The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same

"Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose" – Jean-Baptiste Alphone Karr  

I’m not sure what is more wanky, starting with a quote from a French philosopher, or contemplating what it meant to spend three months away from the grind (I returned from sabbatical earlier this year). 

Quite possibly it is both.

Anyway, more on the quote later, back to the sabbatical. The question I have been most  frequently been asked since I’ve returned is ‘how do I feel?’; to which I reply, ‘I feel like nothing has changed’, which has drawn bursts of laughter or a gentle raising of the eyebrows in equal measure. 

What was I expecting to happen? Well, you know, the strikes to have ended, economic prosperity restored, world peace and the sun to be out (OK, the last one might have been asking for a bit too much in the UK at least). 

So, things haven’t really changed, which brings me back to the quote and reflections about our own industry while I’ve been away. If there were ever an industry that liked to thins of itself as masters of change, it would be the advertising industry. Change is good, change is cool, change is even necessary. Anything otherwise is so un-cool. 

But is this really the case? If advertising has always been guilty of short-termism, then it has only got worse in recent years, as evidenced by Binet and Field’s research which has shown short-term activations have been prioritised over long-term brand building. Brand building, of course, takes time and patience, both of which have been in short supply recently, not just in the world of advertising, but also out in the wider world. 

The temptation then has been to tinker, change or re-do in the hope of capturing people’s attention, all set against the backdrop of a digitally accelerated world. But proper brand building involves standing for something over time and then flexing it accordingly to remain fresh and relevant. This can either be expressed through a thought or brand character. 

Take Malteser’s ‘Look on the Light Side’ as an example. This is all about how small balls of chocolate bring moments of levity to everyday scenarios, whether that be negotiating relationships, disability, or young motherhood. The thought remains the same, but the change in scenarios ensures the idea remains fresh and relevant. 

Or take the example of another one of our favourite chocolate-based confectionary in the peanut fuelled Snickers bar. The thought there is of course ‘You’re not you when you’re hungry’, but they have executed it differently over the years with a cast of characters, hijacking Twitter and even creating their own algorithm.

But the sense of consistency doesn’t always have to come directly from a thought. Smart Energy GB have used world famous scientist Albert Einstein to convey the sense that getting a smart metre is the smart choice for the British public. Acting as a focal point for the brand, he’s able to communicate the different benefits of smart metres in interesting and humorous way. 

Creativity, then, isn’t always about coming up with something new fresh and exciting (as much as we may want to), and instead imagining new possibilities within the constraints that have already been set. This can be equally exciting and indeed brings such joy to the examples mentioned above (not to mention creative effectiveness). 

So maybe, as I came back from sabbatical, it was less about looking for all the changes and more about seeing the differences to what was already there. Just what a French philosopher once said...