This past summer, high demand led to shortages of Popeyes’ new Chicken Sandwich shortly after the item was added to the menu. Data from Numerator finds Gen Xers made up 43 percent of those buying the sandwich, followed by Boomers at 32 percent, Millennials at 20 percent, Gen Z at 3.3 percent and seniors at 1.8 percent. I’m always hearing that marketers need to extrapolate insights gleaned by data in order to “inform creative”. TV ads that are informed by data, by definition, are not creative. Why? Because the minute you are bound by sticking to a framework of conditions which have to be satisfied, your limited in your creative expression. Not only that, but anything can be measured, so what’s to say that the narrow field where we choose to shine a light and illuminate statistics is the right place to find information to try to repurpose creatively?
Ture creativity springs from that complex, impressionable and mysterious splat of plasma between our ears; only bound by the universe, answering to nothing but it’s own need to interpret the world the only way it knows how to. Touch the heart and you’ll leave a lasting imprint on the mind. That old adage, or something like it, speaks to the power of stirring up our emotions. We know creativity when we see it. It’s hard to harness it into a TV ad. All the proof you need is that it’s so uncommon. What is common, unfortunately, is data informed drivel.
Here’s an idea for a Popeye’s spot starring Popeye the Sailorman (for you Gen Zers, Popeye was a fictional American cartoon character prone to being bullied. Inevitably, Popeye copes with frustration by eating a single can of spinach, which in turn affords him a temporary boost of superhuman strength. He then pummels the object of said frustration). In this hypothetical Popeye’s Louisiana Kitchen spot, Popeye the Sailorman is partying at Marti Gras (New Orleans being the site of the fist Popeye’s restaurant). Clearly he’s drank too much, staggering and slurring his words, something about how “somebody stole me Hurricane”. He slides down a wall and collapses on the floor in the corner of a bar where everyone is dancing to live music. Fed up with feeling sorry for himself – he takes out a can of what appears to be spinach, but with a quick squeeze out pops the new Popeye’s Chicken Sandwich! In one gulp he swallows it whole. Newly invigorated, he jumps on stage, shoves the lead singer into the crowd, grabs a guitar and breaks into a blaring rendition of Eruption by Van Halen (R.I.P. Eddie). The place goes bananas. The end.
I once was told that a commercial does not have to feature any benefits of the product or even have a call to action, but that it should tell an entertaining or amusing story and feature the product in the story.
Honestly – what’s better, that or what the data informed creative would have been? I don’t know, something like: a group of Gen Xers walk into a Popeye’s. They notice some Millennials harassing some Boomers and decide to intervene by telling them to get out. A few Gen Z and Senior patrons applaud in approval. The Boomers buy the Gen Xers lunch. The end.
Actually – that’s not bad either !
