When I was a wee lad back in 1980 there was an amazing bit of advertising surrounding the city of Buffalo and the Bills NFL team. Buffalo is one of those under dog cities that people constantly make fun of just like Cleveland, or Pittsburgh. Don’t tell that to the people who have immense pride in their home towns. That year the Bills were actually decent after many years of being straight up terrible. I could probably write a book on the heartbreak of being a sports fan in Buffalo (Hello Scott Norwood), but the point of this post was the campaign called “Talking Proud”.


To combat the negativity, advertising executive Alden Schutte produced the Talkin’ Proud campaign. Anyone who grew up in Buffalo during that time can remember the chorus of singers dancing through the streets singing loudly, “Buffalo’s got a spirit, talkin’ proud, talkin’ proud!”


Check out the song


After all these years the song still enters my conscience from time to time. I think now more than ever its spirit applies to the state of advertising, the insurgence of social media and the ways brands try to influence consumers. We spend so much of our time trying to get our clients to do something memorable, fun, or interesting. The industry tries so hard to use science, research, and measurability to determine a campaigns success. Yet at the end of the day we continually just retread the same tired and well traveled terrain.


We have reached an era in advertising where everyone is immune to almost any communication heralding the amazing attributes of a product. The shiniest, fastest, coolest is only that until the next thing which is usually a day later. The same applies to whatever cool campaign you are rolling out at that time. Today its the Old Spice guy and the next its Darth Vadar VW.


I think the real trick and key to a brands success today is to continually surprise, delight, and entertain consumers. The average person doesn’t say “Hey did you see that phone that has a super bright screen?”, or “Look that car has snow sensor technology”. The fact is to win the hearts and minds of consumers you need to have a clear point of view on the world, embrace culture, and get them “Talking Proud” about your brand.


I’m sure plenty of people disagree, but I think we are no longer in the advertising business.
We are in the entertainment business. Cue the Elephants!!!!