Influx

The same way we’ve all learned to filter out junk email and telemarketing pitches, teens and young adults have learned to filter out most marketing communications that target them. If an ad tries too hard and oversells, they register the failed attempt, filter it out and then have a lower impression of the brand making the pitch. Wasted money, wasted time.

Taking the cue from indie-rock cd packaging and art from skate and snowboard companies, clients like Nike and ESPN are commissioning understated and peculiar creative work that most brand managers would consider too unorthodox and risky. These simple but strange logos and marketing communications evoke initial reactions like, “who are they?” and “what are they thinking?”

Understatement invites participation. It gets through the filter by offering the viewer an opportunity to play with a puzzle for a moment, a puzzle that doesn’t have one simple answer and doesn’t have a clear brand sponsor. They have to engage the message or logo to interpret it, to wonder about it. That’s the coveted relationship-building connection brand managers dream about: ads that are not annoying and are actually worthwhile for the viewer and at the same time get the brand’s message through. And in the process, artists and designers get paid to make things they are proud of. Sounds like a win-win situation.

So sit back and watch a film that explores the world of artist and designer, Geoff McFetridge. His street-credible, playful, understated style is a sample of the kind of underground art that is getting through the filters for brands like Puma and Nike and is successfully connecting with teens and young adults. The film, part of Slowtron‘s Western State documentary series, just won its category at the Slamdance Festival.
Click here to launch the film
McFetridge’s work for Napster called Napsterbits
Geoff’s own site, championdontstop.com