Last month, I asked Rob Schwartz, CEO of TBWA\Chiat\Day NY this pointed question.
Adpulp: Who and/or what do you admire in the ad biz today?
Schwartz: I think the best advertising today is coming from one place: The Lincoln Project. All of their work is relevant, surprising, emotional, and exceptionally powerful. And people are talking about it. Oh, and let’s not forget the volume. These guys do a Super Bowl ad each time the fodder emerges from Washington.
That’s high praise from one of the industry’s high priests. Let’s look at some of the anti-Trump group’s recent output.
“The Swamp is drained.” Snnnnappp!
To make an effective attack ad, you need to understand what matters to people. College football matters to people—a fact that many liberals find tough to swallow. Thankfully, these anti-Trump Republicans do not have any such glaring blind spots.
Entertain Me!
Robert Kennedy, Jr. said, “Americans and the most entertained and least informed people on the planet.” That’s a damning insight that may need to be reworked soon, as the Entertainment industries are struggling to stay alive at the moment.
Rishad Tobaccowala points to the problem in his latest newsletter: “The biggest unknown is the future of Entertainment. It is very likely that post-vaccine live experiences from Broadway Theater to Concerts to Sports will surge in popularity while movie theaters are likely to struggle as streaming becomes the core business of the Big Studios and the economics of movie-going look increasingly expensive to that of streaming at home.”
I hear the deep thinkers. I also understand that watching a film in your living room is not the same as going to the movies. We crave experiences and right now, we also want to leave the home and ‘just be’ in public again. Safely.
I am pleased to see the Biden for President campaign pick up on this core need. There is no music or joy in today’s White House, but Main Street isn’t playing that sorry song. We need music and we will have music.
The Blind Pig is a live music venue on Sixth Street in downtown Austin, Texas. Sixth Street and Austin’s Entertainment District are home to several dozen live music venues, and they’re all empty. They have been for seven months, as we may have seven months or more to go before they’re open again.
Painful.
UPDATE…not sure where the video above disappeared to. Here’s an overview from Rolling Stone.
