or simply not feeling comfortable choosing something is quite high.

For platforms, consistency and predictability is rewarded because it makes content easier to categorise. When someone watches three videos in a given series the algorithm has a clear signal: this person likes a specific thing. This drives up time spent and likely increases completion rates. Platforms chase these metrics ‘cus they correlate to ad-revenue. Formats create clean signals. A creator who posts erratically across different styles is harder to match to potential audiences.

For creators themselves, a well developed format also makes sense. Formats dramatically reduce the production burden. Once you've established a successful and repeatable structure, you're not starting from scratch each time. You need new material, but not new ideas. Given how hungry platform algorithms are, this makes the job of a creator a lot more sustainable. The best modern formats work in longer form or, as they become more established, in that atomised and cut-up way which is so important now when thinking about how content needs to work many different places and spaces, allowing the owner to show up in more places, more often.

Our favourite formats ✉️

This is a bit of a live question as we say. We’re thinking about how creators - and by extension - how brands, can be successful with their content. Increasingly, we’re less interested in exactly what the content is - but more in how it’s structured and organised and how repeatable or longliving an idea might be. Here are the formats we’ve stuck on the meeting room wall that we’re particularly into…..

#1. Criterion Closet 🎥

Celebrities, actors and filmmakers are placed in a closet at film Publisher Criterion’s HQ. They pick DVDs from the bountiful shelfs, they explain why they’re choosing the titles. It’s a good advert for the films Criterion make & shows off the the brainy, desirable people who constitute their fanbase. The famous visitors get to show off a bit. It’s nice, gentle stuff for people who like movies or are looking for recommendations or want to validate their own wonderful sense of taste.

#2. Subway Takes 🚇

“Whats your take?” - A subway (or tube ride) and a simple question that spurs on a short conversation about love, life and everything in between. We really love Kareem Rahma’s simple but effective series of conversations. The flexibility of the format means he can chat to celebrities, comedians, politicians and ordinary people alike and it kinda works. Not always, but often funny, even when a serious point is being made. Conversational ‘gonzo’ style formats are rife: other notable titles are Meet Cute and that thing with a ladder in the street called Career Ladder

#3. TopJaw 🍔

You know the drill. A slightly too handsome man with a killer jaw line that indicates he eats absolutely no food at all, standing on the street with a chef or celebrity, asking the same set of questions: Best Restaurant, Best Value, Best Burger, Best Bar or cocktail, Best Date spot….. and absolutely no ‘self noms’. Jesse and Will have been so successful unpacking the London food scene they’ve slowly branched out to other cities and locales and have just been given a show on Apple+ . TBH, food is a particularly rich area to explore where formats are concerned: we could have also referenced the brilliant Off Menu podcast here too - a simple conceit, a route into far reaching conversations and of course the question: Poppadoms or bread?

#4. Goalhanger Podcasts 🔊

Not strictly a format in the way some of our earlier examples are, but hear us out… Goalhanger has built a brand and a portfolio around a format.

A consistent naming convention, The rest is… football, entertainment, politics, science. A consistent approach to talent: experts in the their fields, who might have an unexpected chemistry despite representing different sides of the debate...

And next time you’re deep into a house of brands versus a branded house debate, it’s worthwhile thinking about how people who come into this portfolio for football might find themselves dipping a toe into politics or science, because Goalhanger is able to cross sell the ‘style’ as much as the content matter.

#5. Stone Island’s Community as a Form of Research 🧢

We wrote about this at the beginning of last year in IWL#41. And as with Goalhanger above, this isn’t necessarily a format in the way we’ve set it up. However, it does show what happens when you push ‘format’ thinking into traditional forms of advertising or communication. With pressure and time comes enhanced memorability - and a consumer will start to recognise the format and attribute activity to the brand more easily. A form ofadvertising leveraging ‘compound creativity’.

#6 ‘Jake Yapp in ….. 90ish seconds’ 📺

Finally…. one of the youtube videos we find ourselves watching far too frequently…. On an old BBC show featuring Charlie Brooker, comedian Jake Yapp would systematically brutalise parts of british culture… accents, impressions, cutaways & only 90 ish seconds to carry out the character assassination….

Until Next time 💕

As always, the lists we write are non-exhaustive. And we’re sure we’ve missed some interesting examples (please share if any spring to mind).

Anway, we hope you’ve enjoyed this little detour into formats.

Until next time.

Cheerio, Tom & Matt x

Hi there, how are you?

At the very end of last year it was announced that MTV would be switched off across Europe. The cultural impact of the brand - in Europe and its native USA - is beyond question. It invented a category, defined an aesthetic and could probably lay a serious claim to starting reality TV, too. But, with changing TV consumption habits and the likes of Youtube, Spotify and Tiktok (and their algorithms) shaping much of our collective music consumption, we suspect the writing was on the wall for some time.

All brands must grow old. For youth orientated brands, this process can be especially painful. Do they seek a future in ‘growing up’ with their target consumer, or should they attempt to manufacture a route to reinvention and refreshed relevance with a new generation? Neither route is without its problems.

As students in the UK at the turn of the millenium, we both spent more time sat in front of MTV and it’s wider portfolio of channels than perhaps we would both like to admit. And so, it was with a kind of misty-eyed nostalgia we sat down to write this weeks newsletter…..

The idea: MTV Rewind ⏪

It’s dead simple really: Some clever soul has ‘rebuilt’ MTV online in the form of MTV Rewind. The website features 42,827 music videos spanning 6 decades and offers viewers ‘no ads, no algorithms, no logins… just pure random discovery’.

Now that sounds good doesn’t it? But arguably it’s not strictly true.

It isn’t completely random - viewers can choose any number of different ‘channels’ to watch. Some might elect to watch ‘MTVs 1st Day’ & the first video to air (The Buggles, below). Or Live Aid 1985. Or deep dive into one of the specialist channels like MTV2, or watch one of the long-running franchises like Unplugged.

Some of what makes the site so great to play around with is the the fact that there ARE ads - though they are the ads & idents which viewers would have seen when viewing the channel with the relevant era - such as the seminal 1984 by Apple (see below)

Why we love it 💕

We’ll spare you the lengthy analysis or post mortem this week. It’s really not necessary. We love this simply because it exists.

And the fact that it feels like one of those things which used to be really quite prevalent on the internet (ed: a bit like this beauty that we discovered last week, too)

It’s fun and interactive and intuitive and exists only because the internet exists. It’s brilliantly free of Google single sign on access or identikit Squarespace graphic design & its probably a bit naughty and infringes on some kind of copywrite style thing which may or may not see the owner of the site get told to take it down soon.

If you like this you’ll love…. 💕

The relationship between music videos, advertising and ‘creativity’ is pretty clear in the minds of some of our readers we’d wager. People like Jonathan Glazer dabbled in both music videos and advertising before going on to bigger, feature length films. Before we sign off this week, here is a non exhaustive list of some of our favourite music promos

#1. Daft Punk Around the World 🌎

Gondry. Rhythmic dancing. Grooves visualised. Joy.

#2. The Beastie Boys Sabotage 🥸

Spike Jonze. ‘Staches. Stunts.

#3. Ok Go Here it Goes Again 🏃🏻‍♀️

Treadmills. Internet virality and a band better known for their videos than their song-writing skills.

#4. George Michael Freedom! 90 🆓

Properly era defining. George. Super-models. etc

Until next time 💕

It’s a brief one this week. Thanks for stopping by.

Until next time. 3Cheerio

Tom & Matt x

Hello there,

Hope you’re all well.

Working in adland it’s wise to remember that the vast majority of what we fret or fawn over rarely manifests or matters in the real world.

Real people, in the real world, aren’t on the edge of their seats excitedly awaiting the next sponsored TikTok, they’re definitely not skipping your podcast pre-read or worrying whether the Meerkat was shot on location or generated by A.I.

A rigourous empirical study of the Prentis household validates this.

We’ve written over 80 issues on this little part of the internet, featuring hundreds of ideas and neither Mrs. P or either Mini P have ever witnessed any of what we’ve done in the wild before we posted about it.

Today this changes.

An idea we love courtesy of Mrs. P a primary school teacher in South East London.

The Idea: Map My Pizza 🍕

The Map My Pizza Promo is exactly what it sounds like.

This January, in exchange for…

• Running a pizza-shaped route (any pizza shape works)

• Mapping that route on your favourite running app

• Showing your server your pizza shape

You get £1 off your pizza for every KM you’ve run.

Lovely stuff.

Why we love it…💕

Franco Manca has a special place in our hearts: it’s where the inspiration for our pizza slice logo comes from.

We’d go for a ‘planning pizza’ together at lunchtime “2 #6s and 2 Coke Zero’s please” in the Borough Market branch to discuss the work we’d seen and liked. It’s where the idea for the newsletter was born.

Beyond that, why else do we think this is so good?

When the world zigs, zag 🔄

In January, conventions suggest we pare back after the season of good fill to get back on a level.

Problematic for a chain of pizza restaurants right?

Not with this idea that pairs a tangible, tasty reward with January’s new or newly energised pastime; running. Ideally creating a post run ritual that sticks around longer than a typical New Years Resolution.

Richard Shotton would be proud.

Media that’s built, not bought 💸

What’s particularly nice is the mapped pizza routes are both the creative and the media plan in one.

Designed to live natively inside platforms like Strava and Runna, where people already track and share their runs; both of which have neat plug-ins to all of the usual social media platforms to extend reach which many folks habitually post…post-run.

Participation creates reach, and the brand gains presence by fitting into existing behaviour rather than interrupting it.

Smart and a great example of media that can be built rather than bought.

What we’d love to do with it…💕

#1. Actively encourage sharing 👍

There’s always a delicate dance with UGC between mechanics that increase distribution, with unnecessary complexity that may end up limiting participation.

We think a simple call out to people to tag Franco’s with their map on Insta/TikTok etc would enable the brand’s handle to get playful, to repost and keep the energy going across the promotional period.

#2. Celebrate collective milestones 🙌

Simple in-store tallies like “Borough Market has run off 476 pizzas this January” could take this idea from inside the app to in-store, near-store and beyond to increase participation in the promotion.

No leaderboards or winners as such; just celebeating collective participation.

#3. Lean into the imperfections 🤣

As well as featuring the best of the best, actively celebrate the worst pizza maps.

Feature them in socials, get chefs to recreate them IRL, reimagine the Franco Manca logo as interpreted by Strava user X.

All very playful ways to keep the energy going.

If you like this, you’ll love 💕

The most immediate thing this calls to mind is the ‘OG’ - Strava Art.

People using the social media platform that tracks achievement in exercise as an expressive canvas for ever more complex pictures. We like the Velociraptor below, but we also enjoyed the effort from one intrepid user who cycled 150km to recreate the cover of Nirvana’s Nevermind .

#2. Mega Minecraft Builds 🧱

We’re full of admiration for master Minecrafters and the people using the platform to show off super-detailed builds. People have re-built the World of Warcraft’s Azeroth, Middle Earth and much more besides.

#3. BMW’s iJack ⚡️

Going way back to IWL#13, where we featured BMW’s incredibly smart use of Google Maps to showcase cars in desireable driveways and build consideration, demand for test drives and ultimately sales. A smart idea, placing the cars in a super valuable context that is largely ‘ad-free’ to boot.

#4. Rapha’s Clubhouse Café ☕️

Per Rapha’s website, “We know coffee is integral to the culture of cycling. That’s why cafés are the heart and soul of our Clubhouses - a place for cyclists to immerse themselves in the sport. Our cafés are emporiums stuffed with historic posters and jerseys in frames and glass-topped tables displaying curated collections”. The brand built it’s fame by successfully selling people stuff to wear cycling and also building a (whisper it) place for the community to gather & links exercise with ‘indulgence’.

Until next time 💕

If this isn’t motivation to get your running shoes on, we’re not sure what would be.

Until next time. Cheerio.

Matt & Tom x

Hi there. How are you?

Is it too late to wish you a happy new year? We hope you were able to switch off between Christmas and New year. We were lucky enough to put pens down on or around the 22nd December and didn’t come back until Monday. A super-healthy & much needed break after what can only really be described as a pretty full on year for many in adland.

Back in IWL#69, we wrote about Designer Keiji Takeuchi’s turn on-stage at Monocle’s Quality of Life Conference. Using the humble walking stick as an example (see below) he talked about the absurdity of modern product development: his belief was that nowhere near enough effort was being put in to designing for old age. A fact that would likely cause us all issues in the long-run as many countries in the developed world come to deal with aging populations: more old people, living longer and requiring new forms of care to assist them.

Working in advertising, we are often asked to prioritise youth audiences. So this insight resonated - and it was with Takeuchi’s observation lodged firmly in our minds that we found ourselves drawn to the idea featured in this week’s issue.

The idea: Aumens’ Het Kompas 🧭

Dutch firm Aumens have built a compass designed to help people suffering with dementia get home safely. Per Designboom’s coverage, the device activates “automatically when picked up and (turns) off when placed down, the device has no power button to remember, no startup sequence, and no confirmation screen. Movement here becomes the interface, and this design choice removes one of the most common failure points in assistive devices: forgetting to turn them on”.

Crucially, “Once outside, the wooden compass for people with dementia has no options. This means it doesn’t ask where the user wants to go. It only ever points home. The team says that there have been studies behind the project that show that changing modes or meanings caused confusion for the user, so the device only leads the user to their homes. Optional vibration and sound cues support the visual arrow, and the team adds that these alerts are not alarms but reminders to help the users remember to hold or look at the device”.

Why we love this …💕

Whilst it’s not a classic piece of comms planning, we found lots to admire in this piece of product design.

#1. A human-centric solution to a real world problem, designed in partnership with real people 🧑‍🤝‍🧑

The research team behind the product noted that one possible solution to the problem they are addressing is to attach Airtags to people suffering with dementia. Whilst that is a relatively ‘efficient’ solution, it isn’t a very human-centric approach to tackling the issue at hand. The airtag allows a potentially lost person to be found, but not for that person to navigate their own way home.

Aumens’ compass was built in conjunction with people at differing stages of cognitive impairment, with 100 people recruited to help refine the design and then a further 30 people used to test the working prototype. And whilst those ‘with advanced illness’ struggled with the compass, most with moderate or mild symptoms are able to use it successfully (Source: Trendwatching). Unless a cure is found, the economic realities of an aging society is that more and more people will likely end up suffering with these conditions and we will need to find solutions that keep people as ‘self sufficient’ as possible for as long as possible, reducing the strain on an already overburdened care sector.

#2. It subscribes to Dieter Rams principle of good design 🧭

In the late 70s, Dieter Rams was “ becoming increasingly concerned by the state of the world around him….Aware that he was a significant contributor to that world, he asked himself an important question: is my design good design?” (Source: Vitsoe). To answer this question the man behind those iconic Braun products and many more besides, set out ten principles of what makes for good design.

He suggested that good design was innovative…makes a product useful…has an aesthetic value…makes a product understandable…gets out of the way…is honest…long-lasting, thorough down to the last detail… is friendly to it’s environment…and represents ‘as little design as possible’.

If Rams was concerned about the ‘impenetrable confusion of forms, colours and noises’ surrounding him in the 70s - how would he feel about the state of the world today? Aumens’ compass represents a great majority of Rams principles - and the antithesis of ‘confusion of form, colour and noise’.

#3. Simple doesn’t mean stupid…. 🙃

In IWL#17 we looked at Heineken’s Boring Phone and then in IWL#28 we had a look at Yoto Player. Both are good examples of how advanced technology can be repackaged into seemingly simple and straightforward packages in order to serve their goals. Not everything has to appear super-smart at the surface level. In an age when printing documents at home requires the patience of a saint and a PHD in Computer Science, the relentless march of digital technologies and the rise of smart everything (fridges, TVs, thermostats, coffee machines etc) doesn’t necessarily mean things are getting better.

The compass manages to present itself outwardly to it’s primary user as single-serving and simple enough to be valuable to someone with a challenging medical condition, whilst hiding a sophisticated package of ‘smart’ features which allow care-givers to supervise and intervene in case of emergency.

If you like this, you’ll love….💕

Simplicity, devices, dials… where did Aumens’ compass take us when we thought about the touchpoints and references it reminds us of?

#1. Omata 🚴

Raging against the ‘dull grey computers’ used by many cyclists to measure speed and distance, Omata was conceived of as an antidote: a smart device for cyclists with a display more remiscent of older, analogue instruments. All of the capability of a Garmin, in a package that was meant to be altogether more human.

#2. Ressence ⌚️

Not dissimilar to Omata is Ressence, a watch company being built not by a master horologist but by an industrial engineer. What appears to be a ‘smart watch’ is actually fully analogue. Using mechanical movements like many luxury watches, with watches like the Type 5 (below) Ressence use an innovative system of interlocking discs and oil filled displays to share the time with the wearer. The video below is a bit nerdy, but worth a look if this sort of thing interests you.

#3. The Lego ‘Smart Play’ system 🧱

Announced just this week at CES, Lego are launching a new 2x4 brick that is ‘smart’. Alongside ‘smart tags’ and ‘smart mini-figures’ these bricks will enable new dimensions of play including sound, light and ‘context’ aware interactions. We love how the simple brick has been transformed in a way which will add new dimensions to the way our kids interact, play and build with Lego, whilst still enabling the ‘interoperability’ and ‘backwards compatibility’ which is so central to the brand’s enduring appeal.

#4. Clicks Communicator

Also launched at CES this week is the Clicks Communicator. Pitched as being ‘to smartphones as Kindle is to Ipad’ - that is to say, a device primarily geared around a single function - in this case, messaging. The device will allow users to manage Whatsapp, Slack and email providers, without offering them the capacity for endless distraction or doomscrolling.

Until Next Time 💕

Cheerio.

Tom & Matt x

Hi there. How are you?

It’s the end of the year. How did that happen? In some ways this has felt like the longest, most drawn out year ever and in others, the quickest and most compressed.

And just like that it’s the last issue of IWL of 2025.

If you’ve made it this far with us, thank you. Year on year, the subs list has nearly doubled. So it’s probably worth saying just how grateful we are for the support. We know there is a lot of stuff that competes for attention.

Rather than focus on a campaign or idea, we thought we’d reprise the approach we took for last year’s end of season post and take the time to reflect a little on some of the things we’ve learnt through the lens of writing the newsletter. The things we outlined as being important last year still hold true and in some cases are more important than ever. We continue to believe in the power of ‘positivity as a point of principle’ when so much discourse in the industry is either negative or snipey. As the world gets more complex, writing provides us to a route to question what we truly believe about the state of things. And as automation ramps up, the thing that keeps us engaged in our work is the people we spend time with and the questions that the conversations with these people unearths.

So, as 2025 draws to a close, what have we learnt?

#1. Consistency & compound effort 🔁

In IWL#79 Alex Bec talked about consistency being the key to any truly great creative output: about the need to turn up, sit at your desk and make stuff. Now, whilst it’d be a little arrogant of us to say that we’re producing truly great creative output, we’ve definitely felt the benefits of being more consistent. Last year we published 37 times. This year 42. A small but meaningful increase. And the more we’ve written, the easier we’ve found it to write and the more thing’s we’ve noticed. The newsletter for us is as much as anything, an attempt to stimulate an interest in the work and to focus our attention on the world around the work. The more of these we write, the easier that attention is to hone & focus.

What’s in a name? ❞

The downside of that consistency is trying to find things to write about. Whilst we acknowledge that the title of the newsletter is perhaps a little basic, it brings with it an implicit expectation. If we want to feature something, is it an idea we love or just merely an idea we like or are curious about? A bit like London buses, some weeks three ideas arrive all at once. Whilst other weeks, we’re scratching around. This has meant that this year we’ve pushed beyond campaigns and brands and activations as the sole emphasis of what we’re writing about and started to think slightly more expansively about what constitutes an idea…. indeed, some of the more successful posts of this year have lived in the spaces adjacent to what we might think of as our core offering: a post about book shelves, a post about Reddit and a guest-post about using Dress Code as way of thinking about comms behaviour.

One of the more interesting (at least for us) areas we’ve explored this year has been the conversations we’ve had: Amelia Torode, Neil Godber, Phil Adams, Pip from Springboards, Chris Mitchwell. These conversations have reminded us that there is no one way for us to do our jobs & and it is the marriage of repeatable, predictable processes and techniques with messy, irrational and more unpredictable human behaviour where good thinking typically lies.

What continues to be true ➡️

That said, there’s still been some cracking work we wish we’d got our hands on that reminded us of the power of…

Long ideas. Refreshed in new and novel ways

A great example coming out of New-Zealand we featured in IWL #47 ealier this year where Skinny Mobile, famous for finding inventive ways to convery their low-cost mobile carrying credentials, created Low-Cost Liz; an A.I. powered brand ambassador that they rolled out in plentiful contexts.

Now, there are plenty of brands facing a backlash for the application of Gen AI to their creative work (Coke comes to mind and their 9 variations of a truck). We’re not passing judgement. The tools are here, we should think about their use, but use them to create even more powerful combinations not just filling boxes more cost efficiently.

Upcycled ideas. Stolen with pride

In the same way people in the real world don’t care whether brands have used real, or AI powered meerkats in their ads, they also don’t care whether another brand in another part of the world that they’ve never been to may have had that idea before.

Hence why Selleys liquid nails activation in Australia…

…which was an upcycled idea that Araldite Glue originally rolled out in the 60s…

…reminds us of the power of staying curious, connected to what’s going on today as well as what broke through in the past so that any idea we have, any colleagues have, or any partners we might be working with have can be re-mixed with everything we’ve stumbled across to help brands stand-out and stand apart today.

Creativity is just connecting those dots, after all.

2026. Multi-media, maybe? 🤔

Up until now the format of the newsletter has been overwhelmingly text based. We dipped our toes into video with the interview with Pip. It’s one of the things we keep thinking about - maybe there are more interesting formats and media to explore to tell the stories we’re looking at. No one needs another podcast (or a newsletter for that matter) in their life - but in a sort of ‘physician heal thyself’ way; if we’d recommend the benefits of multi-channel, multi-media approaches to our clients then why wouldn’t we explore that ourselves? Watch this space.

Until next year 💕

Again, thank you for the support. It’s really nice of you.

See you all in 2026. Have a great break.

Tom & Matt x

Hi there. How are you?

The end of the year is rapidly creeping up on us, bringing with it a combination of excitement and fear. Excitement cus, well, Christmas. Fear because there suddenly seems like a load to do before we shut the computer down for 2025. The internal debate between ‘future us’ and ‘us today’ is starting to rage… what gets kicked into the long grass only to rear it’s ugly head in the new year is a big question….

The closing moments of the year offer the chance for reflection (more on that soon) and planning. This week we sat down with friend of the newsletter Alex Bec to chat about the year ahead for creativity & the creative industries...

Hi Alex, for the readers at home, tell us a bit about yourself….👋

My name is Alex Bec and I’m the co-founder of It’s Nice That and Creative Lives in Progress. I’ve spent the best part of the last couple of decades dedicated to helping give a platform and opportunities to creatives; which either shows some decent loyalty and commitment, or a lack of imagination.

What’s a project you’re working on at the moment that is energising or exciting you the most….⚡️

There’s a few things, but the one I’m spending most of my time on right now is growing what we’re building at Creative Lives in Progress (CLIP). CLIP is a platform we launched on the 10th anniversary of It’s Nice That - to try and help emerging talent with careers guidance that is so badly underserved in the UK.

Since then we’ve grown a community of nearly 200k emerging creatives and partnered with huge brands like Google, Nike and more to help bring great talent into their businesses.

Sadly the industry has somewhat put emerging talent on the backburner as a priority for the last 4 or 5 years (for numerous different reasons) and we’re starting to see the implications of that. Our job is to try and make sure we’re there for that community day in, day out - regardless of how rosy, or scary the future of creative careers looks.

What are the big themes that you think will inform and drive commercial creativity in the next 12 months? 👨‍🎨

Blah blah blah, AI, technology etc. Obviously riding the AI wave and making sure we’re conscious, purposeful and intentional about how we use and adopt it. But I’m sure everyone says that.

The key for me is how we stay optimistic and resourceful to navigate a challenging economic climate for the majority of creative professionals. How can the creative community find ways to make ends meet, and still get enjoyment from their work - that second bit is too often forgotten.

Who are the creatives or creative companies that you think we should be keeping an eye on in 2026? 👀

I’m a big fan of some smaller, emerging studios in our world; Explorers Club, Porto Rocha for example.

I also am always floored by how good Timi Akindele-Ajani is getting. I met him a long time ago and every time I look up he seems to be making even better work.

We just released our annual ‘Ones to Watch’ showcase of the best new talent in the creative world and I fell in love with the work of an incredible Philippines-based illustrator Michael Gabriel Esgeurra Bacungan.

I’m biased of course, but the group we’re part of ‘Residence’ has so many companies doing interesting things. To name just a couple; BUCK in the creative and design space, VTPro in the interactive and experiential space and new names to come very soon.

And who are the creatives or creative companies that have defined this past year for you? 📅

I got the chance to speak to lots of founders this past year and sadly the stories of growth were few and far between. So, wherever I see studios really thriving in such tricky economic conditions, I’m always in awe. Hats off to the Kotos and DixonBaxis of this world.

You’ve spent a lot of time working with companies to find new talent. How are the people entering the creative workforce different to those who joined maybe 5 years ago? 💪

There’s a couple of things to touch on here. The first is that the really big thing I see is that there are much less of them even entering the traditional ‘creative workforce’ than 5 years ago. That feels pretty stark.

There is also so much less desire to be attached to a single role and climb the career ladder at a single company - which I think is fuelled from a desire for agency, but also out of necessity and a lack of opportunities at the junior and entry level rung.

I’m bored of the standard Gen-Z generalization of entitlement and laziness, but the idea of ‘career minimalism’ rings true to what I’m seeing and feeling.

Whenever we meet on zoom, we’re always very impressed by the bookshelf in your study. What titles should we be adding to our Christmas list? 🌲

I LOVED L.A Baby by Tim Key. Such a brilliant comedian and writer, I’m a sucker for anything he puts out.

I’ve spent a bit of time this week is Colin Greenwood’s incredible photo documentary photography of Radiohead.

And I just finished a novel my mum gave me called The Immortalists, about a set of siblings who find out the day they’re going to die and how it influences their lives. I don’t read much fiction so this isn’t much of an endorsement but I thought it was wonderful.

What’s the most important theme in the creative industry that more people need to be thinking about? 💭

How can we use our time to make ends meet, but also do something that leaves some kind of broader community or societal impact.

The second part is too often forgotten in the whirlwind of capitalism and is something we have to cling onto for dear life. Even if that impact is tiny, I strongly believe we have to contribute to something more than just our own wellbeing.

It’s Nice That launched 18(!) years ago. What advice would you give someone starting a creative business today? 🏃

Make sure you are genuinely passionate about what you’re starting. No matter how successful your thing is, at some points it’ll get rocky out there - and you have to keep turning up. In my mind the key to any really great creative output is consistency. You gotta turn up every day, get to your desk and make something - and doing that gets pretty difficult if you don’t really care about it…

Thank you Alex! 👋

It’s always a pleasure to speak to Alex and It’s Nice That is one big source of creative inspiration for us both.

Until next time. Cheerio.

Tom & Matt x

At IWL Towers, we’ve got a bit of a soft spot for McDonald’s.

Not just for what’s on the menu, but for how they market it too.

If we ever had a leader-board of brands most featured across IWL to date, the Golden Arches would almost certainly be sitting at number one; holding a celebratory McFlurry aloft.

Now, McDonald’s are no strangers to a lovely bit of art direction or a perfectly-crafted line. They’ve built a canon of ads that make you smile, nod, and crave fries with curry sauce at 10AM or 1AM.

So much so, that when training young talent or non-media specialists on the different ways media and creativity can be used in combination to create different thoughts, feelings, actions and transactions I use McDonald’s work as THE reference point.

But this latest menu activation to us at least is a little different.

Because this isn’t just a menu refresh that uses media to invite people to try it; it’s a menu refresh that’s built from media and the way people use it.

A campaign where the channels and creators, the sequencing and storytelling, but critically the menu too all play a lead role; less new menu rolled out more master plan, well executed.

So where did this latest idea come from?

Well, McDonald’s has got to be one of the most globally consistent brands in the world.

The Golden Arches, Big Macs, Nuggs, Fries, Out-of-Service Ice-Cream Machines & Nuclear-Hot Apple-Pies.

But beneath that consistency lies a fascinating flexibility; every market tweaks the menu to cater to local tastes and preferences.

Not all of the menu, but some of it.

However, what used to be a little quirk you’d only discover when you visited one on holiday has now become #content.

With creators across YouTube, TikTok and Instagram turning the menu from across the world into a voyeuristic feast of McDonald’s that the rest of the world is missing out on.

This tension, between familiarity and freshness, global and local, old and new is at the beating heart of modern fandom. The more consistent McDonald’s is as a brand, the more intriguing its differences across menus become and the more people discuss and debate and post about these differences online.

So, rather than pretending those differences don’t exist, McDonald’s leaned right into them by creating…

The Idea: McDonald’s World Menu Heist 🍔

Where McDonald’s meets Oceans 11 for a limited time only

But, rather than us give our view from a distance on how this heist played out, at IWL Towers we have the luxury walking across the bridge to talk to the team at OMD whom alongside Leo Burnett’s put it all together.

Where we spent some very enjoyable time with Chris Mitchwell, or ‘Mitch’ to his mates, Strategy Partner at OMD U.K. how this latest heist played out before opening up more broadly as to how he and his team, like McDonald’s themselves, seek to find freshness amongst the familiarity of briefs they work on.

IWL💕 “So, Mitch how did the Heist come about and play out?”

Mitch: “In the McDonald’s advertising archives are the “Great Tastes of...” campaigns, which saw McDonald’s bring typical flavours from a variety of destinations to the UK.

The last of those campaigns I think ran in 2019. It might have been tempting to revamp those campaigns and deliver A Great Taste of The World campaign but there are two crucial differences.

Firstly, the menu items for this campaign are not always typical flavours from other nations - the Choco Caramel Pie owes nothing to Indonesian cuisine for example. They are genuine menu items that have appeared in other McDonald’s markets either as limited time offers or permanent menu items. This product truth allowed us to tap into a richer territory - McDonald’s international menu envy is real, and thanks to social media we’ve never seen more of what other McDonald’s markets are blessed with.

Secondly, consumers have moved on and so have our ambitions as an advertiser. McDonald’s fandom is substantial, and we want to engage those fans, invite them to participate and can afford to give them richer campaign narratives to interact with. Simply asking people to try these new items wouldn’t have driven the same conversation or captured imagination. Instead, inviting people to be part of a heist frames the campaign as far more participatory, and implicitly encourages internet sleuths, begins to ask whodunnit and how do I become part of the gang?!

We kicked off the heist by recruiting the most envious McDonald’s fans to be part of the crime syndicate using Instagram Close Friends.

These insiders got early access to details of what was afoot and helped us plan the heist – locations, dates, blueprints, fake packaging, CCTV footage – thus becoming co-conspirators, not passive observers.

LadBible *somehow* infiltrated the inner circle and details of the heist leaked; creators, becoming moles within the operation.

@ladbibleWhen you can’t wait for the new menu items to launch in the UK and Ireland 👀🍟 @McDonald’s UK #McDonalds #Heist

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Critically, fans, creators and LadBible drove the narrative and created momentum, not just the brand. And this momentum was further dialled up by an underground tasting event, which created tangible hype and an IRL climax that validated the social storytelling.

@ladbibleLooks like that heist paid off! 😏👌 From McShaker® Fries to the Pineapple McSpicy the new global menu items in the UK and Ireland straight from around the world are bringing serious flavours #McDonalds #Heist #FoodTok @McDonald’s UK

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As hype peaked, AV, outdoor and press revealed the heist was on at scale and that international menu items had hit UK shores.

Finally, in the getaway phase we sparked a nationwide-wide chase for products. Using reminder and scarcity tactics we encouraged people to get the products before the authorities close in! ”

IWL💕 “Well that Mitch… is lovely.

We’ve always been big fans of McDonald’s work, both big ideas and small, but typically media might be more recessive in some of those ideas; but for the Heist “which” media that’s being used and “how” it’s being used is much more central.

Can you share any choices you made and how they manifest?”

Mitch: “Our strategy was to act like a classic heist and blow out the creative concept to the max. Taking inspiration from heists, both real and fictional, we planned to an archetypal heist narrative arch – plan, execute and getaway.

This approach gave media a central role.

For example, the “plan” phase, where we recruited our most envious fans to take part, like any genuine heist would be conducted behind closed doors and in secrecy. Consequently, our media choices should be discrete, relatively private and restricted, so “dark” social and owned channels took a leading role. The exclusivity of these channels made the secret of our heist worth sharing and ultimately made the message more compelling.

Another example would be our LadBible partnership. Like any good heist, the World Menu Heist should be headline news. So, to further amplify the hype LadBible played an important role, acting as our reporting partner. They infiltrated the heist, leaked details, amplified the speculation to a broader audience and connected the dots between all the various elements of the heist.

IWL💕 “Some great comms planning in-play here Mitch that doesn’t just think of media as a distribution mechanism, but which contexts, creators and communities can stage the heist in distinctive and disruptive ways. Bravo.

But a bit like Ocean’s 11 there’s a whole load of skills that need to come together to pull off a plan like this right?

Can you share how you, your clients, Leo’s & LadBible organised yourselves make sure this heist and other plays are successful ones?”

Mitch: “At this point its cliché but I’ll keep the heist metaphors going… we’ve got a hefty gang of specialists across OMD and the McDonald’s all agency group are a well-oiled unit, who collaborate well together, know their roles and are supportive of a single vision. Who and how that vision is defined is iterative and flexible in the first instance, in the knowledge that great ideas can come from anywhere and it is everyone’s job to be creative.

Once the campaign idea is confirmed we spend a great deal of time refining within our areas of expertise so that the various elements – creative, media, PR, CRM, talent, experiential, in-restaurant and broader marketing programs – are cohesive and more than the sum of their parts. A key part of this process is the end-to-end reconnaissance (not what we call it, but I’ll keep the heist schtick going) of the entire campaign, across every channel and format which we analyse as a team, chronologically and ensure the red threads all tie together. The output is very reminiscent of a detective’s pinboard and once there are no loose ends, we know we’re good-to-go.”

IWL💕 “Cliche’s are fine by us Mitch. But honestly End-to-End & No-Dead-Ends are easy to say, but harder to achieve. It seems like you’ve got a good thing going on in your IAT and long may it continue.

Lastly, whilst we have you, McDonald’s are the GOATs at freshening up their menu, but how do you and the team at OMD keep things fresh for the umpteenth seasonal promo you’ll have worked on?”

Mitch: “The scale of McDonald’s means the brand shows up in culture frequently. This gives us lots to draw upon and steal from when ideating. As an OMDxMcD’s strategy team we track these places and keep them in the bottom drawer, knowing that if not now, then one day we can draw on these cultural references for inspiration.

When we’re really lucky, as was the case with World Menu Heist, sometimes cultural events echo our campaigns – the same week World Menu Heist launched thieves struck at the Louvre and heists became the conversation du jour.

Similarly, McDonald’s fandom is rich in its history, behaviours and uniqueness. On World Menu Heist, the love and envy of McDonald’s abroad was a treasure trove of inspiration and readily observable – just see McAtlas. And we saw the same last year on McRib Mistakes, where fan speculation about the McRib’s return to the UK was palpable - see the fan created McRib Locator. In that instance we teased fans with mistakes to create pent up demand for the product. Both campaigns exemplify the closeness we keep to our fans, actively trying to identify new fan truths and express old ones in new ways to unlock the most compelling answer to briefs.

When we find the sweet spot between these two things - the cultural context and fan truths - this is often where the gold is found.”

IWL💕 “Well what else to say other than thank-you Chris for being so generous with your time and your experience. We’re lovin’ what you’re doing in the U.K. and long may it continue.”

If you liked this you will love ❤️

The last part of the newsletter seeks to share other work the idea or in this case the conversation reminded us of.

Hot off the Press. Nike Pop-Up Soup Store 🏃‍♂️🍲

Some breaking work from Nike who are on a great run, in running.

Taking a global running platform that’s on fire at the moment and making it souper-local with a pop-up Cantonese soup shop called Songyuan; set on Ersha Island, a hotspot for Guangzhou’s running community.

The stall’s name and the campaign tagline, “落足料 点会冇料到” (roughly translated means “No effort goes unrewarded”) ties performance to nourishment both literally and metaphorically.

But just look at those Spoons. Dreamy.

Banksy’s Playful Promos 👨‍🎨🖼️

This conversation with Mitch got us thinking of a) the recent heist at The Louvre and b) reminiscing about just how good Banksy is at promoting his latest work, himself and in doing so ensuring his whole back-catalogue continues to be sought-after.

Much like when he launched a sale for his artwork at Central Park, hoodwinking passers-by into thinking they were buying counterfeits, when actually they were buying the real thing for $100 rather than $100K (and then some).

Or that time at Sotherby’s when he deliberately sabotaged his own sale, in doing so helping the girl with the red balloon sell for multiples above the anticipated asking price.

Or that other time where he launched a bemusement-park much to the amusement of the anti-establishment leaning folks his work is designed to connect with.

A gallery exhibition on Steroids.

IKEA Real-Life Series 💙💛

And last, but by no means not least, this lovely little play from IKEA who wove their furniture into some much loved cultural institutions.

Lovely.

Until next Time

Matt & Tom & thanks again to the star of the show Mitch.

Request. If you’ve been central to some breakthrough creativity and would like the chance for the work behind the work to be featured we’re always on the lookout.

Ping us a message if you’re keen and if it’s something fresh and fun we’ll put it on the list.

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Hello there 👋

My tweenage sons’ media diets used to look like something out of a childhood developmental brochure.

They started, literally, chewing on books; Julia Donaldson then a bit of Harry Potter. Then along came Disney movies and Disney+ in lockdown. Moana & Star Wars. So good. Then, along came Fortnite & Roblox to fill in the gaps. Not so good.

Subsequently, via visits to their friends houses, YouTube came along and everything got upended.

What used to be reasonably predictable in terms of what they’d choose to watch or play when they had screen-time now jumps in all sorts of directions. They now spend as much time watching gamers gaming, as they do gaming themselves.

They also go down their own rabbit holes that have been formed searching, clicking, watching and scrolling around the bits of YouTube we allow them into.

William, my youngest, courtesy of Nick DiGiovani (29.4M Subscribers on YouTube, 8M on TikTok) can now cook an amazing steak, well seasoned, medium-rare at 10 years old.

Can’t really complain at that.

Here’s a classic of Nick’s genre designed to draw people in and keep their attention long enough to load-up those sweet, sweet ad-slots that will make him even more visible the next time someone loads-up YouTube.

Jack, my eldest, is into football creators and channels.

With his current flavour-du-jour being a five-a-side team in North London called 5ive-Guys, who from what I can tell simply play, film then edit their Power League matches before uploading them to YouTube. In doing this with a combination of ‘FIFA’ style graphic cards and a heavy dollop of charisma have built a platform of 500K subscribers, over 75 million views and half-a-dozen brand deals across their sprawling merch line.

Now, I’m not sure which channel was the chicken or the egg, but Jack’s other go-to when it’s on TV is Baller League; basically 5ive Guys on Steroids, which has got me spending time getting familiar with their format and the mechanics of it.

But what is Baller League? What’s interesting about it? ⚽

The cynic in me, catching it out of the corner of my eye, thought: “It’s just a bunch of ex-pros and failed pros dicking around a six-a-side pitch?”

And yes, at face value, there’s plenty of that. My only previous frame of reference for YouTubers playing football has been their slightly painful takeover of Soccer Aid.

But this is different. The dicking around, rather than in a traditional stadium, playing out a conventional match where it’s jarring, happens inside a pimped-up six-a-side cage converted from The Box That Rocks in East London; featuring a mix of academy graduates who didn’t quite make it, managed by ex-pros like John Terry, current players like Chloe Kelly, celebs like Maya Jama and creators like Angry Ginge.

All of it held together by KSI, YouTuber-in-chief on co-commentary.

If I had to sum it up: it’s where the charisma of the cage...

…Meets the Creator Economy.

Take a look at the promo film to see the tone and some of the talent involved.

What is it challenging? What is it championing?

At a moment in time where the beautiful game has become cripplingly expensive, heavily sanitised and geo-politically charged (and somewhat dull for neutrals watching advanced positional play trying to break-down deep-blocks every week); Baller League with its rule twists and surprise cameos is trying to inject some drama, jeopardy, and a bit of fun back into the beautiful game.

For instance a manager can pull a joker out of their pack, like a Premier League footballer in-disguise to take a free-kick, causing people to query and question who they are and how good they are relative to the rest of the pack.

The eagle-eyed amongst you will notice who shared this clip.

An interesting side-bar to how the league is building its distribution from what appears to be a hedge by SkySports who’ve become the broadcast partner of this nascent league.

As an impartial observer, Sky get to attract and engage younger fans who they can up-sell and cross-sell into other sports, whilst Baller League benefits from broadening both their reach and their bench of talent to draw from, be it to manage teams but probably manage a chunk of the production too.

Resulting in some entertaining promos like this one where Ex-Pro and SkySports Pundit Micah Richards unwittingly announced that fellow Ex-Pro turned pundit Daniel Sturridge would be joining him as co-manager of League side Deportrio.

It’s a little bit different to their patter on Super-Sunday.

Underpinning it all. De-Centralised Distribution 📱

What makes Baller League interesting to anyone in our world of media, advertising, content and communications isn’t the football itself, it’s the distribution model.

Unlike the Premier League which hoards its content, packages it up, and sells it to the highest bidder in each market (whilst aggressively shutting down clips spreading across social media); Baller League has been built with de-centralised distribution as its operating principle from Day 1.

Every camera, every edit, every moment, every move is designed to be clipped-up, re-mixed and re-circulated by fans who effectively become the league’s media network.

It’s not a rights model built on scarcity like EPL/UEFA/FIFA, it’s a reach model.

Not broadcast per-se, but broadly cast across creators, the cast, fans and followers as just like with Nick DiGiovani, with every thumb that’s stopped and every sweet, sweet ad that loads, the algorithms adjust to make the league a little more visible week by week.

Which, if you’re in the business of attention like many of us are, should make you sit up and take notice because it signals what the future of owned, earned and with it paid media starts to look like when decentralised content platforms grow faster than the broadcast-industrial complex.

Bridging the Broadcast Era & the Creator Era 🤳

Thinking out loud an interesting contrast is emerging.

In a world that’s likely to be less centralised, with fewer packages of time that can be bundled up and sold via a single-point of entry to the highest bidders; the ability for brands to “build” reach and resonance, rather than predictably buy it or borrow it, becomes a source of competitive advantage.

Requiring new types of muscles to be built for brand-builders seeking to deliver disproportionate attention, associations, actions and transactions at scale.

In a nutshell. ‘Totemic’ & ‘Systemic’ Muscles are Required 💪

Big brands still heavily rely on totems; single, highly produced expressions of brand meaning, made highly visible in scaled ad-formats. Be it a 60-second film. A global sponsorship. A Superbowl moment for instance.

But in an increasingly decentralised world, those totems will work harder when they feed a system of creators and communities with clips and collateral that can carry the message and the meaning it’s trying to convey further, faster and with more energy.

A great example of this interplay, in-play, is Uber’s work around their sponsorship of the NFL in the States.

Meaning the modern media planner will have to be equally comfortable helping create totems that shape what the brand stands for at scale, with systems that shape how it moves across modern, de-centralised media systems.

Until next time,

Matt & Tom

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Hi there. How are you?

At the beginning of the summer we met Pip Bingemann for a chat. He’s the CEO of Springboards, a tool which we can best describe as a workflow for commercial creativity, powered by Generative AI. So kinda by accident we find ourselves writing about Generative AI related things for the second week in a row.

When Pip showed us the power and flexibility of the platform he and the team are building, it’s fair to say we were both impressed and a little bit overwhelmed. It felt like we’d caught a glimpse of the future. And at a time when all types of big company are engaged in an arms race to offer greater levels of automated sophistication to their staff and their customers, it was interesting to look at a different type of solution.

The promise of generative technologies is obviously immense. But as Noah Briar reminded us on stage at BRXND 2025 in New York a few weeks ago - it’s early. One of the things we most enjoy about spending time with Pip is that he balances his enthusiasm and curiousity for whats next with a moderate, pragmatic belief in the limitations of the toolset as they stand today and the way these tools should implemented and applied in our work.

What follows is a bit of an experiment for us… given diaries and timezones (Pip is proudly based Kabi Kabi country in Noosa, Australia), we’d shared some questions in advance with Pip over email. But we also thought that some form of live demo might also be interesting.

So this week we have two things… below, a short-ish video of a product run through we did and then the answers to the questions we sent.

Some health warnings: This video exposes a lack of planning on our side… we forget to share a screen… a man comes to fix a window on Tom’s office door halfway through. And it becomes obvious that Tom be will not troubling anyone for a role on daytime TV anytime soon.

But we think that’s ok. Professionalism isn’t necessarily part of our brand onion…

The idea we love: Springboards 🦘

Hi Pip… tell us a bit about yourself and the team at springboards. How did the platform come into being? 👏

Springboards was created by creative people who learnt how to code. Myself and Amy met and spent most our lives in agencies in Australia and the USA and our cofounder Kieran was an artist who decided to get a PhD in machine learning and then ended up at Google.

We started Springboards as an experiment about 3 years ago and we’ve been building it ever since. The team is now about 30 people, spread around the world. The majority of us are all ex agency people.

How do you explain the platform to friends outside the industry? 🧑‍🤝‍🧑

Ha! I like to say that Most AI tools like to give you answers, we like to give you inspiration. Its kinda like ChatGPT but for people in advertising and marketing to help spark ideas and explore how campaigns can come to life.

How has building the product changed the way you personally approach creative problems? 🧮

I think my definition of creative problem solving has evolved. I think like most people when you first think of ‘Engineers’ or ‘Developers’ you think of quiet nerdy types. But what I’ve come to realise is that building and coding is a very creative practice.

It’s essentially problem solving and creating amazing things from basically nothing but words (sounds a little like advertising!). When I look at our product team, they are the most creative people in our business.

We know how we felt when you first showed us the platform. How do people typically react when you show them Springboards in action? 😱

Part fear, part amazement. Its super hard to explain what it is, you kinda just gotta see it. Its pretty simple but it can also do so much.

For me I love how it allows you to explore ideas to start having the fun conversations quicker. I don’t think *great* work ever comes directly from it but the conversations it sparks it where the magic is.

When we met last you talked about the challenges of random number generation in LLMs. How do you plan for divergent thinking in the platform? ▞

To be honest there is no one golden answer. It takes a lot of work and time and constant updates to get it right as the models are always changing. Sure you can change temperature but there is only so much you can do at a model layer.

For us its in the combination of models, the prompting layer, the structuring to think like a creative person, respecting the creative process and then also what you can do with open source models.

What’s the most interesting idea that you’ve seen come out of a Springboards session? 🥸

Umm there’s been lots of sparks of ideas - Sometimes it really amazes me what can come out. Its never perfect but often there is a phrasing, or 3 or 4 words that make me go aaahh fuck - that’s it…. I used to collect a deck of all the interesting things. Ive got it saved somewhere! (Ed: in the demo above Pip shows us how he is applying the tool to the positioning of the Springboards brand, which explains this point brilliantly)

What are the reference points for the springboards user experience - is there anything you want the platform to _feel_ like? 😘

Fun. In a world of super intelligence where everyone is trying to be the smartest. We just want it to be fun. Einstein has a great quote about Creativity - “Creativity is Intelligence having fun”

Is there a brand or creative idea that is energising you at the moment? 💕

Can I say Springboards? I am so excited about what our team is building at the moment. We have some major things in the works and being involved in those discussions gives me energy!

What are the misconceptions about AI in the creative industries that you think need to be addressed? 🤖

I find that two big misconceptions are the two extremes. At one extreme; AI will do everything and take everyone’s jobs and on the other that AI sucks and has no creative value and is only good for bad ideas.

The answer is somewhere in the middle but you never find that middle ground if you don’t play and experiment.

What advice would you give to someone starting a creative business today? 👨‍💻

Ummm. I think our early momentum came from a combination of experimentation, doing stuff for yourself and then leaning on a career of goodwill and relationships. Doing it alone is tough so find a mentor, ask for help.

There are lots of lovely people wanted to see others succeed so ask, play and see what happens.

Thanks Pip 💕

If you’re interested in this type of thing - and given the type of people we know read this newsletter - there is a fair chance you will be, then it’s worth checking out Pip and the team. Either by getting in touch directly, or via their experiments page, or through the usual means (linkedin, etc)

It’s also worth having a look at the videos from BRXND 2025 on Youtube (including Noah Briar’s Transformers are taking over the world which we reference above.)

Until Next Time 💕

Cheerio,

Tom & Matt x

Hi there. How are you?

It’s half term for school kids in the UK so between childcare and some rather ill-timed new biz related work, we were faced with a bit of a sticky-wicket where this week’s issue was concerned. Fear not, friend of the newsletter Nick Larder came to the rescue offering us a look at something that caught his eye recently.

Hi Nick 👋

Greetings Humans and Bot Crawlers.

As a long-time friend and colleague of Matt and Tom I’m honoured to be guest editing this week’s newsletter, though mildly offended it took them this long to ask. However given my historic publishing record, I should cut them some slack: At this point I’m essentially the Tricky of marketing commentary.

Last seen in 2016, writing articles on the tech and marketing landscape du jour, and now returning nearly a decade later as if no time has passed at all, riding on someone else’s critically acclaimed coat tails

Back then, I was warning that AI was making headlines for all the wrong reasons. Facebook’s algorithm running amok without human oversight, Bing’s translator causing diplomatic incidents. The Gartner Hype Cycle had just placed machine learning at the Peak of Inflated Expectations, and I rather smugly noted that the Trough of Disillusionment was coming next.

Well, here we are in 2025, and I’m about to make the case for an AI filmmaking awards ceremony. The irony isn’t lost on me.

The Idea: The Dor Awards 🎬

The Dor Awards bill themselves as “The Wildest AI Film Awards in History” - and for once, the hyperbole might actually undersell it. Launched by the Dor Brothers (a pair of AI-native filmmakers you’ve probably never heard of), the awards invited anyone to submit 1-3 minute films created using generative AI tools, based on one of three themes: Door, Twins, or Trophy. Entry fee? $15. Submission deadline? Just over a month from announcement to close.

The jury composition alone tells you everything you need to know about what they’re attempting: Roger Avary (Oscar-winning co-writer of Pulp Fiction) sits alongside Logan Paul (WWE superstar turned media mogul) and Beeple (the digital artist who sold an NFT for $69 million). Add John Gaeta (creator of The Matrix’s Bullet Time), Oliver Tree, Young Dirty Bastard, Multi-hyphenate Grimes and a deliberately eclectic mix of music video directors, comedians and YouTube pioneers, and you have something that could only exist now, on the internet, with no geographical centre and no institutional blessing required.

The whole thing lives on Discord. Judging happens there. Community voting happens there. This isn’t a film festival that’s been digitised. It’s a native internet cultural institution that simply couldn’t exist in any other form.

Why I Love It 💕

#1. Creating a category by declaring it exists 🔏

There’s a well-worn path for new creative forms seeking legitimacy: you start underground, gradually gain recognition from adjacent institutions, petition the establishment for acceptance, and eventually - if you’re lucky - the Tate or Sundance deigns to acknowledge you exist.

The Dor Awards skip all of that and simply declare: “Here’s the category. Here are the best examples. Here’s the prize money.”

It’s reminiscent of the Michelin Guide, which famously created the fine dining category not to celebrate gastronomy but to sell more tyres. (If people drive further to eat well, they need more tyres. Brilliant.) Or the Turner Prize, which in 1984 helped legitimise contemporary art when most people thought it was fraudulent nonsense. Both created categories rather than recognising ones that already existed.

The genius here is that by offering cash prizes (funded by those $15 entry fees) and assembling a jury that spans high art, mainstream celebrity, and underground culture, the Dor Awards create legitimacy without asking permission from anyone. Not waiting for Cannes to add an AI category. They’re not petitioning Sundance. They’re simply getting on with it.

#2. Constraint breeds creativity (and community) 🧑‍🤝‍🧑

The three themes (Door, Twins, Trophy) initially seem arbitrary. But they’re doing several jobs at once. They provide just enough constraint to spark creativity while allowing for wildly divergent interpretations. A door can be literal, metaphorical, symbolic, absurd. Twins could be cloned presidents or rats with rifles in a subway (both actual examples from the brief).

More importantly, these themes create a shared language. When everyone’s working from the same jumping-off point, the resulting films become comparable and conversable. You can debate which interpretation was most inventive. You can see patterns emerge. You can vote on your favourites with some basis for comparison.

The mandatory intro video (which every submission must include) serves a similar function. It brands the entire corpus of work while also ensuring a baseline level of production understanding. If you can’t figure out how to edit their intro asset into your film, you’re probably not ready to compete.

This is layered thinking in practice: the constraints don’t just produce better individual films, they produce a cohesive collection that has value as a whole.

#3. This is what native internet cultural institutions look like 🏢

Traditional film festivals are geographically bound (you go to Cannes, to Sundance, to Berlin), hierarchical (there’s a selection committee, then a jury, then an audience), and oriented around scarcity (limited slots, limited screenings, limited access). They were designed for a world where moving physical film prints around the world was expensive and projection equipment was rare.

The Dor Awards exist entirely on Discord. The jury lives in different time zones and likely never met in person. The films are made by people working alone in bedrooms. The judging is transparent and participatory. The barrier to entry is $15 and the ability to watch a YouTube tutorial.

This isn’t a film festival that’s been adapted for the internet - it’s an institution that could only exist because of the internet. And that matters more than it might seem. When new creative forms emerge, the institutions that will ultimately define them aren’t adaptations of old institutions. They’re new ones built from scratch with the grain of the medium.

The Webby Awards did this for web design in 1996. YouTube’s play button awards did it for creators. The Dor Awards might be doing it for AI filmmaking.

#4. Leaning into the chaos, not away from it 🧮

One of the most interesting tensions around AI-generated content is the urge to sanitise it. Platforms want to label it. Advertisers want to ensure it’s “brand safe.” The establishment wants to quarantine it until they work out whether it’s art or plagiarism or neither or both.

The Dor Awards lean into the chaos instead. The tagline is “The Wildest AI Film Awards in History.” The jury includes Sam Tripoli, described as a comedian who “brings a sharp comedic edge, never shying from controversy.” There’s a “mystery guest” judge whose identity is “unconfirmed.” This is deliberate positioning: we’re not trying to be respectable, we’re trying to be interesting.

That’s counter-cultural in the truest sense. It runs counter to what the prevailing culture would have you do with emergent AI content. And there’s something quite punk about that.

Watch the winners announcement here

Where This Could Go 🚀

The obvious next moves would be to expand the categories, attract bigger names, charge more for entry. But the more interesting possibilities lie in how brands could participate. Not as sponsors slapping logos on things, but as genuine participants in the ecosystem.

#1. The Red Bull Model 🥫

Red Bull spent decades building legitimacy for action sports, gaming, and music by finding the best practitioners, giving them money and resources, and getting out of the way. Imagine “Red Bull Creator Labs” - winning filmmakers get access to a physical production space, premium tool credits, and a small stipend for three months to just... make things. Red Bull gets first look at any commercial applications, but otherwise stays hands-off.

It’s their skateboarding playbook applied to AI filmmaking.

#2. The Netflix Commission 👨‍💻

A streaming platform could offer a “Dor Discovery Deal”. The winner gets commissioned to create a 30-minute special using AI tools. Netflix (or Amazon, or Apple) get to test the format without huge financial risk. If it works, they’ve found a new mode of production. If it doesn’t, they’ve spent less than a single episode of traditional television would cost.

#2. The Fashion Play 🪮

Brands like Moncler, Palace, or Corteiz could commission AI films as their seasonal campaign content. They provide a brief, creators submit responses, winner gets paid and the work runs as the brand’s campaign. The brand gets cutting-edge content for less than they’d pay a traditional production company, the creator gets paid and exposure, and the Dor Awards get commercial validation.

#3. The Open Brief Category 💼

Create a category where brands submit creative briefs directly. Creators respond with AI films. Winner gets the brief fee, brand gets the work. It’s spec work, sure. But with proper payment and credit. It could commercialise the ecosystem while maintaining the creative chaos that makes it interesting.

The smartest play might be what I’d call the “layer cake approach”. Participating across multiple dimensions simultaneously. Provide tools or credits (product layer), sponsor prize money (commerce layer), commission the winner for your own work (content layer), host physical screenings (context layer), and position your brand as early to the space (brand layer). Do all of that and you’re not just sponsoring awards - you’re helping build the category itself.

#4. The Unsolicited Advertising Awards 📢

Bringing things back even more squarely to Brands and Advertising, what if the industry stole (with pride of course) the Dor Awards idea more fully. The Unsolicited Advertising Awards elevates and celebrates AI-generated spec work. No commission, no approval process, just open interpretation.

Tesla famously did this back in 2017 when Elon Musk invited people to create Tesla ads, noting the company didn’t do traditional advertising. Thousands of creators responded, some producing work that was genuinely brilliant, and Tesla got to cherry-pick what they liked without spending a penny on production.

The model could work particularly well for brands with legacy and strong visual identity - precisely because they’re not seen as cutting edge. Or for entire categories that struggle for creative attention: insurance, utilities, financial services.

If great work emerges, Brands can license it properly. If it doesn’t, they’ve lost nothing but some PNG files and a PDF brand guidelines doc.

For creators, it’s portfolio-building with real brands and real constraints. Infinitely more valuable than spec work in a vacuum. Call it the democratisation of advertising if you’re feeling generous, or the Fiverrification of creative if you’re feeling cynical. Either way, it’s happening whether Cannes recognizes it or not.

If You Like This, You’ll Love... 💕

The Dor Awards calls to mind a number of other awards for creativity, commercial or otherwise…. and one thing that seems to surface as a reference on the regs….

#1. The Turner Prize

When it launched in 1984, contemporary art was widely dismissed as fraudulent nonsense by the British public. The Turner Prize didn’t ask permission to legitimise it, it simply started awarding £25,000 to the best examples each year. Now it defines what matters in British art. A wonderful example of how an award can create a category rather than reflect one.

#2. YouTube Creator Awards

Hollywood didn’t validate YouTubers, so YouTube made their own validation system - the silver, gold, and diamond play buttons awarded for subscriber milestones. It’s bottom-up legitimacy creation, and it worked. Now “YouTuber” is just... a job.

#3. Drive to Survive (Again)

Tom and Matt covered this back in IWL#5, but it bears repeating: Drive to Survive didn’t ask whether F1 was dramatic enough for television - it just made it dramatic and let the audience decide. Sometimes you don’t need permission, you need an idea , tools to deliver suitable production values and a means of distribution.

Until Next Time 💕

The Dor Awards have done something rare: created a category, a community, and a commercial model simultaneously. They’ve assembled legitimacy from scratch by simply behaving as if AI filmmaking already matters, rather than waiting for someone else to decide whether it should.

The question isn’t whether traditional institutions will eventually recognize AI filmmaking. It’s whether AI filmmakers will even need them to.

Which, looking back at my 2016 piece about AI making headlines for the wrong reasons, feels like a rather neat bit of symmetry. Perhaps the Trough of Disillusionment was just the prelude to something genuinely interesting emerging on the other side.

Thanks for having me.

Nick Larder
(Guest editor, apparently)

Thanks Nick 👋

We appreciate you helping out this half term.

See you next time.

Tom & Matt x

Hi there, how are you?

Having bemoaned the lack of good ideas to write about, we were confronted with a series of good ones arriving all at once. We liked The Periodic Fable from beauty brand The Ordinary, but debated whether it’s the kind of idea that they need right now, given the maturity and positioning of the brand. We tossed around The Baller League Season 2 launch. And prompted by our friends at PHD UK having a barnstorming night at the UK’s Media Week awards, we looked back at some of the great and the good to be awarded on the night - a special mention to IKEA’s sleep inducing podcast and the McRib launch that ‘goes wrong’.

There was one other idea though which we thought to be truly excellent - and the more we prodded and poked at it, and discovered everything the brand had done in service of the idea - the more our minds were made up about what we wanted to focus on this week.

The idea: Brian’s First Day as CFO 🧮

Last week, Financial Operations Platform Ramp “appointed” actor Brian Baumgartner as their new CFO for the day. Brian is perhaps best known for his role as Kevin, the accounts guy, in the US version of the Office. Installing him in a perspex box outside Ramp’s Flat Iron office in New York, they livestreamed his first day on the job for a whopping 6 hours on Youtube. The actor spent the day filing expense claims, but was also joined on location by a supporting cast of characters (the Rizzler, Ramp leadership and The Office’s David Wallace/Andy Buckley) that added an entertaining and surreal edge to proceedings.

Beyond this, Baumgartner promo’d the launch on various news and weather shows on US TV, the brand advertised his coming appointment with teaser videos and OOH advertising and created a very detailed ‘microsite’ within their website promoting the activation. Subsequently the 6 hour stream has been atomised, torn up and distributed across the internet as all good content ideas in 2025 should be.

You almost certainly don’t have time to watch all of it, but we’d really recommend you scanning through the video of the event above.

There is a serious message in the film: The underlying, visual gag of the whole piece is how many expense claims Brian manages to process (his office slowly fills with paper) and how that compares to the ease and speed of doing the same work within the Ramp platform.

Why we love it 💕

#1. Counter category, counter cultural, counter Intuitive 🔄

B2B hasn’t always been synonymous with big, creative brand building activities like this, though that stereotype has started to erode over last few years as new approaches emerge. People like the Ehrenberg Bass Institute and Linkedin’s B2B Institute have been doing their best to prove to marketers in this segment that the laws of consumer brand bulding apply just as much to the people buying and selling solutions to small or large businesses. More and more people buy B2B products now too as they set up their own businesses or side-hustles. Perhaps as a result, creative articulations from this segment of the market are becoming more ‘B2C’ in their nature.

This idea feels like it runs in the opposite direction to what you’d assume the category convention to be. It also feels counter-cultural; in the sense that everything is done in camera, there is - as far as we can see, no Gen AI wizardry at play at a time when lots and lots and lots of Ramp’s competitive set are waxing lyrical about the time saving power of AI integrated into their platform or using it to generate their advertising for them.

And lastly, it feels counter-intuitive. We are constantly told about the limit of consumer attention spans and just how busy B2B decision makers are. So a 6 hour web-stream feels like something which might be a bit of a folly. However, as we referenced in our intro - there is so much mileage in the 6 hours, and so many cameos and mini-sketches, that in essence you’re not really banking on the impact coming from an individual watching that entire thing. It’s less an advert and more a creative shoot that they just so happen to be streaming in progress.

#2. Attention to detail 🔬

We all know how hard it can be to produce 30” of well crafted advertising. This activation covered 6 hours. It’s a bit of an overused word, but it’s a remarkable demonstration of creative craft, with every touch point and prop given huge levels of consideration. From Brian’s mug (which read Live, Laugh, Ledger) to his interactions with guest stars, to the list of expenses being processed that is hidden in the microsite… This is a brilliant example of the worldbuilding we talked about in IWL#69.

The more eagle eyed fans noticed things like the watch Brian was wearing (a new Patek Philippe model) and have been quick to create ads mimicking the swiss watch makers famous campaign (see below).

The idea works on the page, but it’s the committment ‘to the bit’ in execution - both in terms of duration and texture, that really make this so compelling (at least for us). You could watch the stream a hundred times and we’d wager you’d notice a new detail each time. Alot of these easter-eggs will be lost on people, but what makes this kind of content compelling is the fact that they are there in the first place, waiting to be discovered.

#3. Do things, tell people 💬

Do things, tell people. The instruction for winning in the modern attention economy from Faris Yakob’s Paid Attention. This activity is a good example of that. Ramp have clearly spent loads of money on the man-in-a-box activation, but they didnt skimp at all in terms of the promotion around the idea or the PR plan to get this promo’d in other forms of news and entertainment media. Like many good ideas, this is characterised by it’s use of complimentary ‘layers’ rather than just thinking in terms of channels. Great ideas are no good if no-one sees them. Ramp also understands that people don’t need to see the whole thing for it to have a benefit to their brand.

And whilst we were able to consume this activity via the wonders of the internet, it’s interesting to think about other audiences that this might be trying to influence. Around the ‘box’, at street level are people decked in Ramp merch - presumably a form of brand to hand is being deployed. And the choice of Ramp’s HQ in Flat Iron Plaza as the location for the event suggests that Ramp’s employees (or prospective employees) are just as imporant a target group as business decision makers.

If you like this, you’ll love… 💕

Like we’re fond of saying - the best ideas bring to mind other brilliant ideas too. There is change afoot in B2B marketing and below are some of the other things, many from the last few weeks, which Ramp’s activation calls to mind.

Beyond that are some other of our favourite ‘people in a box’ activations, which admittedly is a very small and quite niche sub-genre of advertising approaches.

#1. The Notion Library

To mark the launch of their ‘offline mode’, productivity tool Notion launches a physical and virtual library with the very lofty aim of examining “how we preserve, archive, acces and experience knowledge in an increasingly hybrid cultural and creative landscape”.

We kinda like the idea. We’re less sold on the execution or why someone would engage with this. More broadly though, this is another example of some interesting, slightly leftfield thinking about b2b marketing.

#2. The Claude Café

LLMs are obviously amongst the hottest topics in marketing circles now. We’re full of admiration for the way Anthropic are going about the business of building and establishing the Claude brand as the thinking person’s LLM. Their print work is probably worthy of a feature at some point. Recently they took up ‘residence’ at the AirMail shop in NYC for a coffee, merch and tote bag driven collab…

#3. PJ Harvey’s ‘Recording in Progress’

Less b2b and more ehrengerg double-bass in an example from this performance art-cum-recording session experiment by British Artist PJ Harvey. Setting up in a specially built studio in Somerset House, fans were invited to watch Harvey and her band as they recorded her album The Hope Six Demolition Project in 2015 at the storied London venue. The Recording in Progress project offered an unparalleled glimpse into the creative process, giving fans access to “dull moments to get to the good”

#4. Severance: Live from Grand Central

Featured way back in IWL#40, you can see how Ramp borrowed from the glass-enclosed tableau of Severance’s launch to New York commuters in the way it’s thought about installing Brian in his office as CFO.

#5. David Blaine. In a box. By Tower Bridge.

The year is 2003. It is summer. Illusionist David Blaine suspends himself in a perspex box near Tower Bridge. He stays there for 44 days without food. It is, in retrospect, bizarre. We don’t know why we were able to remember this so easily.

Until Next Time 💕

You should also check out Amy Karten’s wonderful interview with the team behind this campaign if you want to find out more. We read her piece after scheduling this and tbh, it puts ours to shame.

It’s not often we think about B2B brands and marketing, so this has made a nice change of pace. If you’re into B2B analysis, we’d recommend IWL contributor Phil Adam’s wonderful newsletter or the newsletter of the very brilliant Storythings crew.

Until next time, cheerio.

Tom & Matt x

Hi there. How are you?

This week’s idea comes courtesy of friend of the newsletter Stephen Stokes. He sent us the below campaign with the suggestion that we feature it, so here we are. Thanks very much Stephen.

The idea: If You Can Take It, It’s Yours 💪

Like last week’s idea, this week’s idea is remarkably simple. Australian brand Selleys have made an ad for their Liquid Nails adhesive product. In the ad, they’ve glued a number of items to a billboard. The billboard is completed with the call to action ‘if you can take it, it’s yours’.

I’m not Australian. But, having done a bit of research we can see that their tagline is the decidely Ronseal adjacent “If it’s Selleys, it works”. We’d assume the brand is built on the promise of performance and a straight talking, no nonsense style. And that comes through in spades in the ad below.

The ad features a range of people - tradies, influencers, and members of the general public - all using ever more inventive ways to take the items off the billboard. The TVC (below), was supported with social films, PR, and influencer content.

Why we love it 💕

One of the things agency folk love to wang on about is the mode of communication being employed at any one point… is something brand building or sales driving?

We like ads like this. Not only because they are in keeping with the brand’s positioning (e.g. simple, functional) but communications like this show us that brand and sales driving, or brand and product, or brand and performance are increasingly unhelpful battle lines along which to draw your plan. Things which sell rather than just ‘brand’ (again, an unhelpful distinction) can still be amusing, interesting and well thought through. Boring advertising isn’t a function of the need to drive short term sales performance, it’s a deliberate and active choice.

What we’d do with this idea … 💕

The other benefit of this kind of dramatic demonstration is that it lends itself well to being stretched into new media contexts as a way of broadening the effect and reach of the idea. Given carte blanche, what kinds of spaces might you push this idea into?

#1. Do the ad IRL 💪

Whilst I’m sure it’d infuriate legal teams at both the client and media owner side, one option would be to recreate the OOH installation in the TV commercial in real life. In doing so, you could introduce a legitimate competition for consumers to win some brilliant prizes if they’re able to prise something from the wall. Done in this way, there is a sampling opportunity too - unsuccessful competitors take home a tube of the Liquid Nails product for the next time they need a super strong adhesive. This activation could live in city centres, with media owner support (local radio is made for this kind of thing) or perhaps more interestingly in partnership with key retailers giving the idea a ‘data’ and ‘commerce’ layer that shortens the distance to a sale.

#2. Should have gone to specsavers 👓

Adjacent to recreating the tableau of the TV ad is to give it the Specsavers treatment. Cementing a wide range of weird and whacky items into ever more impossible places. A car on the side of a building, for example.

This could be done proactively, or tactically when something in the news agenda prompts it - either something ‘coming apart’ too easily, or something getting stuck in a way which is unexpected.

#3. Sponsor ‘Stickiness’ 🥅

Taking the idea out of advertising and into the realm of sponsorship, you could start to associate with sports people or celebrities who are known for the quality of their ‘adhesiveness’. In the context of Australian sport, that might immediately take you toward Wicket Keepers, like Alex Carey (below). Similarly you could look at sponsoring Goal Keepers in Soccer teams with amazing shot-stopping ability or Racing Drivers known for god-like grip around the circuit.

If you like this you’ll love … 💕

Bizarrely and perhaps counterintuitely, one of the things we’ve learnt in the 70 or so issues of writing the newsletter is that the ideas we like the most are the ones which also call to mind other ideas very easily. I guess that’ll be MAYA or most advanced yet acceptible in practice…. With that in mind, what came to mind when we thought about Selleys’ new campaign?

#1. How to Orchid by Telepathic Instruments 🎸

A new one. A 10 minute film about how to use a synthesiser created by Telepathic Instruments and Tame Impala. Just like Selleys, a case study in product information not needing to be boring. In this case, we have the very wonderful Matt Berry and Jermaine Clement (of Flight of the Concords fame) taking us through the functionality of this nice looking instrument.

#2. Good Call by Fosters 🍺

English advertising for a brand whose world at least, is set in Australia (we’re not sure how australian Fosters actually is) - but these ads do a great line in Antipodean ‘no nonsense’.

#3. Big Man by Apple & Stormzy 📲

Another nice example of demonstrating product superiority by actually using the product in question. Big Man is a film shot entirely on iPhone 16 Pro.

#4. Push to add drama by TNT

The OG case study for ‘dramatic demonstration’ and a video that we must have referenced in strategy decks countless times in the last 13 years: TNT’s Push to Add Drama.

Until Next Time 💕

We reached a small but significant milestone this week on the subscription front. Thanks for the support, it’s much appreciated.

Until next time. Cheerio.

Tom & Matt x

Hi there. How are you?

We’re not going to lie, we’ve been in a bit of a quandry this week. Lots of ideas we like, not many out there that we love. And whilst the title of our little newsletter might be seen as a touch basic by some, it’s at least a useful qualifer: The stuff we want to write about has to be of a quality that makes us think I wish I’d done that.

Just as we were starting to give up hope, we stumbled upon something….

The idea: Beer Cans reimagined as Books

The idea is dead simple. For the last couple of years, Lewes based brewery Beak have partnered with publisher Faber & Faber to “use its cans to showcase some of the UK’s most exciting literary voices, with each limited-edition release featuring a different five-minute read printed directly onto the label”.

Since launching in 2023 there have been beers ‘curated’ with authors Max Porter, Thurston Moore, Camille Ralphs and most recently Lally MacBeth. According to Daniel Tapper, the founder of Beak, “Our labels have always been a canvas for creativity, featuring the work of painters, photographers and illustrators. This collab encourages our customers to step away from their phones and enjoy a quiet read with a stunning beer.”

Not unlike the recent Boring Phone that we featured in IWL#17, Creative Review described this as “an experiment in slowing consumption down, with a sense of ritual in peeling back the label to reveal a new text that’s intended to be savoured”

Why we love this 💕

#1. A Long idea ⟹

The best ideas are not necessarily the ones which make the most noise, but the ones which have got a long-shelf life. Especially in categories where there might not be alot of money to add volume, ideas which can run and run and run, iterating over time are incredibly valuable. This idea is limited only by the collaborators Beak can find to work with them or the desire of customers to engage with it. It’s a properly flexible bit of thinking.

#2. Everything Communicates 💬

We say this all the time, but we’re suckers for two things: ideas that create a new media opportunity or ideas which utilise ‘owned’ canvasses in interesting ways. This does both.

The other thing, is that the idea isn’t limited to being an on-pack promo for beer sales. There is the opportunity for the authors - those on the ‘other side’ of this collaboration, to welcome the beer brand into their world as well, giving Beak the opportunity to show up on the literary festival circuit in a compelling way and find new ways to connect with likeminded audiences…. which brings us to the third reason we love this thought…

#3. Collaboration, not competition 💪

Beak and Faber will take their collaboration to the Pages event at Manchester Museum on the 10th October as part of the city’s Cultural Welcome series. This event will see breweries Track and Verdant showcase their own publisher partnerships with Picador and Granta respectively. This isnt dissimilar to the Pages event at Tate Modern last year.

So, in essence, what we can see is three craft breweries doing the same idea with different publishers and showing up together at the same events to show case themselves and the writers and publishers they’re working with.

Competitor analysis is a mainstay of all types of strategic work. However, the question this poses is whether in some categories, like craft brewing for example, brands don’t compete within the category for attention but instead compete as a category against other categories. Fans of craft beers are nerdy. This nerdiness means that consumers are highly predisposed to promiscuity: you have to try lots of different types of beer, from lots of different breweries to maximise your nerdiness. Just like publishing & book worms. People read about the things they like or are interested in, not just publishers they like.

Verdant, Track and Beak coming together with their respective publishers to showcase words and share a drink is a category idea. This too, gives it flexibility to scale up and down over time, recruiting new publishers and new breweries as and when it becomes appropriate.

As Lawrence Freedman tells us “Strategy is frequently presented as a duel, a clash of two opposing wills…A duel is a bad metaphor because it suggests a fight to the finish with only one winner. Yet conflicts can be resolved through building on shared interests or forging a winning coalition with the next available partner…the realm of strategy is one of bargaining and persuasion as well as threats and pressure….words as well as deeds….It is about getting more out of the situation than the starting balance of power would suggest. It is the art of creating power”

If you liked this, you’ll love 💕 …

What other things did this remind us of?

#1. The Beavertown Extravaganza 🍺

Before Beak and Faber, there was the Beavertown Extravaganza. As one of the ‘bigger’ craft breweries (prior to their sale to Heineken), Beavertown took over the Print Works in London in 2018 (and we think they did this a few times) … to convene a group of craft brewers from all over the world and give punter the chance to sample some interesting stuff. Loads of limited drops and cans were produced, it was paired with amazing street food vendors - another example of a ‘category led’ idea where collaboration, not competition, is the focus. If the category wins, so did Beavertown.

#2. Penny’s Price Packs 🤑

Potentially a contender for our ‘idea of the year’ if such an accolade existed. This campaign from Penny did super well at every major award show you care to think of and with just cause - it’s a smart use of ‘owned media’ in a way which creates such powerful body language. Consumers implicitly understand how hard it is to print on things at scale - so when everyone else is hiking prices almost every day, do a thing which says to customers that you’re on their side.

#3. Absolut x Keith Haring (redux) 🍸

One possible alternate contender for the newsletter this week was the revived partnership between Absolut and the estate of Keith Haring. Absolut is a brand that has always understood the power of it’s packaging to act as a canvas for creativity. Haring first partnered with Absolut back in the 80s. At the end of September, Absolut ‘took over’ Charing Cross for 2 days with decals of his artwork, limited edition prints and digital outdoor to mark the re-release of a Haring inspired limited edition bottle.

Until Next Time 💕

As always, thank you for reading. We’ve had a load more subscribers join us here over the last few weeks, so we hope you’re enjoying the newsletter. As always, if you have any feedback or an idea you think is worth writing about, then please get in touch.

Until next time. Cheerio.

Tom & Matt x

Hi there! How the devil are you all?

Having spent the summer handing the mic over to some friends of the newsletter, today we’re going back to school and to our original format, sharing an idea that caught our attention and giving it the ‘IWL’ treatment.

The Idea. The Golden Flake Tavern 🍻

Greggs (an affordable bakery with c. 2,500 locations across the U.K.) have gone and opened a pub, inside Fenwick’s Department Store in Newcastle.

A pub, whose menu has been given the full Greggs makeover with…

• Chicken Bake Parmigianos

• Steak Bake Mixed Grills

• Sunday Roasts built around Steak, Chicken, or Cheese & Onion bakes

• Yum Yum Bread & Butter Puddings

…that punters can wash down with two brand-new Greggs-inspired beers: Pink Jammie Pale Ale and Gosforth 1939 Stottie Lager, brewed in collaboration with local Full Circle Co.

Why we love it 💕

The best ideas, much like the best footballers, can do multiple jobs on the pitch.

Patrick Vieira™️ - also known as The Greatest Midfielder The World Has Ever Seen (Matt’s leading this issue) was known for being a play-breaker but was actually a play-maker that just happened to be 6ft4 and loved a tear-up.

Much like Patrick, this idea in equal parts reminds people what they love on the menu, whilst at the same time giving people new and in this case novel places, spaces and ways to enjoy them that feel obvious, but inventive at the same time.

Whilst the The Golden Flake is a temporary installation - it will be open until February next year - pubs represent a potentially lucrative way for Gregg’s to expand the locations and occasions they can be enjoyed within beyond the high street, train and petrol station. Early reviews of the food - at least according to the Daily Mail, who visited on the opening day - are overwhelmingly positive. The Golden Flake is the latest in a long line of experiments by the brand in this sort of area of marketing. These opportunities clearly serve to do two things: reposition the brand and elevate quality perceptions (both in terms of ambience and culinary creds), but also transport the brand into new settings which in turn provide the opportunity to drive penetration with light or non-buyers.

Where we’d take Gregg’s next 💕

So, with the idea of ‘new settings’ and ‘new customers’ in mind - where else could Greggs show up?

#1. Gregg’s joins the smile high club ✈️

Short-haul airline food is genuinely sad and ripe for a brand like Gregg’s to rip-up the rule book here. Working with a friendly airline to offer Sausage Rolls at sunrise. Steak Bakes instead of sandwiches + Jammie Pale Ale’s fresh from The Golden Flake for the nervous flyer. “If Gregg’s did in-flight meals.” If you will. Then why not extend the very Best-of-Britain associations here and create a deep-frozen duty-free line: frozen 66-packs of sausage rolls you can smuggle back to homes abroad or work with Ryanair/easyJet to co-create airport lounges for speedy boarders that serve up bacon bakes instead of rubbery rolls.

#2. Greggs signs for Arsenal, City & Liverpool ⚽️

Anyone who follows the footyscran handles across social media will know Stadium-food is almost as sad as airline food. How my eyes would light up if Gregg’s kiosks served-up Pie & Pint Combos across matchday; with team themed limited editions of their sweet treats for kids when my boys are in tow.

#3. Greggs Launch an Emergency Service 🌙

Now I’m pretty sure I’ve seen something of this nature in the wild, but what about late-night recovery boxes offered outside clubs or at festivals (sausage rolls + hash browns + water + paracetamol = edge taken off tomorrow’s hangover). These could be physical spaces in urban hangouts or grey-Kitchened through the likes of UberEats & Deliveroo that can reach people who desperately need a Gregg’s after dark.

Each one taking Greggs’ menu familiarity + humour + Britishness and dropping it into new occasions making them more than just a bakery.

If you liked this, you’ll love 💕

As is customary, we round of the email with a series of other examples that sprung to mind as we walked through the idea above….

#1. Burberry x Norman’s

London Fashion Week, November 2023. Burberry take over iconic caff Norman’s. A neat idea that has graced hundreds of ppt decks since. We like it cus of the Highlow nature of the pairing, just like Greggs, Fenwicks and it’s Pub.

#2. The Channel 4 Mash Up

In 2011 we talked about ‘Mash Ups’ (no doubt driven by bootleg records that were in the dance charts at the time)… nowadays, you’d call them a ‘collab’. To mark their 30th Birthday, Channel 4 did a one night ‘mash up’, which saw a load of their programmes and their talent thrown together in interesting and new ways. The cast of Made In Chelsea doing Come Dine With Me for example.

The evening consisted of five mash-ups in total. One was such a good fit that it became a programme in it’s own right and 13 years later is still on our screen. 8 out of 10 Cats do Countdown (below) is a great example of how you can create longevity for one show by transplanting it into the world of another….

#3. The Mirror’s World Cup Pub, 2006

An example from the mists of time. The Daily Mirror took over a pub in Farringdon (we’re struggling to remember exactly which one, the below image is illustrative only… in case you’d forgotten what a british pub looked like). They then invited a group of press buyers and media planners for the various games of the World Cup. Guests were invited to hear directly from pundits, drink freely and enjoy each other’s company. If Carlsberg did trade marketing….

#4. ‘As Seen on Netflix’ by Netflix and MIND

Netflix took a load of props and memorabilia from their shows and placed them in the context of a charity shop - all to help raise funds for Mind. A simple idea, making a serious point in an interesting way. Mind ran online auctions to raise money using the items donated by the streaming giant.

Until Next time 💕

Cheerio.

Matt & Tom x