If people don’t understand your advertising, can it be great?

*It’s sorta like Nike’s “Just do it” but you’re not sure because, well, you’re not sure.*

“What the heck does that mean?”

Not gonna lie. A lot of our latest campaign will make absolutely no sense to a great majority of people who see it. Many who drive past the billboards will just shake their heads. As will those who see bus shelters on Van Ness covered in code.

But the developers who build the internet we’re addicted to? They’ll get it. They practically wrote it. (In some instances they completely wrote it.)

While last year's Stytch campaign from boutique ad agency Division of Labor reminded us all how much we hate remembering passwords, this year’s is telling a very different story. Stytch is about a lot more than just passwordless authentication. It’s an entire platform for developers who build authentication. And building those pages and having them work seamlessly can be quite a chore.

But not with Stytch. They’ve developed a modern platform that let’s developers build authentication without workarounds or writing thousands of lines of additional code. And while that message may not resonate with the majority of San Franciscans, it can create an emotional connection with those who do understand.

Tourists, confused. Seagulls, confused. Developers, having a good laugh.

Division of Labor specializes in working with Series B Startups and tech companies like Stytch. Of course, before we can develop ad campaigns like this, we have to dig into the product and figure out what it is we’re talking about. Our clients at Stytch were incredibly patient with us as we iterated on ideas and stared with blank faces as they took us into the depths of the GitHub universe. After poking around a bit on Reddit, we came away with a simple visual that would instantly convey the benefits of Stytch while simultaneously flying over the heads of the non-coding majority.

Pair the visual with a headline like git commit -m “auth, simplified” and you’ve got yourself advertising gold. Or, so we think.

The Captcha executions are especially fun because of the stupid irony they display; humans spending time convincing robots that we’re not robots. Meanwhile, robots are better at solving Captchas than we are! Infuriating. The idea came out of a human insight; the irritation we all feel when we’re served up a Captcha. But when Stytch founder Juliana Lamb pulled out the fact that bots are now more skilled at solving these things than humans, the messaging got more focused and highlights the fact that Stytch has a better way.

Stytch Captcha bus shelter Fraud Protection

So to the question; If people don’t understand your advertising, can it be great? The answer is, yes. As long as the people who are meant to get it, get it, it can indeed be great. On the other hand, when Coca Cola runs ads that look like the one below, it’s a missed opportunity. Because everyone in the world should be able to figure out a Coke ad. But even after you explain that this is about recycling and that’s supposed to be a crumbled-up can, or something, it still doesn’t make any sense.

A recent Coca Cola ad campaign that confused a lot of people. Do you get it?

Thanks to everyone at Stytch who continues to be amazing clients. There are a lot of great San Francisco ad agencies out there. And we’re honored Stytch chose us. If you’re in San Francisco, keep your eyes peeled for the ad campaign and those scratching their heads nearby. And if you need Series B startup advertising and are looking for an ad agency, let’s talk!

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The Small Agency Blog is produced by Division of Labor; the ad agency for startups, based in San Francisco, twice named Small Agency of the Year by Ad Age. The award-winning creative shop services a variety of clients and specializes in startups that have obtained Series B financing or higher. They also offer freelance services. Click here for a free consultation.

How to get more foster parents in San Francisco

One of the many executions in a new campaign seeking foster families in San Francisco.

San Francisco’s housing crisis impacts everyone in the city, including long-time residents who can no longer afford rents and young families forced to move away to buy homes. But one of the under-reported tragedies: It’s also having a devastating effect on foster children.

Right now there are hundreds of kids waiting to be placed into homes in the city. And without a steady stream of volunteers, those kids will be forced into homes far from the only city they’ve ever known.

So how does a government agency get fresh recruits? They team up with one of San Francisco’s top ad agencies, Division of Labor.

The creative brief set forth by the San Francisco Human Services Agency was simple: Create an attention-grabbing ad campaign that recruits 100 new foster families to join the cause.

The ask is huge. It’s not like getting people to try a new laundry detergent or switch to a low-fat peanut butter. Becoming a foster parent is a life-changing decision. To that end, we needed an emotional hook that would get people to pay attention.

Inspiration hit while someone on our creative team was walking through a parking lot. He saw a huge SUV taking up two compact spaces. Not surprisingly, his first thought was: “What a jerk.” But his next thought was “Unless that jerk happens to be a foster parent. In that case, they can park wherever the heck they want!”

That idea really rang true with everyone on the project. It resulted in an edgier, more humorous campaign that changed people’s perspective on fostering and got them to think about it in a new way.

There are over 40 different executions across billboards, bus shelters, digital banners and social media platforms and they’re all based on the horrible, but not-so-horrible things we all do that can be made up for by being a foster parent. Things like, you might be a serial re-gifter or you might only tip 10% or you might eat all the m&m’s out of the trail mix, but at least you’re a foster parent. The tagline across the campaign: Fostering. It makes up for a lot.

The San Francisco Chronicle did a piece on the campaign launch, along with the perspective of a family who has fostered multiple kids over the years, including a medically-fragile baby they’ve since adopted.

And while ad agencies love free press, in this case, we’re hoping the free press attracts new families, not new clients.

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The Small Agency Blog is produced by Division of Labor; a top San Francisco ad agency and digital marketing firm that’s been named Small Agency of the Year twice by Ad Age. The award-winning creative shop services clients on a retainer or project basis. They also offer brand consulting services and hourly engagements for startups and smaller brands. Click here for a free consultation.

Ad Campaign Killed Following Feedback From CEO’s Wife’s Book Club.

Pictured above: Beth Clutterbuck’s Book Club eating chips, dip and passing judgement.

Production of a major advertising campaign was abruptly halted today following negative feedback from the CEO’s wife’s book club. Word came down at the start of day two of a three-day-shoot as the crew and ad agency gathered near the craft services truck to feast on breakfast burritos and kale smoothies.

The company’s CEO, Dwayne Clutterbuck, had just called with instructions to shut the commercial production down as a result of feedback he’d gotten from his wife Beth, and six others in her book club. Five of the six book club attendees had made negative comments about the advertising campaign after hearing it described by Ms. Clutterbuck while they were waiting for Margie and Dale to get back from the bathroom.

Clutterbuck’s company, Clean GreenTopia, had spent nearly four months, and invested more than $250,000 in consumer research for the ad campaign. But the random musings of six, mildly-intoxicated people who are not in the target market really made Clutterbuck rethink his marketing team’s approach.

“When you get a perspective of people that aren’t actually seeing the finished campaign but are reacting to one person’s third-party description of what she kind of remembers the campaign to be, you have to take it seriously,” said Clutterbuck.

The book club attendees spent a full 15 minutes dissecting Tara Westover’s best selling memoir, Educated, before conversation veered in another direction. “We were talking about her family’s tincture business, and this lead into a discussion of alternative wellness products, which then dissolved into us tearing apart Gwyneth Paltrow’s company Goop,” says Beth Clutterbuck.

Three of the dozens of titles kind of talked about, but mostly glossed over in Beth Clutterbuck’s book club.

“It really is a stupid name for a company. But it also lead us into a bigger discussion about corporate responsibility. And, well, that’s when I mentioned Dwayne’s new global ad campaign for organic bleach.”

Ms. Clutterbuck, initially gave the ad campaign idea the thumbs up, lauding its light-hearted and whimsical approach to dirty laundry. However, when she explained the premise to the book club, they weren’t having it. “There is no place for humor when you’re dealing with the destruction of the planet.” said Kathy Taylor who is currently unemployed but took some marketing classes in college. “Why would you make light of something as serious as global warming?” she asked seemingly unaware the advertising campaign has nothing to do with climate change.

After processing their feedback, Mr. Clutterbuck became concerned that the professionals he’d put on the project, who had nearly 500 years of marketing experience between them, just didn’t get it. “Sometimes you have to question people who do advertising and marketing campaigns for a living and go with the gut instincts of people who consistently offer opinions on things they know little about.”

The book club attendees, who meet quarterly, have two master's degrees in art history, a PHD in French cuisine and a certificate in canine grooming among them. Along with global marketing decisions, the group regularly advises the Clutterbucks on topics ranging from vacation destinations, gluten free restaurant options, or what to do when your child gets lice.

With regards to the latest digital marketing debacle, the group advised Clutterbuck to keep it simple. “Don’t waste time being clever or funny. When people want humor, they can watch a funny movie. When they want bleach, they just want to know how the manufacturing process affects our carbon footprint,” said Jill Friedlander, the one in the club that never bothers to read the book.

Anita Milton also voiced concern. “There’s too much money influencing our kids today. Corporations need to do a better job of focusing on responsible practices,” she explained without offering details on what her gripe has to do with a bleach commercial.

The one dissenter was Janelle Patterson. She actually thought the ad campaign was memorable and effective. “I thought it was hysterical,” says Patterson. “It made a boring product feel hip and cool.”

At press time, there were unconfirmed reports that Patterson would not be invited back for next quarter’s book, Where the Crawdads Sing.

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