The likelihood of Trump making America great is remote but it’s a very fine campaign slogan. So The Stable has borrowed it for a series that also borrows, without shame or apology, from the attention that the US election race is getting.
Here is its premise: You’re running for president of Adland. Your campaign slogan is Make Advertising Greater. What would you promise? What would you like to make happen?
Maybe it’s something from the past that Adland has forgotten was wonderful. Maybe it’s something that hasn’t been thought of yet (except by you). Maybe it’s just a frustration you could live without or an opportunity it pains to see being missed.
Some of Adland’s smartest creative leaders have already put forward their campaign promises (come back to read them). All of Adland’s smartest creative leaders are welcome to add theirs. (Email candide@thestable.com.au to do that.)
Here is the Make Adland Greater campaign platform of Simon Lee, CCO & joint owner, The Hallway.
President of Adland Simon Lee
I suppose my (admitedly somewhat cynical) question is whether the aim of this fun little pseudo political game is for me to just get elected or whether I’d also need to try to deliver on my campaign promises.
If it’s the former, I’d take a leaf out of the populist election campaign playbook and throw some cash at a mob like Cambridge Analytica – use social media to identify everyone in Adland’s gripes and serve them up targeted executions that present a Simon Lee presidency as the solution to everything they’re not happy with. Suits keep pestering you? We’ll build a wall. Timesheets? Fake News, we’ll make them illegal. Pitch decisions going against you? Drain the swamp! AI taking your jobs? Send it back to where it came from! Then when I got elected I’d climb up into my ivory tower, eat cheeseburgers, drink Pepsi from the bottle, cuddle up with a porn star and watch myself on 16 news channels simultaneously. “Yeeeeeehaaaaa! Ketchup, mustard and extra pickles please.”
If on the other hand you’re asking for a campaign with meaningful promises that I’d commit to at the very least, trying to honour, I’d make impassioned speeches about how we’ve sold out the soul of the industry to the bean counters and how it’s time to wrestle it back. About uniting against the tyranny of pitches in which we give brilliant, powerful thinking away for free. About a unilateral agreement to stop selling head hours and start selling the value that our creativity delivers. About regaining some chutzpah, putting the pep back in our step and protecting this industry so that for generations to come, creatively talented misfits with a burning need to express themselves can earn a healthy living from being who they are. And if this lit enough people up to get me into Adland’s Oval Office, I’d park the cheeseburgers, Pepsi and pornstar and get on with Making Great Happen.
