Episode 070 - Nick Entwistle, The Secret To Viral Adverts & One Minute Briefs

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Damn it, I wish I had pressed recorder. Um, so yeah, man, the, uh, really like the format of the show is kind of like, uh, you know, I, I kid that it's like Joe Rogan for out of home, but it's really just that it's, it's a, it's a conversation. It's a platform for you to promote what you do. Bank creativity, woman, a brief, like.

Out-of-home suffers from a creative problem. The people that use it creatively do a marvelous job, but a lot more people just treat it as like a, it's like a display ad, but on a stick, um, you know, they don't, they don't take advantage of the beauty, um, that that out of home can create with great creative, but that's your specialty, right?

Like, That's what y'all do is come up with really creative stuff. Yeah. At, well, I think one minute Reece lends itself well at home because essentially whether it's on or offline, you wish credit in Wong stumble on piece of content and it needs to grab someone's attention within seconds. Uh, and it's the same.

It's always been the same to the next out of home. It's always been my favorite media. Where it can just create an industry with a graphic design background. Uh, just a way of communicating something very quickly and effectively I'm think that if you can nail down an idea and some billable full. Then that becomes a big idea, which you can then translate into TV and social campaigns, radio, et cetera.

I think if you can get, they got into one billboard thoughts, your core thought really? And I've always tried to do it like that. Not just.

industry John refined that idea down into one verbal, the mux while I love the medium so much myself, a moment of grace is built for that as well because people can rely on their instincts and because of the Atlanta. It makes for a simpler app that people relate to as well. So since you brought that up, let me, uh, let me, I'm going to share, um, I have the production team that I don't have.

There's no production team, but I've started pretending, like there is a, I want to bring up the Kit-Kat campaign because that's the one that I think everybody saw and got excited about. And. Uh, and, and there's a little bit of magic behind that campaign that I'd love for you to talk to a little bit. It should be up on the screen now, but this kid cat campaign was a one minute brief.

Yeah, well it's, I mean, it started lie falls. Uh, it was on a Monday. I was thinking sometimes when we don't do a full on brown, brown brief, it was actually advertised Haas shark, your favorite chocolate bars. Um, some Haneke, the, the sort of this wall I decided to do. In fact, I think this was in initially when it was first grade was a capris.

Oh, no kidding. That remote blocks. Yeah. Uh, um, cause it was just a spec idea and then  got involved and said, well, it works really well with have a great complicated. So it was been changed. Uh, and so that, and then posted out by obviously through one debriefs. And then it's just one of those things that just got taken just soaked off, uh, within a couple of hours, it was on opera week outside of the world, uh, and you know, lots of New York and things, and it was all over LinkedIn around.

Remember it exploded. Blew up right. 30. I, I did the, the little Google search. They're 32,000 results on Google hovering. The Kit-Kat zoom campaign. That's crazy, but it started out as an idea on, on Twitter and folks started putting ideas in and then this hatched and it went. They went up. It happened with a Guinness software as well, previously that when I'm not weak, it's good that you've done the doodle set.

I've not even thought about doing, not able to say it on 13,000 search. Just incredible. Really. I knew it was, uh, I knew it was bad, will seen it on LinkedIn and people would start going in, but also in some ways people get a bit worried when they don't try to simple myself. And, uh, some of the initial grades.

Quite happy that it was just being shared without people knowing where it's from and stuff. Cause it it's just an idea that people want it's to show the mates, especially. So when you get into something like that, then that's where it can go viral. Stay at home campaign. Did what both of them was so simple that you've got it within a split second, you share it and you just, it's almost like meme, like yeah.

I mean, it's great to see. It's great to see that you've Googled. Yeah, certainly that cause we, we love showing it off to, you know, especially to new advertisers, to out of home that. It doesn't have to be your logo and a phone number and an N a website address. And like all this crap, like you could just take advantage of the contextual moment, keeping it super.

So what, what, what do you think what's the key to keeping it simple? No thinking to think, you know, in the industry as hot people. I mean, I did a, I did a billboard for jelly pots a long time ago and. I remember them, the brown once in steel, half the page, as a, as the logo, literally off the page. Uh, and we'd spent quite a lot of money on photography to create a stunning visual, uh, that would stand out.

Um, and yeah, suddenly once we, and, you know, as a creative, this is going to make it not anywhere near as a standout. I mean, there's probably arguments to say. Having the bills, logos data. As best as a brown Rico. But if you concur, I mean, if you look about kid shot law, don't think it even has a logo on that.

Right. It's literally just the product. It's not a product in a package. It's it is the literal product after you take it out and it's kind of right. It's the same color, but you know what it is, right? Like give me a break. It's Kit-Kat like, it just makes sense. Um, Less is more. And obviously they've got a lot of brand value already knew which you can utilize.

Whereas Russ Browns might not be as half thought, but if you can, um, the way we've done it with, uh, cause we partner with clear channel, um, various briefs around the UK and the way we've done it with them is communicate a message in five words or less. And those briefs are amazing because they that refines it straight down and also.

When people do mock their ideas or when you literally give some more minute more often than not your, you want something better than you thought we don't claim to change the world or anything. So the process prevents overthinking the problem. Yeah. And you don't have, you know, obviously people will want to put telephone numbers and websites and things onboard.

Distill it down. And also if you don't mail it in that one minute, which do it again and again, and then if there's a few of you doing it, um, which is collectively shown for OMB, is that because we're observing the world? When is. The quality is often there. And you know, some people leave it in the mind throughout the day, or ask us to go in along to have symptom or comes to them.

Or I often say a bit symphony for lab Brooks. I don't to shock a lot books over there. We'll just change the change. The word in subro clots did it for a gumball in a workable. Just thought simple, just post out on and it gets  on the thing. And also the general public, I think people, truck, people, or brands that don't give the public, the credit that they deserve, that people think about the need to be told, uh, and completely explained to what the dome, if someone just gets.

It's a laugh or real sad by just a couple of words. That's all you need to do. Then they'll look at where it's from, but it's, uh, it's when you've got loads of stuff all over the place. So you don't know what it even means. A lot of the time drive in past or walking past, you don't have time. Um, well, if it grabs you, you say, oh, even if, even if it's just, uh, right.

It just a moment of surprise and delight, and that's the power of out of home. It's the only place where you can create that contextual experience in the real world. In this moment in time, how I'm thinking, how I'm feeling as I'm passing a bus shelter, as I'm passing a billboard, it's only ever going to exist one time right now.

Yeah, this is the moment you have that, that opportunity to create an impact. And if you wasted on bad creative, well, I don't know what to do. It's just, it's just that raising a slight smile or something, and it's just, then it's in your head. It's just, you don't think it's there, but you've seen it. It was, it was an example.

There was one thing that I got saw at university with my tutor. He used to like to push my buttons a bit, cause I was quite calm and relaxed and new shine work. And, uh, I was uncertain. This billboard thing can say for birdhouse in sewer awards. And he said, I was really happy with it. I said, it's all right, it's not going to win.

Well, you said it won't win. Um, he said go and sit with him over that. So in the idea world winning, um, it was what it was type of type of graphic. It was born explored on the positive. Name was coming out of a thing. Right, right. Okay. And anyway, we have the positive word with a billable up against a mounted on the positive word.

Looked like it was on the mountain in the background. It was just stuck that slick. Yeah. And then put the footprints of the trainer on the floor where you should view it from I'm suddenly gone through. Being an okay bill. Now I look back on that and I actually think, I always reflect back on that side of university.

If I'm coming up with an idea of something cool, this is this just an okay piece of where, or is it one of those things that people take pictures of, um, share on Switzer and things. So always try and say, well, that's just the lesson. Um, that goes back to what we've just said about lot moment, like, oh, that's about said, or I might take a picture of that.

We can't get people taking pictures of everything and you can't always nail something, but you can just do something. That's nice of that. That really isn't what you'd expect. Yeah. And there's so much focus, you know, in the marketing world around data and measurement and targeting and all these other things that if the creative stuff.

None of it matters, right? Like, oh, my targeting was perfect. Yeah. But your creative stinks. No one cared. Right. So your measurements perfect. But it always comes back to creative Nick, because we kind of dove right in at the beginning there. Uh, maybe just back up a little bit and. Just tell, tell the audience who you are, who one may have briefs are, um, uh, bring it up on the page who bank creative creativity is, and ultimately how you work with brands to bring campaigns to life I'm folks, or have seen the Kit-Kat campaign.

But I'm sure they'd love to learn more about you and, and, and bank creativity, woman briefs, and how y'all work with brands. Um, well, my name's Nick, I'm still on the creative director and founder of the bank of creativity. Um, one minute briefs. Um, the, the bank of creativity is more of a traditional agency model.

Um, however, it's still very much community aloud and the woman at British side of things has almost outgrown it in terms of following syrup, 33,000 followers on Switzer, along with, uh, tens of thousands on all various other channels as well. Uh, the way it works is a start of every weekday. We'll sad, brief.

Sometimes it's just form or for causes, and also some times Browns as well. And it's never changed. I started off at university. I had about seven weeks on a graphic design brief, and didn't do anything for five weeks and you know, me and my creative partner at the time. Uh, just procrastinated and things.

And one day we settle this thing called one minute brace and started doing them on foot. We actually start them off in Photoshop. Uh, people start laughing at them, um, at what we do in and more often than not, you actually do something really good that you'd never, ever thought of if you had an hour or a day, and then.

Which we'll get to Twitter, uh, Nazi 1,012, um, it was just grown organically, send stuff over the shoulder. Looking thing like we had in university comes from when people respond. They're also posting to their own followers. So organically people want more people wants to get involved. And so let's say we do a brief, yeah.

As you can see on, on the, uh, almost. We're doing a brief today with the mat office to do all the Weber stuff in the UK for a climate change conference, uh, I'm giving away a 200 pound cash prize. So we're giving away prizes, the stay one more rounds as well. And yeah, we're getting hundreds of submissions, different creative outlets and umbrella.

So when we ask him to people's a minute of people's time, people do Photoshop. What, as you can see the quite simple. Simple thoughts that looked like it could be billable. It's quite easily for only a few. And this is, this is kind of like, this is, it's like a crowdsourced approach to creative. These folks don't necessarily work for you.

They're just creatives on Twitter that follow you, that can jump in and submit an idea. Is that how it works? Yeah, it's free to the point of access to absolutely anyone, anyone in the world. So there's people all over the world getting involved. Um, Yeah, giving away prizes. Um, it was never intended to be like a crowdsource thing to such, but if just Berlin were first and foremost, it's growing as a community of people, building portfolios, careers, contacts, confidence, that type of thing.

Uh, and always, it's always been the exact same thing, always to create an outfit, just like it always was when we started off. Well, if we come. Make it a bit more commercial. I mean, I spent so much time on it over the years and had to quit my job completely for it. And I have to try and earn a living from it.

So then we're able to get more and more prizes on the more and more brands. Let's see that we're doing huge reach for abuse alone. That's almost self promotion for over promise to once we get involved and obviously signing partnerships with clear channel when. My office mom, I Pringles, um, all these, all this continues to escalate and keeps us growing, uh, on the engagement and reach just keeps growing as well.

So the point of why we can do stuff internationally too. Uh, and I don't know if you've seen of did one recently with WWF, which helped reach with off billion. Wow. From one, one minute brief, a half million people reached the initial. Well before the campaigns even born into the wild and put into the real world, this one came from a woman.

It brief, and it was one of those things. It was again, the simplest if though it was, um, someone called see Anwar did an idea to save the animals off sports team. Um, when I was a swimmer, even a little bit of an example of some of the reach that you have for, for some perspective there. Exactly. Yes. So we did a, we did a brief with the WWS on one of the, the actually didn't even when the, the brief besotted, cause it wasn't quite embraced for.

If you can imagine a lot of Browns and sports teams have animals in the low dose. So taking them off really nice post, and it's going to get a lot of retweets and I'm sure it has in its own. Right. Well then I thought, wait a minute. Imagine if some of these Browns did that on a particular day, that could be massive.

Even when somebody's

Uh, or much no sports teams do it. And all that WWF themselves have to ponder, which was hard of a new thing to get them to say, even though we run it with them. So, um, w that simple thought, and just having the knowledge to turn it into something bigger, um, we were able to work with WWF and. Start, it comes up in seams and brown, almost just asking people the question, will you do this?

Um, the, um, the few people did. And then when we knew that we were getting a few people that could sellable people, there's a lot of doing it while you do it. Now we're getting ready to get so critical mass. Yeah. And then now hopefully world wildlife day again, next year, we'll go with. I asked him the same people bought them, get loads more and maybe even take it into the physical world, potentially an out of home, potentially actually taking animals out of signage and things in shops and sports stadiums or anything.

So, um, it could be a thing that starts with a woman that brief, but just escalates, insert the real world. And that's how.

It's a Nick give, give, give our listeners the skinny, you will work with brands, with agencies, with media partners. You'll work with just about anybody. How do they work with you? How do they get in touch? What's your, a latitude and longitude and, uh, how do they work with y'all? Yeah. Um, well, a lot of people just get in touch directly, the food Switzer on them.

So at one minute, Um, otherwise men feel the website bank of  UK or emailing interest apps, bank of creativity, doctorate, UK. Um, the way it works is essentially you get to take over the feed for them the entire day. And it's all about your brown with we're often trending on Switzer. So, and sometimes. Work with an existing stock, which we can help my trend or is already trending on the congenital long side.

It otherwise would just make our own, um, th the cumulative effects of people responding to the brief creates something. If you've got so many sweets in a day and a hostile, you're likely to get into trend insider. Because the content itself is very shareable quick. It's the type of stuff that people want to start sharing, as we've said in the sort of billable and style.

And then that has an effect as well. So if one entry starts to generate lots of retweets, that gets into trend insider too, as well. So. We essentially just, uh, getting such of us. We don't need much to start a brief off. We just need a blurb about what you want to promote or what, cause it is, uh, along with logo and social links, and then we're pretty much split on the website and then recite off on the day and then give prizes to the witness.

So it's a really simple thing to do with minimal resource for the moms to get involved in. Um, but the reach is. There was never intended to be like this, but it is. I mean, it's a lot, not that OMB produce however many ideas when the brown receives it, they get all those ideas at the same time and we retweets it.

It's all our followers. Um, then the brown can share as many as they want in the normal process. We'll probably work with an agency. They'll never have that public reach in the first instance. Um, you want. You'll be able to share one piece of content on your own channel. It'll definitely read through. So obviously in this process, you'll get an, a must social reach campaign, as well as generate and loads of great instincts and ideas as well.

So it's win-win for everyone involved, which is, which is nice. And for optimism. It's nice for people to wear a, come on Browns and get involved. And a lot of the Browns enjoy just getting involved in social sharing gifts and all that stuff. Yeah. I CA I can't wait to, to have somebody to be able to do with, I've got a few ideas on folks that, uh, that we're working with over at one screen.

And I think it's a great way to, because most of these ideas, they never get past like the creative director's desk. Right? Like they, they die on the cutting room floor here. Like you can, you could almost split tested, right? Like it becomes a quasi AB test of like, what do people like what what's resonating.

I've got all of this content, all of these things going on, that's good for your brand. Uh, and especially to have people engaging and getting to play with the parts of maybe things that weren't accessible to them. Otherwise, I'm sure you have lots of young budding artists that wouldn't normally get to work on like big iconic brands at this stage in their careers.

But this is a place and there's great ideas. Like the one that you described with the world, wildlife Federation, uh, Nick, I think what you're doing is pretty special. The community aspect we particularly love. Cause that's a, that's a goal of ours here at, out of home insiders to just create a community where anybody has a voice, uh, on a level playing field.

Yeah, no, absolutely. I think what you've just touched on those is important actually have been able to gauge. What is engaging, what you think is what you put out there as a brand, you might think is the best thing for you. But if you look at the actual engagement on certain posts last week, someone chose a winner.

And I looked at the winner while there was a decision between two winners, um, on one river, this, and it was quite branded and it was, it was nice. It works. For the brown to what it was. Okay. I would say there are lots of the other choice. It has nearly a hundred likes read sweet, so, or whatever of combatative.

Well, not about to offer it. So I'm not wrong was the real winners. If you know what I mean, but you look at the most simple for, uh, I think sometimes as brown monitors, you can be clouded in your own judgment in ThoughtWorks or. But what if you did something really simple and stand out, but you might not expect.

It can still be grounded, but a lot of that, and the way OMB wishes that you gauge, how people interpret your own brand. Yeah. What you think might be totally different than what the audience thinks, how frequent that happens all the time. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. So it's a good way to, to be able to do that and actually stand back and look what people think and the way that they can stop.

Rather than putting out your own voice that people may not relate to. It's a great list. Litmus test for any brand. Nick, I really want to thank you. I know we're coming up to the top of the hour here and you've got more one minute briefs to get out there into the wild. So what a thank you. We'll make sure to link everything, uh, for folks to get in touch with you to do their own.

When one may have brief below really appreciate you being here today. Absolutely. If you found this to be helpful. Interesting. Please share it with somebody else who could benefit as always make sure to smash that subscribe button down there in the corner and we'll see y'all next time. Yeah. I finally came to my senses.

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