Arnold Creative Work Mentioned at Iconosphere

Over the two day conference, it was interesting to see some of Arnold’s own creative work called out as examples of brands that are doing a good job at addressing today’s consumer trends – or not.

The recently launched Volvo XC60 spot was shown as a good example of portraying “real” beauty. The Volvo driver is a real woman; she’s pretty but not unrealistically so and she has a sense of humor whereas the other luxury car driver is stiff and too consumed by her own looks.

The work Arnold Amsterdam did on Stuessy’s collaboration with Cotton and their specialty marijuana T-shirt was used as an example of a brand appealing to European Gen Y’s value of nonconformity as well as their interest in connecting with local culture. The Stuessy marijuana T-shirt brings out a unique quality of the city of Amsterdam, while also daring to do something nontraditional and a little risqué. It represents creativity, fun and freedom.

And lastly, the Rate Suckers Progressive Snapshot campaign made it into a presentation about gender stereotypes used in advertising. But this time the creative was being shown to demonstrate what not to do; don’t portray women negatively. The example, however, was not explained and I believe it was misinterpreted. The presenters were trying to make the point that portraying women as idiots was not a good marketing strategy. Fair enough. However, in the Rate Sucker campaign, both male and female “rate suckers” are used and therefore gender stereotypes don’t really apply.

Kelleen Peckham, Senior Brand Planner