Embracing Failure Isn't A Mistake
Embracing Failure Isn't A Mistake
The Apple AD wasn't a mistake - and we should think it's weird that so many people were so angry about it.
It’s Friday! I don’t know about you, but I’m ready for the long weekend.
Robert here - and just wondering all week how OpenAI makes such an incredibly self-inflicted stupid move as the way they’ve handled the Scarlett Johansson voice issue.
Trust me. This is the first. But it’s not the last.
Speaking of content fails. Did you follow the Apple iPad Pro content debacle last week? At first glance it seems like it’s yet another “mistake” from a giant Tech company, meant to demonstrate how “people don’t matter” any more.
But I think these two things are completely different.
Wait what? Do tell.
Well before I do that… Speaking of “different kinds of content” (that’s one of my fancy segues)… before we move on…
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Here at TCA, we just finished an engagement with an amazing technology client. We we helped them put a plan together to launch a new thought leadership magazine, we set up a much more efficient original research program for them to include in the editorial plan, and set up a practical plan for rolling out AI.We can help you if that’s the kind of thing that would help you.
We’re ready for a couple of new clients. Would you like to chat?
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Okay… Let’s get back to it…. In this week’s edition.
Embracing Failure: Trying New Things Is Not A Mistake
Coca-Cola’s New Lens Is B2B Content Marketing Goodness
It’s “Ozempic Week” And I Haven’t A Thing To Wear!
There’s No Such Thing As A Content Marketing Platform
Let’s roll….
ZOOM LENS: EMBRACING FAILURE
The level of anger over Apple’s “Crush” Ad surprises me. Look, I know the ad shows the eyeballs on an emoji-faced squishy ball popping under the plates’ pressure, but still. Calling the ad “actually psychotic” (as some did) might be just a skosh over the top.
Yes, the ad missed the mark. But anyone who’s participated in creating a content misfire knows this truth: “Mistakes” look much more obvious in hindsight.
On paper, I bet this concept sounded great. The brainstorming meeting probably started with something like this: “We want to show how the iPad Pro metaphorically contains this huge mass of creative tools in a thin and cool package.”
Maybe someone suggested representing that exact thing with computer graphics (maybe a colorful tornado rising from the screen). Then someone else suggested showing the actual physical objects getting condensed would be more powerful.
Here’s my imagined version of the conversation that might have happened after someone pointed out the popular internet meme of things getting crushed in a hydraulic press.
“Yeah! A hydraulic press! People love that kinda stuff!”
“If we add buckets of paint, it will be super colorful and cool.”
“It’ll be a cooler version of that LG ad that ran in 2008.”
“Exactly!”
“It’ll be just like that ad where a bus driver kidnaps and subsequently crushes all the cute little Pokémon characters in a bus!” (Believe it or not, that was actually a thing.)
Cue the creative director, storyboarding it out – and away they went.
The resulting commercial suffers from the perfect creative storm: A maybe not-great (copycat) idea at the absolutely wrong time.
Now, of course the other thing is that none of us know what constraints Apple’s creative team worked under. How much time did they have to come up with a concept? Did they have time to test it with audiences? Maybe crushing physical objects fit into the budget better than CGI. All these factors affect the creative process and options (even at a giant company like Apple).
That’s not an excuse — it’s just reality.
Embracing Failure Vs. Fixing Mistakes
Many attention-grabbing ad campaigns can provoke a “What the hell were they thinking?” response (think Pepsi’s Kendall Jenner ad or those cringy brand tributes that follow celebrity deaths).
Does that mean they’re embracing failure? Or are they making mistakes to which they should apologize? And what’s the difference?
As I wrote after Peloton’s holiday ad debacle (remember that?), people learn to fear mistakes early on. Most of us hear cautionary messages almost from day one.
Some of these cautionary messages are necessary and helpful to ensuring that embracing failure doesn’t actually kill you (“Don’t stick a knife in a live toaster” or “Look both ways before you cross the street.”) And some aren’t helpful at all (“You better make that essay perfect” or “Don’t miss that goal.”)
The problem arises from conflating failure and mistakes. It helps to know the difference. As a result, many people grow up afraid to take risks — and that hampers creativity.
For example, I moved to Los Angeles in 1987 to become a rock ‘n’ roll musician. I failed. But it wasn’t a mistake. I wasn’t wrong to try. My attempt just didn’t work. And wouldn’t you think me insane if I felt like I needed to apologize for trying to make it?
Labeling a failed attempt at creativity a “mistake” feeds the fears that keep people from attempting anything creative.
Now sure, people DO create some content pieces (and let’s not forget that there are always people behind those ideas) that genuinely count as mistakes. But, generally speaking, the “mistake” in this case isn’t the content, it’s the intentions behind it, the “cheat” being attempted, or the “failure” to actually originate the idea. For example, when a CEO, a politician, or anyone creates content that is just a fabricated lie, meant to deceive, or distract – that’s not just a creative decision, you can rightly call that a mistake, regardless of whether the content succeeds or not.
But every content creators also create good content with the best intention that just simply fails.
There’s more to say on this - and You can see a longer version of this article here.
Have an awesome long weekend!
WIDE ANGLE LENS: MARKETING SNAPS
Let’s get it all in frame. Shall we?
🌟Awesome - Coca-Cola just launched a new B2B content marketing platform that is wonderfully right-sized for what it seems to be trying to achieve - but also seems to be focused on building a long-term audience. I love the innovation and focus here. Go check it out.
👎 Ozempic Week? - I know I just wrote a whole piece on why we shouldn’t necessarily judge a creative campaign by its intentions. But it’s hard to wrap my head around how this got through the number of meetings that I’m sure it went through.
Gopuff - the delivery app decided that it was going to create “Ozempic Week” to highlight its healthy, low-calorie snack foods. One of the ads included a description that said “Ozempic not included.” Others highlighted that with Gopuffs products “no injections needed.”
To be clear, I ain’t mad about it. But I am shaking my head a little.
💰 Gartner just released their new “Magic Quadrant” for Content Marketing Platforms. Magic is a good word for it - as I’ve just always been confused over what the heck a “content marketing platform” is. I mean - just about any content creation software could be used to “create” content marketing. So it is managing content, is it creating content, or is it managing and calendaring and collaborating on content. Well, it seems to be all of those things and a dessert topping (that’s my requisite GenX Reference).
The fact that this year Gartner decided to add Adobe - which now includes Workfront, AEM Asssets, AEM Sites, Journey Optimizer, Customer Journey Analytics, Adobe Express, and Adobe Firefly - just proves my point.
How is this helpful to a buyer at all?
PS> If you want the skinny on these tools - and what really goes into a content marketing operation, let us know. We’d be glad to chat more about it.
LENS FLARE: - TCA Events & Happenings For You
We’ve got a great new webinar for May
Join next week for our monthly webinar series - and this one should be fun. We’re going to talk about all the research we’ve been doing on the use cases for Generative AI in marketing - and how categorizing them properly is the first step to making sure you’re deploying a solution that will actually meet your leadership’s expectation. Come register today.
Did you miss our April Webinar
We had a great turn out for our Social Media Strategy Webinar. So, if you missed it - check out the on-demand version.
LENS CAP: Let’s Finish With A Flourish
The wonderful Captain Jean Luc Picard once said, “It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose. That is not weakness. That is life.” The Apple ad lost the day, but it is only that. One. Day.
Now, to be clear, from all of the above I’m not suggesting that people shouldn’t criticize creative work. Critiques help us learn from our own and others’ failures. You can even have a good laugh about content fails <cough Ozempic Week cough>.
Creative teams take risks. They try things outside their comfort zone. Sometimes they fail (sometimes spectacularly).
But don’t let others’ expressions of anger over failures inhibit your willingness to try creative things.
Wouldn’t you love to get the whole world talking about the content you create? To get there, you have to risk that level of failure.
And taking that risk isn’t a mistake.
It’s your story. Tell it well.
Oh and by the way - we can help with that.
See you next week!