Field Notes Inside an Integrated Communications Agency

You’ve heard of jumping the shark, haven’t you? The colloquialism represents the precise point when a successful entity slips out of favor just enough to do something desperately stupid. Usually the desperation is met with a faster decline. The term is derived from a 1977 episode of Happy Days when the Fonz jumped a shark tank on water skis.

Sad. Very sad. I believe advertising also takes on the same past peak aroma with the“Wazzup” Syndrome.

Remember the first two "Cavemen" spots for Geico? “It’s so easy to use a caveman could do it.” Bruised Neanderthal feelings on the first spot turn into urbane esquire offense on the second. The third has the company spokesman attempting to smooth the Cavemen’s ruffled fur. The moment we see the characters we know the gag. No surprises. I say,“Wazzup?” They continue to produce nine more spots and a bad TV show that moves further and further away from the original pitch.

Uber risktakers Crispin, Porter + Bogusky resurrected J. Walter Thompson’s late 1970s Burger King in 2004. By 2005, parodies popped up on late night chat shows. Word of mouth spread and the term Creepy King surfaced on the Web. In a genius move, CP+B pushed the creepiness in subsequent spots. They know chatter works. Unfortunately, a recent campaign depicts mothers attempting to kill the King. How can we be creeped out if the King is off’d? We’re forced to empathize with him. That’s not right. It’s also been confirmed the King will be making a full-length movie. Wa-the-H-E-double-L-zup!

Signs of the “Wazzup” Syndrome are an unusual number of parodies, knowing the ending with 15 seconds to go in the spot and your grandmother quoting a catch phrase. Think about the bazillion times Master Card’s “Priceless” has been used and parodied or Alltel's Chad and the perpetually frustrated competitor geeks. We know the ending, which renders the spots less effective.

Advertising is a pop culture thread that briefly ties us together and moves on. For it to be effective it must engage, charm and reinvent itself. Once stale, advertising is chum.