This past Sunday, I did what 111,000,000 of my closest friends did – I tuned into a football game. Well, it was supposed to be a game. In reality, it was an excuse to televise the most recent crop of obscenely expensive TV ads. Personally, this is just fine with me; I’ve always been fascinated to see what advertisers and their agencies will dream up.
My fascination for what happens in the 3-4 minutes between the action goes back 30+ years. I’m old enough to remember the groundbreaking Apple commercial that ran during the 1984 Super Bowl. (Although I can’t remember who played!) At that time, I remember thinking the Apple spot was awesome. The next day I raved about the commercial, but more importantly decided I needed to own this new Macintosh computer.
That’s because Apple made use of Design Thinking. It took the brand, connected it to the audience and sparked engagement. I remember hearing Steve Jobs speak about how he wanted to “start with the customer experience and work backwards.” It’s the same premise we use here at Skidmore.
On Sunday, I watched ads with $4 million price tags attempt to make an impact and grab the attention of a huge viewing audience. Some advertisers opted for the “entertainment” spot. This is the ad you’ll remember the next day with the cute baby that talked, the puppy that brought a tear to your eye or the car chase out of a James Bond movie. But you won’t remember the brand, and you won’t be prompted to buy. There were a few spots, like Cheerios or Radio Shack, who successfully created an emotional and memorable connection to the brand.
The clear winner for me was the Stephen Colbert Wonderful Pistachios spot. It was funny, engaging, memorable, and it put the product front and center. The next day at the studio, people were talking about Colbert and Pistachios.
The runner-up was the Chrysler spot featuring Bob Dylan. The commercial snuck in some Detroit love and tugged on the same emotional strings that Chrysler pulled a few years ago with Imported from Detroit. Most importantly, they successfully attached the Chrysler brand. Unfortunately, I gotta mark down style points for the swipe they seemed to take at Shinola. It was certainly unnecessary, hopefully unintentional.
As I watched, it occurred to me that the automotive community in Detroit is using the Design Thinking philosophy to recapture its rightful place as the automotive capital of the world. Walking the floor of the North American International Auto Show several weeks ago, I was struck with the reality that Ford, GM and Chrysler clearly “get it” now. They are designing and building amazing cars by starting with the customer experience and working backward toward a product that people want to drive. Design, as a discipline, has very clearly earned a seat at the table from the very beginning of a car’s conceptual birth. It’s an amazing transformation from just a few short years ago.
Which leads me to wonder, if the automotive community can make this transformation – the entire Detroit region can do the same. What if the business, political and community leaders decided to embrace the concept of Design Thinking. (I’m talking to you L. Brooks Patterson). Let’s show the world we can all think and solve like designers. As Detroiters, we have a history of innovating, creating and making things. It’s in our DNA. Let’s agree on one message, one brand and shout it out consistently to the world. Maybe at next year’s Super Bowl. Who’s with me?!
- Tim
@smithcastle
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