Go Luck Yourself: 40 Ways to Stack the Odds in Your Brand’s Favour by Andy Nairn

Author:Andy Nairn [Nairn, Andy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780857198891
Google: D1wtEAAAQBAJ
Amazon: 0857198882
Published: 2021-06-08T01:43:57+00:00

Lucky Coffin

The word ‘taboo’ sailed into the English language with Captain James Cook in 1777. He had encountered it in Tonga, although similar words are found in Fijian, Hawaiian and Maori – suggesting it has earlier, proto-Polynesian roots.

Cook described how the locals had strong beliefs about the appropriateness of certain foodstuffs (oblivious to the fact that the same could presumably be said for him). “Not one of them would sit down or eat a bit of any thing… On expressing my surprise at this, they were all taboo, as they said; which word has a very comprehensive meaning; but, in general, signifies that a thing is forbidden.”

Since then, taboo has come to describe any subject or act that is considered so socially unacceptable that it must not even be spoken of. As such, it presents some very difficult challenges for marketers in certain categories.

For instance, how do you promote sanitary protection in a culture where menstruation is considered dirty? What about toilet paper or fresheners, in a world which pretends that defecation doesn’t exist? Or erectile dysfunction drugs in a society that worships male virility?

The good news is that there is a general shift towards loosening these inhibitions. And marketers have often been at the vanguard, educating people about these perfectly ordinary aspects of life and making it more acceptable to talk about them. But what about the greatest taboo of all: death?

Our German sister agency (Heimat Berlin) recently faced this very challenge. It was working on a campaign for the Central Association of German Crafts. This body represents lots of different trade organisations, from electricians to metalworkers. Germany has a proud history of incredible craftsmanship, but this brief was to show that such skills are still relevant in today’s world.

The agency’s response was to create a series of short films featuring interesting tradespeople. Stories with a modern twist. For instance, a female carpenter could go around the world, learning techniques from other cultures. Or a cosmetic professional could talk about her desire to change women’s relationship with beauty.

This seemed like a pretty flexible device – until the agency was asked to make it work for the Association of German Funeral Directors. Can you imagine a less promising brief?!

Heimat’s chief creative officer, Matthias Storath, told me: “Funeral directors play an incredibly important role, but this was quite challenging, to say the least. Nobody likes to talk about death, let alone work with it every day. I wasn’t sure our idea would stretch. But we had already sold it to the board, so we had to make the best of it! And in the end, this bad luck led to good luck. In fact, a chain of very lucky accidents.”

First of all, this curveball meant that the team were forced to consider a difficult issue. The kind that advertisers – including funeral providers – tend to shy away from. The agency had already sold the construct of tradespeople talking honestly about their crafts, so they couldn’t suddenly switch tack. In this

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