Episode 172 - Kodak Memory Shots Reviewed by Standard Life and Papier
With the Memory Shots case study, Kodak is offering an AI tool to “recreate” memories for which there are no photos. They paired with Alzheimer’s charities and worked with experts who confirmed the insight and the therapeutic benefit of this activity for patients. But is this an ad, an awards pitch, or a subtle B2B case study?
Our guests Virginia Barnes (Interim Brand, Sponsorship and Retail Marketing at Standard Life) and Holly Chapman (Head of Brand at Papier) discuss the concept and the creative effectiveness, while we trial the Memory Shots tool in real-time on the show. Thanks to Contagious for sourcing this!
Episode 172 - Kodak Memory Shots Reviewed by Standard Life and Papier
Transcript
This is automatically generated, so it’s not 100% accurate.
Tom Ollerton 0:00
Hello and welcome to Advertisers Watching Ads. This is a regular show where brands watch other brands’ ads.
My name is Tom Ollerton. I'm the founder of Automated Creative, the creative effectiveness adtech platform, and before we see this week's ad, I should also thank Contagious, who are our partner. So thanks for helping us get this show out into the world. Before we get to this week's ad, let's meet this week's guests.
Virginia Barnes 0:53
Hi, I'm Ginny. Virginia Barnes, and I am at Standard Life, currently heading up the brand and sponsorship, retail marketing and customer marketing teams.
Holly Chapman 1:02
Hi, I'm Holly, I'm Head of Brand at Papier.
Tom Ollerton 1:05
Right... Let's watch this week's ad.
How many points would you give it out of five? One, two, three...
Virginia Barnes 3:27
Four for the tech, but two for the campaign, for this.
Holly Chapman 3:30
It just wasn't as beautiful as I would have done it.
Tom Ollerton 3:32
So a three and a three. Right, Holly... Quite an emotional little, gooey video, but what, what's this campaign actually all about? What’s going on?
Holly Chapman 3:40
I think the campaign is supporting Kodak's development of this AI technology, which they've then kind of rolled out and partnered with an Alzheimer's charity on rolling out to centers across Belgium, you know. And it is a really lovely and thought provoking and emotionally charged and connected campaign.
Tom Ollerton 3:59
I'm confused. What are they actually selling? What's the product here?
Virginia Barnes 4:02
It's a funny one because it's not really, it's not really a campaign necessarily, is it? It's kind of... It's a video about this initiative, and the initiative is great. I did go on the website, and I had a little play with it myself, and I was looking at the FAQs, and there was a question about how you’re using my data, and it literally says, “Our website has no commercial goal,” when explaining that it wasn't going to be capturing data. And I was like, this is my marketing brain going, “But why are we doing it? What's behind this?” Like... So is it just kind of like corporate responsibility purposes? In which case, absolutely. I think it does brilliantly that, but my brain doesn't, you know, the math isn't mathing in terms of what is it trying to do? What's the purpose of it? It's fantastic that apparently this technology is being used in 70% of care centres across Belgium. That's fantastic. Is this about reaching care centres in other markets? I don't understand where the, the “so what?” is from a kind of commercial point of view, but I think in terms of my view of Kodak and the technology they have, obviously is fantastic, but I don't really get what they're trying to do with it other than win awards.
Tom Ollerton 5:10
That was my feeling as well, and should we go on and have a look at the website? Let’s have a look. Holly, let's take you back to years gone by. Can you give me a prompt?
Holly Chapman 5:17
I used to do disco dancing as a child, and I won a rosette for it.
Tom Ollerton 5:23
Let's have a go. And then...
Holly Chapman 5:24
Maybe 95. Oh, my gosh.
Virginia Barnes 5:27
Is that you, Holly?
Holly Chapman 5:28
Imagine! It was more like a dance hall, but I mean, yeah, disco dancing, I'd say.
Tom Ollerton 5:34
Highlight the details you like to change. Change all this stuff. Put it in a, in a dance hall.
Holly Chapman 5:39
Yeah, like a gym. Yeah. This is more like it.
Tom Ollerton 5:42
Anything else to add?
Holly Chapman 5:44
I would have a Spice Girls t-shirt on, for sure.
Tom Ollerton 5:46
Okay. Spice Girls t-shirt. Oh my God. That is wild.
Virginia Barnes 5:53
I think it's a really lovely insight that not all precious memories have a photograph like that's so important. The agency involved also worked with some experts who understand Alzheimer’s and understood that this would be a useful form of therapy, actually, to get people to talk about things they know. So that's so that they remember. So that's really lovely.
Holly Chapman 6:14
I think I feel warmer about the brand, though, than I did previously. So in a way, I think that is good marketing. But then the cynic in me is kind of like it is just an AI tool and like, what is this opening the doors to, you know, falsifying memories... I don't know. It's not the best, best out of I’ve ever seen, but I do feel like it's been a good representation of Kodak and the nostalgia, and it kind of plays into that a little bit.
Virginia Barnes 6:39
I think there's something in this idea of when the kind of “What's in it for me?” not me as the customer, but me as the business. When the “What's in it for me?” isn't clear, you are suspicious. And maybe it is because we are particularly cynical, because we are marketing people and we're like, but what's the hook here? What's the why? Because we all know that this cost money. So why did they do this? There must be a something. There must be a reason why they're doing it, and because it's not clear, it feels like there's a game being played under the table that we're not aware of. I mean, I hope it's not about falsifying memories on old people because that could be awful.
Holly Chapman 7:12
I wonder if it's more like about winning an award or something and like getting that recognition in a different way because it does feel a little bit like it. It has been created with that in mind, maybe.
Virginia Barnes 7:24
Like, I don't know, winning an award is like... That, that won't pay the money. Like there must be a commercial benefit, and I'm not really sure how their business model works anymore, but it is probably about winning big commercial printing deals. But are you gonna be swayed by that? By this new technology. I don't know, I don't know.
Holly Chapman 7:41
People using film cameras and picking them back up again like is on the rise, like that analogue sort of thing. So I wonder if it is sort of trying to get a bit more share of voice with like consumers and kind of attracting them within that way. But you could do that in many different ways. And I actually thought some of the way that they put it together with like the documentary style and the, like, photos, I actually think they felt quite like incongruous. And it actually, you know, the aesthetic didn't fully tie into that beautiful Kodak, like, grainy image, that you'd kind of come to expect from like if it was like a brand film or something.
Tom Ollerton 8:18
Ginny, I think you've cracked this. I think this is B2B and it's not obvious. It looks like B2C, but it's B2B, right? As a B2B marketer myself, you have to come up with this stuff. You have to come up with a bit of sizzle.
Virginia Barnes 8:28
I know that they're applying this new technology to help old people have these memories, but I bet you could apply this technology in lots of other ways. Like, “Look, this is where... No, no, no, it doesn't look quite right. Oh, look, we can help you, Mr. Businessman. This is how your shop could look with a different storefront.” You know what I mean? Like, you could apply that technology in a very business to business format. It doesn't just have to be helping older people reconnect with memories.
Tom Ollerton 8:54
Having worked at the agencies, I would love to know what people have actually put into this, like... You know, people who are just playing with it. It won’t be recreating happy memories. I'll tell you that. Your average, lass or lad on the internet going, “Let's see if I can break this.” You know, there'll be certain words that will have been used over and over again that I'm sure they've got a filter on. But, you know, in my experience of building digital properties, no one uses it the way you want them to use it.
Virginia Barnes 9:18
I mean, this could be mistreated as well. Like, you could... You couldn't. “No, no, that really happened. Look.” You know, you could.
Tom Ollerton 9:26
Would you sign off this campaign in its current form? Thumbs up or down? One, two, three... Ginny, Holly, thank you so much.
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