Let's Sing

If there's one tell tale way to spot a hack creative in advertising. It has to be dancing. I know this is a pet peeve of my friend George Tannenbaum, it's also one that I share. 

In the vernacular of our business, dancing as an expression of conspicuous consumptive joy is simply cringey. It's a tired variation of the old Bite And Smile. Bite And Boogey, if you will. 

Wow, macaroni & cheese, let's dance.

A new low refinance rate, let's dance.

Weather strips for my old pickup truck, let's dance.

I'm no longer in a position to judge, or even create, this kind of work, but there'd be holy hell if some kid brought me that tripe. Maybe that's a little exaggerated. I like to think that when I was a Creative Director, my temper was never directed at the ones working for me but more towards the planners who presumed to think for me. 

I'm told that when I "got quit" from Chiat/Day back in 2002, many a planner/strategist was driven to keep a box of Kleenex nearby when dealing with me. I wish I could unring that bell.

Last weekend, in addition to my excessive exercising, I indulged in some rare excessive TV-watching and picked up on the newest trend: copysinging. 

Don't know what copysinging is? Allow me to show you.

In this latest gem from Cologuard -- the people who want you to shit in a box -- we see a bevy of ethnically diverse, squeaky clean people belting out a poor Sinatra cover song. In doing so they are taking way too much joy about pooping in a plastic bag (I hope) and sending the remains of their meat loaf, chicken tetrazinni or tofu burgers back to Cologuard Headquarters. 

As a former mailroom clerk, I can only imagine what it's like to be on the receiving end of that postal nightmare. 

But I digress.

Cologuard is hardly alone in this practice. There's a new radio campaign from Amazon that also employs this technique. Though way more artfully. And with tongue firmly planted in cheek. Kudos to their copywriting staff for putting a campy spin on holiday shopping. 

And again, these two advertisers are not alone. While watching endless football games, back to back to back to back last weekend, I noticed a spate of these kind of spots. None of which I can remember due to the rapid deterioration of my once razor sharp mind.

Some were good, some were not-so-good. Suffice it to say, I prefer copysinging over copyprancing.

And of course, I'd be remiss if I didn't point out an effort I was part of not so long ago while under the employ of Dollar Shave Club. 

By the way, posting this spot here will probably result in more views than the bare thread media budget that accompanied this hard fought campaign.

Note to clients: If you're going to pay to make something, you have to pay to show it. 

Lunch isn't free any more than media is.