"I like words too much."
Interview with Neil French, Creative Director of WPP
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T: Does it have to do with specific and more personalized solutions? Is it also a fact that locals can usually find a better way to tell a story?
NF: Yes, and also that I am a disbeliever in global answers. I think people are so similar, and so different. Actually we are more similar than we are different, Look at a row of people from all over the world and there will be a slight change in colour, a small change in shape, but that is about it really. All the rest is the same. All the buttons that make them work are the same. But in order to get there, that is where culture comes in. That is where the different cultures operate on a different level. So for Singaporeans the way to the heart is entirely different than that for Brazilians. Germans are very different to even the Spaniards. Or the Japanese to the Americans. Talk about poles apart. They are planets apart. And that is what interests me. I know where we have to get to. It's the road that's interesting.
T: One would think that if you have a worldwide account you can solve a bigger problem easier, but in the end it might be nice also to have the pleasure to solve everything possible around you.
NF: I find it very much more interesting to be able to go into a town and listen to people talking about my ads. Very rarely are they talking about a worldwide campaign. Who remembers the name of the person who invented the Marlboro cowboy? Somebody invented him. It is a worldwide campaign, probably the greatest ever written, but nobody knows who did it. Buried. It is kind of sad. Who wrote "Just do it"? Who did the design for it, the swoosh? I know, but I bet not one in a thousand advertising people know. Not one in several million ordinary people. So I like the applause, I like the adulation. I am not kidding you here. It would be foolish and stupid to say I didn't like it. And you just don't get it from worldwide accounts. You might get a lot of money for your agency, but you don't get famous. Creative people don't get rich doing worldwide campaigns. Sad, but true. Because you are so powerful, they burry you quickly. It's true. I mean, who wrote "It's the real thing" for Coke? Nobody knows. It went worldwide. Somebody wrote it. Why aren't they super famous, after all it's one of those campaigns that changed the brand. But no.
T: What is your view on advertising as a selling tool?
NF: Yes. Well, when I grew up in this business there was no such thing as interactive television. Interactive television is probably the only truly direct response, where you can press a button and buy a product. That is real direct sale. It always amuses me when people say this is a direct sale ad. And I say, "So what is an indirect selling ad?"
Page [1] [2] [3] [4]
Page [1] [2] [3] [4]
T: Does it have to do with specific and more personalized solutions? Is it also a fact that locals can usually find a better way to tell a story?
NF: Yes, and also that I am a disbeliever in global answers. I think people are so similar, and so different. Actually we are more similar than we are different, Look at a row of people from all over the world and there will be a slight change in colour, a small change in shape, but that is about it really. All the rest is the same. All the buttons that make them work are the same. But in order to get there, that is where culture comes in. That is where the different cultures operate on a different level. So for Singaporeans the way to the heart is entirely different than that for Brazilians. Germans are very different to even the Spaniards. Or the Japanese to the Americans. Talk about poles apart. They are planets apart. And that is what interests me. I know where we have to get to. It's the road that's interesting.
T: One would think that if you have a worldwide account you can solve a bigger problem easier, but in the end it might be nice also to have the pleasure to solve everything possible around you.
NF: I find it very much more interesting to be able to go into a town and listen to people talking about my ads. Very rarely are they talking about a worldwide campaign. Who remembers the name of the person who invented the Marlboro cowboy? Somebody invented him. It is a worldwide campaign, probably the greatest ever written, but nobody knows who did it. Buried. It is kind of sad. Who wrote "Just do it"? Who did the design for it, the swoosh? I know, but I bet not one in a thousand advertising people know. Not one in several million ordinary people. So I like the applause, I like the adulation. I am not kidding you here. It would be foolish and stupid to say I didn't like it. And you just don't get it from worldwide accounts. You might get a lot of money for your agency, but you don't get famous. Creative people don't get rich doing worldwide campaigns. Sad, but true. Because you are so powerful, they burry you quickly. It's true. I mean, who wrote "It's the real thing" for Coke? Nobody knows. It went worldwide. Somebody wrote it. Why aren't they super famous, after all it's one of those campaigns that changed the brand. But no.
T: What is your view on advertising as a selling tool?
NF: Yes. Well, when I grew up in this business there was no such thing as interactive television. Interactive television is probably the only truly direct response, where you can press a button and buy a product. That is real direct sale. It always amuses me when people say this is a direct sale ad. And I say, "So what is an indirect selling ad?"
Page [1] [2] [3] [4]
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The art of selling: today's most effective and original ads
DDB London for VW Polo, 2005. Cannes Silver Lion. Illustrator: Paul Slater
TBWA/Paris for Ephydrol, 2005. Cannes Bronze Lion for the Campaign