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Matthew Burns:
Well, Steve, we’re back again. Listen, you’ve been doing a good job taking all the weight, and bringing up these awesome ads, so I thought I’d throw one at you. Because I came from graphic design, I thought about talking about the use of glamour and specifically, silhouettes. I want to play for you, hopefully, you remember the campaign, the De Beers silhouette campaign.

Stephen Semple:
Oh, I remember it very much.

Matthew Burns:
They ran it for years.

Stephen Semple:
Ran for a lot, which was what really made it a campaign. They had lots of variations of this idea, but the feeling was very similar. But yeah, let’s let people see, I guess, your favorite one probably.

Matthew Burns:
I’m going to show one that tells a story-

Stephen Semple:
There we go.

Matthew Burns:
Because that’s what we do.

Stephen Semple:
That’s what we do.

 

Matthew Burns:
Right? A story.

Stephen Semple:
Yeah. So good. And you think about, what was it, 30 seconds? That was the 30-second ad?

Matthew Burns:
Yeah, 30 seconds.

Stephen Semple:
So in 30 seconds it tells the entire story. I love the use of silhouettes because as we know, silhouettes talk about future possibilities. So it says projection into the future. Because the details are left out, we can insert ourselves, and that’s our story.

Matthew Burns:
Right.

Stephen Semple:
If you’ve been married for any length of time, that’s your story. That’s it.

Matthew Burns:
Yeah, 100%. I think if I were to complain, I would really be super picky because this is a brilliant campaign. It ran for a very, very long time, and I know what they did because they carried this through with the campaign. Man, you could have told that same story with the same silhouettes without telling the next thing. They could have dropped in a couple of extra levels of the story by taking out the words and just allowing you to get all the way through to where all they had to do was sell the last point, which was the 25th.

Stephen Semple:
Yeah, I see that. The thing I do like is that they had a couple of ads where they deviated from this, where they had a narrator and the narrator is not as good.

Matthew Burns:
Oh.

Stephen Semple:
And they told several different stories. They had an anniversary. They had ones where it was just a gift. They had an engagement where you saw them dating.

Matthew Burns:
Yeah, that’s right.

Stephen Semple:
Like meeting, date, in a 30-second ad. Flirt, date, engagement.

Matthew Burns:
Engaged. Yes.

Stephen Semple:
Right? Just beautiful. There are even a few where they played with the pacing of the music, especially in the engagement ones when the ring is presented, the piece of the music and the volume of the music would go up.

Matthew Burns:
That’s right.

Stephen Semple:
So you’d actually feel this excitement of the moment. They’re just very, very simple, very powerful, very glamorous ads.

Matthew Burns:
And I, again, champion customers or companies who are willing to let an ad go 24 seconds before they mention who they are and what they do.

Stephen Semple:
Yeah.

Matthew Burns:
I have to really say that it’s probably one of my favorite things, especially in a television commercial where they’re being drawn through, drawn through, drawn through. And then all of a sudden, you’re like, “Oh yeah, these guys, they know who I am.” The person who’s thinking about getting engaged immediately goes, “Oh man, you know exactly what I’m feeling at the moment.” The person who’s going through the birthday buying birthday gift or the Christmas gift buying moment, they’ve picked the right piece of jewelry for that, and they hit you where I am. So yeah, I’m coming to get a De Beers diamond. Right?

Stephen Semple:
And you know what’s interesting? We’ve used that technique a couple of times in other places, like with Armadura Metal Roof. We did the whole thing where there was part that was real-

Matthew Burns:
Oh, yes.

Stephen Semple:
And part was illustrated. In this case, part is a black and white silhouette and the diamond is real, which really made it stand out and look super special. But the other thing is, I have to point out, you know something’s a big deal when it’s spoofed on Family Guy.

Matthew Burns:
Oh, you are going to go there. I wasn’t sure.

Stephen Semple:
So Family Guy, in one of their episodes in year two or something like that, people can go and find it, they did a spoof of that. I’m not going to spoil it. If you’re a Family Guy fan, watch this ad. Go to YouTube, find the Family Guy spoof of De Beers ad and you’ll laugh. You will laugh. I just guarantee that.

Matthew Burns:
If I remember, before we go to post this, I will find the link. We’ll throw it up. So if you can see it down in the comments or in the notes section.

 

Stephen Semple:
It’s a big deal, and you know it’s having a big impact on society when something like Family Guy or the Simpsons or something like that spoofs you because they’re only going to spoof you if everyone knows it.

Matthew Burns:
Right. And I was going to leave this for another episode. Apple’s done this fantastically well.

Stephen Semple:
Yes.

Matthew Burns:
And you think about Apple’s success, they get spoofed all the time for their advertising. It’s constantly being copied. So much so that the 1984 ad, which was heavily influenced with silhouette shadow, and light, became a Lego set.

Stephen Semple:
That’s right. It did.

Matthew Burns:
If you do something really well, and you do it for… Guys, capitalizing on a multi-year, and I mean almost a decade-long campaign where multiple iterations go through, you know you’ve got something that makes perfect sense. The power of the silhouette is all about being able to have future possibilities and allow yourself to see yourself in that moment.

Stephen Semple:
Yes.

Matthew Burns:
In that feeling, in that adventure, whatever’s happening. And yeah, it’s incredible.

Stephen Semple:
It’s very aspirational.  But you raised one other thing. De Beers had the guts to show the punchline, the logo, whatever you want to call it at the end.

Matthew Burns:
Right.

Stephen Semple:
And they did that very consistently, but here’s what they knew. As soon as that music came on, you knew what it was. But if you think about it, there are very few companies that have the guts to do it, and one of them, you refer to it already, is Apple. Apple never leads with the Apple logo.

Matthew Burns:
Ever.

Stephen Semple:
It’s always at the end, because if you think about it, why do I want to tell somebody a commercial is about to happen? “Oh, by the way, in case you were thinking about tuning out, now is a really good time because we’re going to show you a commercial. Okay? The story of fun stuff is over. It’s now commercial time. Pay attention. It’s now commercial time.” You know what happens? “It’s now commercial time. Oh, so what you’re telling me, it’s time to get up off the couch and go get a beer.”

Matthew Burns:
Change the channel, whatever it means. Right?

Stephen Semple:
Yeah. Whatever.

Matthew Burns:
100%.

Stephen Semple:
It’s crazy.

Matthew Burns:
Like, “Hey, we want to sell you something.”

Stephen Semple:
Yeah.

Matthew Burns:
Yeah, draw them in a little bit. Make them know that you’re interested. Sorry, now you made me laugh. That’s exactly it, and we’ve had to talk to our clients about this. Right? This is something we talk about all the time where they’re like, “Yeah, you’ve got to get our name up in the first seven seconds of the ad.” And it’s like–

Stephen Semple:
Why?

Matthew Burns:
Why?

Stephen Semple:
So we can tell them ahead of time they don’t have to pay attention.

Matthew Burns:
That’s right. The rest of it is just going to be a sales pitch. So have fun. In today’s day and age, there’s not enough really good storytelling. And I think De Beers is just this really good example where they for they ran this campaign for almost a decade, and for it to go that long, it worked. And then the other thing that I think you mentioned to me, again, you’re much more well researched than I am on brands, but they also took this style of advertising that worked in North America, and then took it all the way over to Japan-

Stephen Semple:
Yes.

Matthew Burns:
And started it up in Japan, and it… Now, obviously, they didn’t view it in English, but it worked.

Stephen Semple:
Same thing. Then they took it to China, it worked in China as well. Right. A great campaign-

Matthew Burns:
Right. Storytelling.

Stephen Semple:
Great storytelling campaign. And the last thing I want to add before we let people go, that I think is also really important, what De Beers is selling is they’re selling this transformation. They’re selling this love, they’re selling this connection. But also at its heart, they’re selling this emotional feeling of beauty and glamour and aspiration, and those ads feel that way.

Matthew Burns:
Right.

Stephen Semple:
And far too often, if your job is convenient, the ad should feel convenient. If what you’re selling is fun, the ad should feel fun. What you’re selling is glamorous-

Matthew Burns:
Perfect.

Stephen Semple:
And beautiful and aspirational, it should feel glamorous and beautiful and aspirational, and they nailed that.

Matthew Burns:
Very well said. Start with the emotion. What is the emotion? Build on the emotion.

Stephen Semple:
Build on the emotion, and make people feel it right down into their toes.

Matthew Burns:
Yeah. Very well said. Well, listen, thank you for letting me influence you this time.

Stephen Semple:
Oh.

Matthew Burns:
But this was a campaign that… I was in high school when this campaign was out, and I can’t believe how well it did and how well it stuck in my brain.

Stephen Semple:
Beautiful campaign. They should never have stopped. They could have just kept running that baby.

Matthew Burns:
Awesome. All right. Well, I appreciate you. And guys, remember, if you like us, let us know. Put a comment in there, and subscribe to the channel. We’re going to try and do this every week and we’ll be back to see you really soon.

Stephen Semple:
All right, thanks, everyone.

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