Not Everyone Is An Upscale Urban 30Something, White Male Hipster
If all the ads you see on television sound like they’ve been written by the same person, a slightly snarky, all-knowing hipster, odds are they have. Or, more accurately, by a crew of people who all strive to have the same voice: that of the creative directors who judge award shows.
And while the work that wins at these shows (especially the big ones) is generally great, it’s generally work that appeals far more to the upscale, urban, 30something white male hipsters who judge these shows than it does to say, your grandmother, who doesn’t get why those Burger King spots with the mask are the least bit funny.
Now this theory is fine when you’re advertising beer or running shoes. But since most products advertised aren’t beer or running shoes, we quickly find ourselves in trouble: we’re talking with one voice to an audience who speaks with another. And whether it’s TV, print or online (okay, especially online), the messages we’re putting out there are “we don’t really know you, our customers. We don’t really care what you think is cute or funny or emotional. We only care what’s cool and hip (by our standards) so get used to it.â€
I’ve made it practice on my blog to call out ads that appeal to different demographics: A Canon camera spot with Maria Sharapova’s dog, for instance, that my kids find hilarious.
Now of course it’s not impossible to create advertising that appeals to a broad demographic. The Budweiser Frogs campaign from about 10 years ago did that, so does some of the better Coke and Pepsi advertising. But by and large, we’re advertising to a specific demographic. And I’ve yet to see a brief that says “here’s what the target’s taste level is. Here’s who they find funny, the TV shows they love to watch, the magazines they read.†And the award shows don’t help this situation: they often reward work that has no appeal to the intended target.
No wonder so few people actually like commercials.
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And the irony is that male 30 something hipsters don’t watch all that much tv (comparatively). Or at least they say they don’t.
Either way, I’d say the lack of relevancy is only one piece of the reason why people don’t like commercials. i might find apple’s ads fun to watch, but I’m still annoyed as shit the 30th time I’ve seen it. But I’m only a 27 year old hipster, so what do I know?
Are you sure all ads sound that way? Because, boy, I sure see a lot of ads that don’t sound like they were written by 30-something hipsters. I’d be willing to wager if you did a study of all advertising created in the US, these sorts of ads would be less than 20%. Pharmaceutical ads? Women’s Fashion?
If I were to guess I’d say that you tend to see more of these ads than most because, well, you’re the target for these ads.
@Paul: That demo probably watches a decent amount of TV. But aside from sporting events, I’m not sure how much of it is live TV (vs. DVR’d TV).
@Rick: Thanks for commenting. Now of course there are a lot of spots out there for DTC drugs aimed at seniors that don’t incorporate hip flashy graphics. (And yes, DTC spots seem to occupy an unusually large amount of air time these days.)
But would you agree that the prevailing aesthetic in advertising, the idea of what’s considered “good” and what wins at award shows is very much based on the aesthetic of the 30somethng white urban male hipster? And the while that’s a fine aesthetic for Nike and Budweiser, it might not work for say Tide. And that the ads you find in award show books pretty much adhere to this aesthetic and tone of voice.
The point of this post – which I’ve expounded on in my blog- is to get ad creatives to open their minds to the fact that different audiences have different aesthetics. And that what they might consider corny is hilarious to the people the ad is targeted to. It’s hard not to bring our personal prejudices to the creative process, but just being aware that they are affecting our judgment is an important step.
(FWIW, the only part of the aforementioned demographic I fit into is that I’m a white male.)
Toad…I could kiss you (yeah, yeah I realize you probably wouldn’t want me, too, but I could). You make such a valid and and important point. You also identify the biggest reason why it’s going to be a tough road to real change. We all know the books tend to reward a certain aesthetic. Being published in those books can certainly help a creative earn more money. Our dirty little secret is that success in the books is often more profitable for a creative than, gasp, success in the marketplace. The cycle is self sustaining.
i read that headline and thought it was going to be funny. and then it became all preachy preachy bs and boring. and let’s be serious… maybe you see that humor as shite and you despise it because you are a wanna be hipster and watch the same tv as “hipsters.” because i doubt ads aimed at “hipsters” and “your grandmother” are often run on the same channel. there is more to advertising than just the creative that you see on fox or comedy central. watch 60 minutes – it’s full of the boring Fixodent commercials you are apparently missing. maybe you should consider this thing in advertising called a “media buy” which is usually for channels that run the gamut from the playboy channel to lifetime. i would put myself in a camp a lot closer to “hipster” than “grandmother” but still don’t remember the last time i watched “aqua teen hunger force” and had to sit through any of the aforementioned Fixodent ads. think before you post. thanks.
[...] We’d like to start today off with a simple shout-out to Beyond Madison Advertising for their post titled, “Not Everyone Is An Upscale Urban, 20something, Male, Hipster.” [...]
Toad – excellent post, mate.
[...] Algo como “nós não nos importamos com o que você considera bonito, engraçado ou cativante. Só queremos saber do que é legal (de acordo com o nosso gosto), então acostume-se†como disse Toad. [...]
Ooooooh. Sounds like somebody can’t win any awards!
90% of the ads I see are irritating to any demographic. (Head On, anybody?)
On the other hand, Apple ads are hip and omigod! — there’s a white, male hipster in the ads!!!!!!!! And he represents Apple!!!
And guess what? EVERYBODY is buying Apple products.
Awards are merely the byproduct of doing effective work. Do ineffective work and your client will let you know about it pretty damn quickly.
BTW, Burger King is targeted at young males who could care less about calories and nutrition – certainly not grandma.
You’ll need a better example to make your point.
@Craig: Apple’s ads work because the average Mac user is just as smug as Justin Long.
Dont take my work for it – here’s a link to the story in this week’s Ad Age. http://adage.com/article?article_id=123350
So you’re right- they are hitting their target’s sweet spot.
My point is not that you should never appeal to the young male demo– but rather that we need to realize that the fact that ads targeting that demo dominate award shows has a trickle-down effect and influences what we think of as good advertising.
But let’s just agree to disagree.
I’m a 40-something copywriter who’s obviously, by industry standards, over the hill, washed up, and should just go home and sit in my rocking chair and watch DTC ads all day. In my day (words that in the real world seem to only work with 70-somethings) advertising was required to have a concept. Yes, an idea. Imagine that? But as I shop my book around, apparently shock-value (that really isn’t shocking any more), in-your-face advertising, and lack of focus is the hip thing. I think that 90% of the advertising is aimed at the hipster with money to throw out. AND I DON’T WATCH SPORTS ON TV! Now that my peers are in their 40’s with real money to burn, no one seems to be advertising to us. The DTC ads are aimed at the older crowd, (someone needs to inform the pharma companies that people in their 60’s have had enough smily women and lousy songs, they need interest), and the rest of the commercials/ads are aimed at the illiterate, ignorant, just plain dumb, or young hipster. There’s a whole audience out there who would like to see the intelligent advertising of yesteryear. Doesn’t one advertiser have something interesting and unique to say about their product? If not, stop wasting your money and charge me less at the cash register. And where are the CEOs of these ad conglomerates? Do they really think that a 20-something is a good choice for a creative director? Apparently so. But then, that’s why we’re getting the advertising we’re getting now.
The point you may be missing — tho Meryl did touch on it — is that the idiots that run the asylums (read: clients) are also young hipsters (gender uniportant) trying to make their marks, and throwing out the baby while drinking the bathwater, after it’s been filtered.
Having recently come back to freelance from inside an internet company I saw this first hand: they think they can magically change their demographic from an older customer they personally do not want to relate to, to one of their peers. They want to sell products to people whom they like/want to like, but the fact is that their customer is their customer. They can buy hipper, more fun products to sell online but if the customer is not going to buy that product it won’t matter. I discovered thru our ad sales person that this $39MM company was relatively unknown so instead of doing more PR & smart advertising/ positioning, they opted to simply buy different, disparate product — alienating existing customers and not reaching the one they want.
And my point? Again, by closing their eyes they magically make the age of their demo disappear so they can go to their investors and say, “see, our customer is now young, hip and…(fill in the hyperbole).”
This very process cost them $8MM in sales last year, when internet sales went through the roof. They brought in executives who tout this new demo grab as vital yet cannot deliver, because these folks don’t understand advertising at all, and won’t hear any criticism of that fact so they lumber along with out doing it right, if at all.
Advertising agencies need to counteract this by being as multi-age, multi-cultural and multi-thinking as possible to guide the idiots back out into the real world from this strange disconnect.
I’m closer to Grandma in age but love the Apple ads because they are a nice homage to Stan Freberg and like stuff that made Mad Ave genious at mid-century…and I have not seen anything close to that level of humor and intelligence since then.
My grandmother didn’t go to BK. Think about the target demo. Who’s making up 70% of their business? I’m thinking that demo is exactly who is writing their ads. I don’t write ads for AARP and my grandfather doesn’t do BK (but he does, in fact, think the King is the least bit funny).
I want snarky ads for snarky brands. I expect a different ad for BMW, etc.
20 something CDs? I wouldn’t go there. Frankly, I wouldn’t have wanted that job (other than the $ and perks) at that age.
30 something CDs? Yes. Most in that category are likely more at a phase of life where they have been married a bit, probably have kids and still feel youthful…and snarky.
40 something CDs? Yes. Plenty of life experience to have perspective and enough time in the industry to be jaded to crap creative (and not allow it).
50-60 something CDs? Yes. Remember, they did Woodstock.
“You say you want a revolution, well you know, we all want to change the world” The Beatles
For the record, I’m an upscale, urban 30something white male hipster who is a bit snarky, married with 3 kids, still wear my Chucks to the office. I hate bad ads. I have fired clients for not letting us do work the way it will best yield results. It is an exhilirating feeling doing that – - – especially when some of them come back to you for admiring your firm stance.
The logo of this blog looks like it was designed by someone trying to be hip. And hip hop. Just saying.
If the idea is cool, great, beautiful, funky, whatever, then who cares what age group it comes from?
Isn’t that what’s really supposed to matter?
The photo on the wall is the famous Christ shot of Him visiting lepers? My post cataract-surgery eyes can’t discern it accurately.
As for the conversation, I like the Apple commercials and use Apples, but what I found interesting to me was
that there actually was one spot that interested me in checking out a PC. For that, Apple deserves great congratulations, having stumbled on an early Ralph Nader
positive argument for comparative advertising.
I have started to outline a book about blogging, and this discussion has helped.
It’s funny. There’s no surer way to rile up a 20/30-something hipster ad guy than to suggest that there’s more to the world than 20/30-something hipster ad guys. Toad, good on you bringing up the subject. It’s an important discussion to have. Ad-boys, we all love to win awards, but even winners know the shows are just big circle jerks.