Can a beat-up $1,700 suitcase help sell more luxury suitcases? I think so. This was the ad (below) and discussion that was featured in WITI this week.
It reminded me of this iconic Range Rover ad, featuring a muddy Range Rover with the tagline: Introducing the most beautiful vehicle in the world.
The message is clear: These products are ready for adventure. They are up for anything you can throw at them. They are not too precious.
I love this setup and wish more brands would embrace it, especially watch brands. Watch brands may be the most precious about how their products are shown in ads. The result: Highly-photoshopped watches that look more like computer renderings than actual photographs. Just look at Rolex’s Instagram to see what I mean. The watches are manipulated so much in post-production that they actually end up looking fake.
When I was at Hodinkee and Gear Patrol, it was always my mission to put watches in the real world. To photograph them on people, in natural light, and being put to use, and, hopefully, not set to 10:10, that silly time that so many brands want their watches set to.
Brands that do a great job of showing their products getting used, as they should, include Yeti, Patagonia and The North Face. Not surprisingly, they’re all outdoor brands. Maybe it is time for watch brands - especially those that claim to make “tool” watches - to think of themselves as outdoor gear brands, not precious luxury brands.
I would LOVE to see Rolex, or another watch brand that recently launched a pre-owned business, build an advertising campaign that features an old watch in honest condition (scratches, faded lume, patina, etc.) to advertise this new service. These are the watches people covet, so why not?
The Hand & Eye is a newsletter about all things content from John Peabody. Do you want help making awesome content for your brand or organization?
HMU anytime.
Good Content
I get asked a lot for examples of campaigns, branded editorial properties, and branded content that I think work well. I’ve had this list below going in a Google Doc for the last year and wanted to share it.
The mark of good content, for me, is simply that you want to consume it, and then you do consume it. For a brand, content should be creative and serve a business function, whether that’s building awareness, loyalty, or driving sales.
So think of this list as a cheat code for making good content for your brand. Hopefully, it helps.
And. Away. We. Go…
Awkward Money Questions
Cash App manages to stand out in a pretty boring industry (payments) with great design and good content. Proof that brand building through content can be applied to any industry.
Bike Hunters
E-Bikes. Another not very exciting product category, that is unless you’re Van Moof. Van Moof’s bikes are the targets of thefts and they come with tracking software, so the brand created a YouTube series where they go and hunt down stolen bikes and return them to their owners. Not only does this build goodwill with owners, it shows future customers that the brand has your back.
Tracksmith
That’s Running from Tracksmith is just one more beautifully-produced video series from a brand built on content. Tracksmith has been making great content from the starting line and has become a trusted arbiter of taste in storytelling as a result. If you’re a runner, you already know this.
Play for the Parks
Iron & Wine and Andrew Bird working with La Blogotheque playing music in the National Parks. This is just right in my wheelhouse for a lot of reasons.
The Pink Watch for Richard Mille
My job was to make watch videos at Hodinkee and I wish I had created something this nice. Great story. Great execution.
Huckberry
Huckberry are true MVPs of the content game and they’ve been on a real roll lately. Their new Traverse podcast is worth a listen, but it’s the Dirt video series that I find especially compelling.
Everything Redbull Instagram
A media brand or energy drink company? I honestly don’t know.
Cake - The Anti-Poaching Initiative
I’ve written a lot about Cake before, for good reason.
Oatly - Will it Swap?
Spoiler: It always swaps, but this YouTube show from Oatly, which asks regular chefs to try Oatly products instead of their usual dairy competitors in their recipes, is endlessly amusing.
What did I miss? Please let me know!
JP