It’s already here..

During a Visual communication Lecture last week Wednesday we were discussing the article The Long March, first published in 2001, by well known design critic Max Bruinsma in which he discusses the “empowering effects of the media”. Within his article he refers to current trend in innovative advertising known as “Outsmarting the Competition”.

“In a media saturated culture where image is everything, this kind of ‘hacking’ can be highly effective, or damaging, depending on your point of view. ” What he’s talking about here is the ability to use recognizable behaviour or elements of a competing brand and using it to their own marketing advantage. The fancy shmancy word for this is known as “cultural jamming”. One of the most effective portrayals of this idea are the Nando’s ads constantly referring to current events and South African Politics and cultural difference. The key to the succes of such advertisements is finding the right balance between controversy and humour, and being EXTREMELY cautious in terms of not crossing over that boundary.

One particular advert I found extremely successful lately..giving iPhone a run for their money..is the Samsung Galaxy Siii;’s. By making various satirical assumptions and proclamations about iPhone fans, and their want and desire to be “cool” although depicted as somewhat..backwards. The advert is simple but the concept is amazingly sharp and intelligent. People are taken back by Samasung’s “ballsy” approach, and has apparently done the trick creating many platforms for debate and critical commentary between the Samsung Galaxy s3 and the iPhone 4s..I even experimented on my own to see what would happen..how much chaos could I actually create: