Blog McGuffinanother what, not a who

They’re like cruise control for the mouth: Insert phrase here, followed with subject at hand, then close with phrase there. Player interviews, political speeches and corporate vision statements are so loaded with overused “touch points” as to render them nearly meaningless. Cliché after cliché they’ve become cliché themselves… Someone has to say something to keep the presses (and blogs) churning out type.

Something to ponder: Are there any positive aspects to a cliché? Can a well placed cliché be effective in identifying the product/thought at hand and appeal to it’s intended target? Do some groups own particular clichés? Or do some people prefer the comfort of a Known Quantity that a cliché brings, in that they’ve seen it before and can therefore trust it? In applying a cliché to yourself, have you somehow “arrived”?

While operating in the Creative world (prepare for irony) we traffic a fair amount of clichés. Sometimes strategically, sometimes under threat of losing a project or client. Either way, we know one when we see it and have developed a certain tolerance, if not outright appreciation, for some clichés. The McGuffinites respond to an informal “favorite” and a “disliked” cliché poll:

Chris Sculles
Fave: “Mind your P’s and Q’s.” Great history with that one.
Detests: “Think outside the box.” Gag…

Betsy Fiden
Fave: Clichés all need to go away. Same with Puns.
Detests: “True that.” Not sure if it’s a true cliché, but it needs to go away too.

Ryan Carpenter
Fave: Band photos taken in an alley or in front of a brick wall.
Detests: “Take it to the next level.” Exceptionally painful if used at the beginning and end of a sentence.

Brendan Shanley
Fave: “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” Always thought there was merit to that one.
Detests: “Can you Adobe that?”

Ashley Mock
Fave: I like the confused clichés: “It’s hard to soar like an eagle when you’re surrounded by vultures.”
Detests: “You can’t have your cake and eat it too.” Huh? What else do you do with cake?

Kiley O’Brien
Fave: “Water, apple, duck…” A cliche buffet (water seeks it’s own level + the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree + ducks have ducks) used by my family.
Detests: Baby clothes with saccharine compliment to the mother/father/aunt/grandparent/postman.

Nathan Fields
Fave: There’s no such thing as a favorite cliché… how can you ask me that?
Detests: “There’s more than one way to skin a cat.”

Andrea DeMarte
Fave: He/she “threw me under the bus.”
Detests: “Put yourself out there.”

This isn’t a beer review, there are loads of those already out there. This post is to give some marketing credit where credit is due. Heineken has been quietly and steadily fighting off it’s perception in the US of being the single most identifying outward characteristic of doucheyness. The caricature is a pastel polo shirt with an annoying country-club laugh and a Heineken in hand. The new model is a slightly gritty, internationally informed lover of beer time. Any beer, any time.

What has formed this new perception? Honesty in message and a bit of invention.

They didn’t really get a choice on the honesty part. An increase in international travel (and, of course, the internet) have let the “But that stuff is shit in Europe!” cat out of the bag. To roll with this, Heineken has added a dose of reality to their advertising and left the newer imports paying to prove their “high-society” stature. The perfect example is Stella Artois’ “Perfection Has It’s Price” billboards, and it’s persnickety train barman TV ads.

The summation of Heineken’s new attitude can be found in two ads, one for Heineken Premium Light (a market expander in and of itself) and one for Amstel Light. The Heineken Premium Light ad is a retread of some of the most haughty millennium “we are the world” ads. The refreshing part; the awkward and puzzled looks on the faces of the individuals from various parts of the world confronting each other. The ballerina delivering cold brewskis to a group of very large, sweaty and barely dressed men in a steam bath is far from “high-society”. A stunt of honesty the “every man” likes of Bud Light wouldn’t even pull.

On the Amstel side, leaning back on heritage typically gives license to pull out the dusty clichés, and prattle on and on about craft and history…except when your heritage is anything-goes-Amsterdam. The “Dam Good Beer” line is slightly less than imaginative, but you can’t argue with the fun-loving Dutch sentiment in this ad.

The invention part of the equation is simple: Get beer in the right container for the right occasion. Beer on the beach, beer on the boat or beer around the pool? This calls for cans so as not to shred our bare feet on the occasional chunk of broken glass. Witness the Heineken can roll out, and the 24oz keg can launch. Beer for the party at home? Dozens and dozens of 12oz. glass bottles are not going to cut it in this newly Green World. This calls for kegs. And not those gigantic wads of collegiate aluminum all the scrap metal collectors are hoarding. Thanks to engineers at Heineken we now have this pressurized work of genius, AND it’s on the refrigerator scale.

With extensive global distribution (while traveling outside the US you typically get a choice between a local or two and Heineken), an increase in draft availability and a partnership with Krups to create this gem, they are a brewer that are changing where and how frequently consumers choose their product.

So what is the new call sign for doucheyness? Bottle service.

Sorry… doesn’t quite do it for me. Not only that, but I have a difficult time classifying it as “design”.

We just got the latest issue of HOW Magazine, which happens to be the International Design Annual. For anyone who isn’t in the creative world, HOW is a pretty handy magazine for Designers and Freelancers that usually has some great tips on running a business. Things like setting rates, turning down potentially disasterous projects and interviewing tips. Two or three times a year they, like all other magazines, put their stamp of approval on what constitutes “good design”. Or rather, they get three or four judges to give their stamp of approval on what they think “good design” is.

I can only imagine the posturing and high minded arguments for or against each entry. This year it seems that the best design in the world, is less “design”. A series of 16 posters, each with a print run of around 120-200 promoting underground concerts around Montreal.

I don’t necessarily have an issue with the style itself, though I am tired of it. It was interesting for it’s playful audaciousness a few years ago. A rebellion against all things corporate or digital. But since it’s so easily replicated, it’s everywhere now and lacks the “Holy shit! I used to draw like that on my note books in high school! That’s sooooo crazy!” impact it once had.

Here’s a quote from one of the artists about the project that took the top honor: “The ideas used in the posters to get the message across could be a literal element from the show, have to do with some kind of play on words or just be a total freakout of what we think is visually appropriate for the event.”

Sounds like pure interpretation to me. Does that count?

I wish we could do “total freakouts” that we think are “visually appropriate” for our clients. Unfortunately I don’t think we would be able to count them as clients for long.

But enough about my creative jealousy, and back to my original point; Can it be classified as “design”? Where is the line between “Art” and “Design”? Simply saying that it has type on it doesn’t hold water. And saying that it was for a paying client or that it’s promotion doesn’t work either. When you remove the designer’s self-satisfying style, are you left with any kind of meaningful residue of a message?

If not, I vote “art”.