A little over a year ago, a creative veteran abused a critic calling him a 'code writer' while arguing on the Facebook page of Longhand, a long copywriting competition. However, Google's recent foray into the creative side of advertising proves that whether old school creatives like it or not, code is here to stay. And it may very well be the ultimate enabler of creative expression. Project Re: Brief for Coca-Cola used the soft drink brand's classic Hilltop commercial as a base for an ambitious marketing programme that allowed consumers to send a can of cola to a stranger halfway across the world. One of its most recent projects — Burberry Kisses — allows phone and computer users the chance to pass on a virtual message that's quite literally sealed with a genuine kiss, taking inspiration perhaps from the saccharine golden oldie 'Sealed With a Kiss'.
Brand Equity got a chance to catch up with Aman Govil, the project lead on Google's Art Copy & Code to know more. While Govil believes agencies need not be threatened by Google's dabbling with advertising concepts, we'd suggest creatives who don't wish to be irrelevant either start swotting up on programming basics or at least hire a bunch of smart coders. Or maybe they could just start with not using 'code writer' as an insult.
How was Art, Copy & Code conceived?
The name Art Copy & Code is an acknowledgment of the changes in advertising. You've read about the creative revolution in the 60s where art and copy were a team. We are seeing a similar change over the last few years with code coming on board. It's not necessarily three people but three skill sets working together as opposed to the digital team interpreting something that's been created by art and copy.
We started with helping advertisers and brands reimagine advertising . There were two questions: what will advertising look five years from now and what can we do about it starting today? We are trying to answer that in partnership with brands and agencies, creating experiments with real briefs. This year we wanted to expand beyond display to a whole slew of things advertisers use. Like social, mobile and even Chrome: a lot of people don't think of browsing technology as creative. But every thing you see in the Burberry example can be done on Chrome. We want to branch out into other platforms that Google has and are still trying to figure how to use those to create great brand experiences.
Where does a typical project start?
As any marketer and creative team tend to, we have a brief. How do we help brands tell stories in a connected world? The advertiser, agency and our team come together as one big unit. It's hard to say who comes up with the idea. For instance , Deutsche LA is a core part of the team we work with on a daily basis on Volkswagen.
Do ad agencies consider you a threat?
That's not yet happened. Our goal is not to replace agencies. These are illustrative projects of what you can do. Hopefully they inspire not just the people we work with but their counterparts . Maybe what we did on Burberry will appeal to the luxury and beauty product industry to adopt the web to a greater extent.
It must be exciting having access to proprietary Google technology... We only use technology and products available to everyone.
Is that limiting?
Not anymore than it is to the rest of the world. If we do things only three people have access to, we are not going to reimagine advertising.
What are some of the guiding principles that drive Art, Copy & Code?
People spend a lot of time connected with technology via phones and laptops. What we force ourselves to do is to make these interactions worth their while and seamless across devices. Coke from last year was a beautiful experience that didn't feel like a marketing message. In Burberry Kisses, there are a lot of platforms to send the message but the creative layer gives you a nice personalised feeling. At that point, it is worth people's time. If it doesn't feel like an intrusion people will interact with it.
What's next for Art, Copy & Code?
I have been working on a Volkswagen project, trying to rethink how the automative industry can use social. If you look at Volkswagen advertising, it has never been that much about the product but the car as a conduit to social experience. You buy a convertible to enjoy a summer day, and not for the specific features. So how do we market the car as something that helps you have amazing life experiences? In America, the most time people spend outside work and home is their car of which nothing is recorded. So how do you make driving a more shareable experience and also tell you how much fun you are having based on places you drove, the weather you drove in? We could take photographers and send them on a beautiful 'race the sunset' type roadtrip, taking beautiful pictures. That's what a car enables you to do and it's what we are trying to capture.
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