Learning from Larry: your brand should improv to improvement
The Or’s Dan Morris takes campaign inspiration from the long-running comedy show, Curb Your Enthusiasm. Each season, it grew its relevance, showing the power of persistence and a bit of improv.
/ HBO
The bright, shiny dream of any agency is to revolutionize a brand. Take it somewhere completely different and be the ones to push it to the moon. Rarely do agencies start getting foamy around the mouth at the prospect of merely evolving a brand.
And while it’s undeniably tempting to start from the beginning, tearing up what’s already been created, scattering the pieces to the wind and then trying to concoct something mind-blowingly original…we shouldn’t neglect the wonders of evolution.
Just look to Curb Your Enthusiasm. For nearly a quarter of a century, Curb has transcended generations in its appeal by building upon its foundations. It’s HBO’s longest-running comedy, with the pilot hitting screens in 2000. For context, that was when we had just gotten over the idea of Y2K ending civilisation as we know it. It has never gotten stale and has endured the prolonged time it’s existed to perfect the unique formula of what makes it one of the all-time greats.
The foundation of Curb is that it’s unscripted, an outlier in sitcoms at the time. Actors are given areas where the plot must go and then improvise the dialogue. Larry David has described creating the show’s plots as “putting together a giant jigsaw puzzle.”
If, like I am doing, you go back and watch the early seasons, this freestyle chaos approach is evident. It’s still hilarious, but the dialogue feels improvised compared with later in the show’s run. You can almost see the cast, director and editor trying to work it all out and put their best foot forward.
This is often the case when launching a new brand platform. At first, everyone is finding their groove together. You’re just trying to make sense of what you are doing and introduce people to it in its simplest form.
That’s why many of the most beloved brand platforms we know and cherish were launched with work that is rarely held in the pantheon of advertising envy. It is normally the second or third round of work where the magic clicks together.
Basically, it doesn’t matter whether you’re Larry David or Nike; we all have to persist through that awkward first bit before we can confidently hit our stride. It may take time, but that’s where dogged persistence can pay off.
I’ll personally never get bored of seeing what Nike does under ‘Just Do It,’ or Honda for ‘The,’ Power Of Dreams’ or Marmite under ‘You Either Love It Or You Hate It.’ They are all a testament to the power of evolution over revolution.
And while we are at it, I’ll take this time to lament the passing of some of our fallen brethren. RIP ‘Good Things Come To Those Who Wait’ and ‘Keep Walking’; you were taken too soon from this world.
Curb is remarkable in that it has evolved despite comedy being reframed as our social ethics have been placed under the spotlight. It’s difficult to think of another show that has not only managed to maintain its relevance over such a tumultuous period but even gone as far as continuously bettering itself as it goes on.
The show’s executive producer, Jeff Schaffer, perfectly summarises the reason for such lasting appeal: “As long as there are awkward situations and petty grievances and social interactions that don’t go the way you think they should, Larry’s voice will ring true.”
As the soothsayers of brands, we can all learn from Curb. The show has never transformed into something unrecognizable. It bettered itself, evolving regardless of what is happening worldwide.
So, shouldn’t we all be a little more Larry David when it comes to shaping brands? Of course, excluding hiring a prostitute so that you can drive in the carpool lane. Or perhaps not.