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Boring is expensive. The first time I saw those words was the summer of 2023. Our head of strategy in New York had them on a slide during a meeting, and it stopped me cold. Since then, its become something of a mantra around here, not because it was a new idea, but because it captured something Ive felt in my bones since the beginning of our agency. It put a price tag on the thing weve been fighting all along: sameness. Ive always believed that distinctive work wins. It wins creatively, emotionally, and commercially. That the best advertising doesnt blend in with the category. It stands out from it. Sometimes it even does the exact opposite of what the rest of the category is doing. And now, more than ever, that matters. The age of sameness Were living in an age of sameness. Average is everywhere. The gravitational pull to fit in is strong. And Im not just talking about advertising. Fitting in, after all, is a good thing for us humans. We want to belong. We want to blend in with the group. We want our kids to be accepted at school. We even want our dogs to fit in with their furry friends at the dog park. But if youre a brand, fitting in is the fast track to irrelevance. When everything looks and feels the same, what are people supposed to base their choice on? Usually, its price. The cost of boring At our company, we talk a lot about fighting sameness.” Because while comfort might feel like safer bet (especially in turbulent times), safe can be forgettable. And it can be costly. Thats what research from Binet & Field, System1, and the IPA has shown us: Emotional ads that drive fame are 29% more likely to deliver major profit growth Roughly 50% of ads are neutral, meaning they make people feel nothing Dull ads require 7.3 more share of voice pointsor around 9.8M more in spendjust to compete with a strong emotional campaign Thats the cost of boring. And weve seen the upside of doing the opposite when brands are brave enough to stand out, the results follow. Like when Extra Gum launched their now-famous comeback ad in 2021, set to Celine Dions Its All Coming Back to Me Now. While most brands were preaching caution and isolation, Extra leaned into humor, joy, and pent-up human connection. Sales spiked. Brand metrics jumped. It won the Global Grand Effie, the top recognition for advertising effectiveness. Make people feel something Weve seen it firsthand in our own work, too. At the height of inflation, we launched The Fixed-Rate Pizza for Pizza Pizza, a tongue-in-cheek campaign that treated pizza like a financial asset. People could lock in their price for a full year, complete with pre-approvals. It cut through the noise and immediately drove increases to store, web traffic, and sales growth. With Harrys, our brand platform Man, that feels good challenged the overpromising masculinity tropes of the grooming category. And it’s paying off. Honesty has always been part of the brands DNA and leaning back into it has drove lifts in awareness, consideration, and perceived quality across the board. When the work dares to be different and it makes people feel something, it works better. Full stop. So yes, boring is expensive might be a clever turn of phrase. But to all of us in the marketing community, its more than that. Its a reminder. A challenge. And maybe even a little warning. So if you’re in a position to shape the work, as a marketer, as a CEO, as a CFO, this is your moment. Push for the bold The next time you brief your agency, ask for something you havent seen before. Something that makes you feel something. Resist the comfort of category conventions. Dont reach for the familiar. Reach for the stuff that scares you a little. The stuff that gets talked about, remembered, and passed around. Fight for the work that doesnt blend in. Back your creative teams when they bring you bold, emotional, human ideas. No, actually push them further. Challenge them to surprise you. Because safe might get approved, but it rarely moves the needle. So push for bold. Ask for different. Fight sameness. Mike Sutton is president and CEO of Zulu Alpha Kilo.
Category:
E-Commerce
Fuck around and find out, read a TikTok post that followed a screenshot announcing that California is suing President Donald Trump for deploying the National Guard to the streets of Los Angeles. But the post wasnt shared by a typical meme accountit came from California Gov. Gavin Newsom. I damn near fell over when I realized this was Gov. Newsoms page, one user commented. Since Friday, demonstrations have erupted across Los Angeles in protest of the presidents immigration policies and the ongoing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids. Although many of the demonstrations have remained peaceful, there have been violent incidents including authorities deploying tear gas and rubber bullets, and protestors setting Waymo vehicles ablaze throughout the city. As tensions escalated, the Trump administration deployed the National Guard and Marinesdespite objections from local officialssparking a lawsuit from the state, threats of arrest against Newsom, and a surge of defiant memes. And remember, kids, the next time anybody tells you the government wouldnt do that . . . oh yes they would, says the popular TikTok sound used on Newsoms official account video, playing over screenshots of news headlines and images of armed forces confronting demonstrators. In another viral video from the governors page, which amassed over 5.4 million views, Taylor Swifts “You Need to Calm Down” plays over a series of photos of the two politicians. r u ok? the post asks, with a caption reading: Americas keyboard warrior. Newsoms clapback drew widespread praise in the comments. I do disagree with Newsom a lot, but him standing up to tyranny and standing with your state takes some serious guts. Hats off to you Newsom, wrote one user. Newsom has also taken to his personal account to deliver meme-laced messages to Trumpone featuring a Photoshopped image of the president wearing a crown that’s captioned Send in the troops. The slideshow ends with a shot from the musical Hamilton, with text reading: Democracy is under assault right before our eyes. Its time for all of us to stand up. The online showdown has significantly boosted Newsoms social media presence, growing his personal TikTok account by approximately 397,000 followers and his official governor account by 479,000 since Friday. Newsom is the latest in a growing number of politicians leveraging memes and social media to bypass traditional media and speak directly to the public through humor. Famously, Kamala Harris gained momentum during her presidential campaign with Brat Summer and the coconut tree trend, while Joe Biden leaned into the viral Dark Brandon meme during his reelection campaign. Although meme strategies can generate enthusiasm and visibility, the 2024 election results suggest that online popularity doesnt always translate at the polls.
Category:
E-Commerce
Its 2009. Everyone is rocking ankle socks. TikTok, is just a Ke$ha song. You pull out your BlackBerry Bold 9700 and update your BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) status. All is well. Before the iPhone, the BlackBerry was the it phone. At its peak in the early 2000s, BlackBerry commanded over 50% of the U.S. and 20% of the global smartphone market. But times changed. Physical keyboards gave way to touchscreens, and eventually, BlackBerry discontinued support for its classic phones in 2022. But this isnt where the story ends. The 2000s have since made a comeback. As The New York Times recently reported, Everything Millennial Is Cool Again. Adding to that list, Im happy to report, is the humble BlackBerry. Getting a blackberry bold just because, one TikTok user posted, holding up a BlackBerry Bold they purchased on eBay for $40. This is a sentence I never thought I would say, especially not in 2025, another wrote, unboxing a second-hand BlackBerry Bold 9900. I got a Blackberry. @alyssa.lenore Whats your pin? #blackberryphone original sound – alyssa.lenore She goes on to explain: My first phone was an iPhone in 6th grade so I never got the chance to get a Blackberry like I always wanted. This has always been a dream of mine. The hashtag #blackberry on TikTok now has over 125K posts, with users sharing their retro finds and long-forgotten phones pulled from drawersincluding models like the BlackBerry Classic Q20 and a lilac BlackBerry Curve. @kaia.chanel lillac blackberry curve from 2009. This phone its older than many of you on this app ! #y2kaesthetic #blackberryphone admire the perc – ! Just in time for Digital Detox Summer, Gen Z is putting down their iPhones and bringing back flip phones and trackpads. POV: you bought a blackberry in 2025 bc your iPhone is ruining your life, one post with 6.4 million views reads. This was PEAK technology, a commenter wrote. BlackBerry has the opportunity to make an amazing comeback, another added. @shozi_055 My phone addiction is getting way too out of hand, Im trying to take my life back #fypviral original sound – NOLSTALGIC SOUNDS A recent Reddit post hinted that might just be in the cards. Reddit user u/coldheartedsigma shared a since-deleted post to the r/BlackBerry subreddit but kept most of the details vague, citing an NDA. While some were skeptical, others couldnt contain their excitement. Please be real, one wrote. Color me interested if this ever actually materializes, another added. Whether or not the rumors pan out, Gen Z is bringing back the BlackBerry either wayeven if its just to take a break from scrolling TikTok to play BrickBreaker.
Category:
E-Commerce
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