James Mulvey

The best creative ads connect to pop culture.

Raid's ad featuring Spiderman's iconic red glove? Genius.


Why it works:

1. Instant recognition Spiderman's boot = unmistakable pop culture reference

2. Unexpected twist Raid so strong it took out a superhero?

3. Memorable message Raid kills bugs dead, period. Even if you're Spiderman.


The lesson? Injecting pop culture into ads can:

→ Grab attention
→ Create an element of surprise
→ Drive home your message with few words

When done right, it's memorable AF.


Raid understood the assignment.

No text needed. Just an arm and a can.

That's the power of pop culture in advertising.


Motion's lawyers made me add this:

This does not constitute legal advice ;)

Use your pop culture references with permission / satire.

There's a fine line between creative inspiration and a lawsuit.


P.S. What other ads have you seen do this well?

P.P.S. Get our Thumbstop newsletter. Join 25k+ media buyers and creatives: https://lnkd.in/gH52N34K

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Tell me you're a creative

without telling me...




Quick story for you:


I was chatting with a marketer last week

He showed me his monitor set up

One monitor had 4X custom GPTs

Thats ALL he used that screen for

He built the GPTs for creative ideation

It was a pretty sweet set up but it got me thinking about the future of creative strategy so here's my quick 0.02 for y'all


👇

More monitors and chatGPT windows wont help you

UNLESS...

You're willing to sit in what I call

“the discomfort of the ideation phase“



Let me explain...


You know how ChatGPT always has an answer for you?

And you usually go “oh ok, good enough“

THAT is the # 1 danger right now

Creative work needs discomfort



You need to sit in the tension

Be willing NOT to have a quick answer


This is the neuroscience behind why I believe this


Your conscious mind processes
❌ 40 to 60 bits of info per second


VS


Your subconscious mind processes
✅ 11,000,000 bits of info per second



THIS gap is why creative discomfort matters so much.

Your best ideas come from living WITH idea tension.

Where you can put your subconscious mind to work.



Am I saying that GPT is bad for creative?

No, you should 100% use it.

BUT...


Don't default to “Microwave Creative“

Where you just ask GPT to heat up some ideas.

Or you'll end up serving bad frozen dinners forever


Instead?

Get comfortable with idea tension

That tensions will drive your biggest 100X ideas

But you need to give it space to breathe

You need to give yourself space

Just sit in the tension




Thx for coming to my TED talk ✌️


P.S. Get your free ticket to Motion’s BIGGEST ad event (10,000+ marketers joined last year): https://lnkd.in/gGyMiWv6