- 8 hours ago
Gruen - Season 18 - Episode 01
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00:18G'day, I'm Will Anderson. Welcome to Grim. Are you ready for the greatest show of all
00:23time? Nah, not this show. A new reality program from Vaseline. Tell them, Tyra. It's Tyra here
00:31at the Afterglow. I've been given a mission by Vaseline to find eight shimmering singles
00:36ready to find their match. It's got all the drama you love. We're just chatting. And at
00:41the end, only one couple will be crowned the glowiest. Glow my God. Which couple will be
00:48crowned the glowiest? Wait, does Vaseline have any products that could help? In this box,
00:52there are some tools to help you raise your girl's heart rate, including Vaseline
00:56Cocoa Radiant. Made with 100% cocoa butter. My heart's beating faster just thinking
01:00about it. Mine too, Tyra. Vaseline has been by Glow 2 YouTube channel for years for reasons
01:10I'd prefer not to say. But this series has everything. Eight singles, four body oils and
01:18one massive fan. Me. I'm a glow bro. And all these greased up hornbags have exciting jobs
01:27like content creator, playboy, heartthrob and situationship survivor.
01:36My favourite part is the elimination. So to put it a more Vaseline-y way.
01:40You are all going to vote on which couple is less glowing and more going.
01:44Oh, I can't wait to find out which couple is less glowing and more going. Who's oiled and
01:50who's spoiled? Who's slopped and who's chopped? Who's creaming and who's dreaming? Who's coated
01:55and who's outvoted? Who's greased and who's released? Who's oozing and who's losing? Who
02:01will be lubricated and who will be eliminated? Who will be slathered in discharge? And who
02:06will be sent home with a cab charge?
02:17That was longer than an episode of Afterglow. But each one-minute episode feels so much longer
02:24thanks to slick Vaseline product placement. Before we begin, let's have each of you apply
02:29some Vaseline body oil to amp up the glow. It's going to get really slick. No, see,
02:34it absorbs really fast. It's not greasy. It's a little greasy. But don't worry, I'm not going
02:41to spoil the finale. Okay, yes, I am. And the glogy goes to Elkie and Elliot and who doesn't want
02:48a bedazzled Vaseline bottle? I've got mine. It came with my official Afterglow merch. Let's see
03:01what else is in here. Oh, good. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Well, it's just loose Vaseline. Oh, that
03:15is gross. It's going to seem like... 18 years.
03:31Oh, my goodness. Wow. If they make a second season, I know who they should cast. Glow off,
03:39kids. Time to welcome our panel. Todd Sampson, Kieran Peet-Cordor, Karen Ferris and Russell Algonne.
03:59Hey, have you ever noticed that the letter W sounds like the words W? Well, for nearly
04:0744 years, Westpac didn't, but now they have and they're doubling down. It takes a little
04:13more W. Probably here. Double me? If instead of just one, you were double U. You'd have
04:24Double the hands and double the legs
04:26Double the heart and double the heads
04:29Oh, well, we should start and what would you do
04:31If instead of just one...
04:34You OK, kiddo?
04:35We're fine.
04:36We're not you.
04:37But when it comes to banking, we can be your W.
04:41Great.
04:42Now they can rip me off twice.
04:45And I can't wait until they find out about Big W.
04:49Surprisingly, for an ad with so many redheads,
04:51this campaign has a huge outdoor presence,
04:54including this ad that asks if you could double you,
04:58what would you two do?
04:59Ooh, great question.
05:01What would we two do?
05:02This is what we two would do.
05:08Ooh, double will.
05:11Westpac.
05:12Make a deposit.
05:18Oh, my God.
05:22We had some spare Vaseline.
05:25Russell.
05:28Russell, WTF.
05:30Well, you know, Will, I like advertising, Will.
05:32Yeah.
05:33But when I...
05:34OK, Russell's back.
05:36Yeah, yeah.
05:37When I first saw this, I just thought...
05:39I honestly thought this is the most convoluted nonsense
05:42I've ever seen.
05:43It literally...
05:44I couldn't believe that they'd had this, you know,
05:47brainwave, you know, on a whiteboard to say,
05:49oh, my goodness, you know how your logo looks like this?
05:52Well, that actually is pronounced a double U
05:54and therefore we're going to say your customer is your double U
05:57and we are going...
05:58You just go...
05:59What convoluted nonsense that is.
06:03But then I sort of thought about it.
06:05Oh, God.
06:07You're going to come right on this now?
06:09Yeah.
06:09Oh, wow.
06:10And I'm coming right on this.
06:11And I had a conversation with other Russell.
06:14Exactly.
06:17And he reminded me, you love advertising.
06:20And this is advertising, so you must love this advertising.
06:24Right.
06:24So why do I now love it?
06:26Well, what's going to happen is...
06:28Well, it's going to work.
06:29And why would it work?
06:30Well, the number one hurdle that you have in all advertising
06:33is just...is attribution.
06:34It's very hard to ensure that your piece of advertising
06:37is attributed to the brand.
06:39So what Westpac's doing is, in fact, what ComBank does.
06:42They have a...you know, they've got their, you know, diamond,
06:44their yellow diamond.
06:45Yeah, they have a shape.
06:47And the NAB, they've got a star.
06:48They've now decided that their star is their, you know,
06:51their ability to differentiate their bank versus the other banks.
06:54And then Westpac's decided that the W
06:56is the bit that differentiates it.
06:57Like, obvious, duh,
06:59and yet they haven't done it for 44 years.
07:01So it's going to work at that level.
07:03The other level where it's going to work
07:04is that the reality is, as time goes on,
07:07our relationship with the bank will, in fact,
07:09in effect be like a W in that it will be AI-driven on our phone
07:13and that AI app will know you will.
07:16It will know you very well.
07:17So I feel like they're on this pathway
07:19where it's going to make sense for them.
07:21And then if you start looking at the shorter work
07:23that they're doing,
07:24you can see that that is where they're taking this communication.
07:29So, yeah, I've moved on.
07:30I actually think it's going to work.
07:31I wouldn't call it brilliant.
07:32I would still call it convoluted nonsense,
07:34but it is going to work.
07:35Yeah, I mean, just putting aside the play on the W,
07:39what I find...
07:39But how can you?
07:40I know, I know.
07:41You can imagine how this is going to spin off, right?
07:43Double fees, double queues, double time.
07:47But put that aside.
07:48The thing I find cheeky about it
07:50is that, you know, Westpac is basically...
07:54The insight here is saying we're all overwhelmed.
07:57We're overwhelmed so much in life
07:58that we need another person,
08:00we need another one of us to cope.
08:01But their solution to that modern overwhelm
08:04is another you.
08:06It's not lower fees.
08:08It's not more branches.
08:10It's not better service.
08:11It's another you.
08:12I mean, it's either hubris or incredible oversight.
08:17Well, it's a massive overclaim.
08:19It's definitely an overclaim.
08:20You know what it's like?
08:21It's like going to a mechanic with an engine problem
08:24and then saying,
08:24have you ever thought about getting two cars?
08:28No, it's not.
08:29Yes, it is.
08:32I don't think it is, Todd, anyway.
08:34Karen?
08:35It is really confusing, right?
08:36Like, if their insight...
08:37If their insight is that we are time poor and overwhelmed,
08:40why would you demand to make an ad
08:43that audiences have to use so much mental energy to understand?
08:46I think the insight's correct.
08:48I think the way they executed it was really badly.
08:51And also, like, we're in this place
08:54where people are really serious about money at the moment.
08:57There's cost of living, there's housing crisis,
08:59there's also, like, intergenerational wealth gap.
09:02Westpac has a heritage of being the serious brand.
09:05You know, they went from, like, helicopters
09:06and Australians helping each other to this sort of place.
09:09And it's like, they could stand out from the rest of the competitors
09:12and actually talk, like, two adults in a room,
09:14let's talk about your money problems.
09:15Where instead they've created this pleasant villa
09:17with this, like, Mumford and Sons kind of soundtrack.
09:19And it's all just very nice.
09:22And the thing is, like, nice is a biscuit.
09:24It's a biscuit that no-one wants to eat.
09:26It's covered in sugar.
09:26It's the boring one that's in the tin.
09:28No-one wants nice.
09:29Nice doesn't stand out.
09:30Nice has no teeth.
09:31Like, nice doesn't...
09:32You don't remember nice.
09:34Well, I think this will be remembered, though, Karen.
09:37Well, first, full disclosure, I work on one of the competitions.
09:41But I also am very familiar with financial services as a category.
09:45And I agree with you.
09:46The insight is around this, you know, financial struggle
09:49that everyone's kind of going through.
09:50But that's not just for the financial services category.
09:52It's across multiple categories.
09:53And the risk is when everyone's dealing with the same insight
09:57that they're trying to respond to, you start to sound the same.
10:00And back in 2018, NRMA and Westpac were both saying we're helping, right?
10:06Help was their big platform.
10:07So I kind of understand where they're coming from of going,
10:10we're just going to build something ownable.
10:12So when we spend 25% more on our media budgets this year,
10:16at least it's not some generic thought.
10:19It's something that at least people will go,
10:21OK, it's that colour, it's our word, it's everything around that.
10:26So I understand it from that perspective.
10:28And I do also give kudos to the fact that going after some custom music.
10:32And the thing that's happening in the world now, in the ad world,
10:34is this notion of distinctive assets.
10:36Everyone's obsessed with their distinctive asset.
10:38And so they get excited in the boardroom because they can say,
10:41you know what your distinctive asset is?
10:42It's your logo.
10:45And we're going to put an idea into the logo, the idea being W.
10:49And then we're going to double down on W.
10:51And you watch what happens.
10:52The attribution, Todd, the attribution of this advertising
10:55is going to be out of this world.
10:57Russell, I can't believe I'm saying this,
10:58but I think you should stick with your gut instinct.
11:00That it was convoluted rubbish.
11:04I know it's convoluted rubbish.
11:05It is convoluted rubbish.
11:06Stop there then.
11:08But this isn't...
11:09But the other Russell's like, come on!
11:14We started the show in the afterglow,
11:16but if you've been to Woolies lately,
11:17you know how it feels to not use lubrication.
11:22Everyday Rewards is Woolies' loyalty program slash spying system.
11:26And this new ad is checking you out at the checkout.
11:28I'll get this.
11:31Sweet.
11:32So close to getting $10 off.
11:34Oh, don't forget to scan.
11:36Let me see you scan that.
11:38Let me see you scan that.
11:40Let me see you see me scanning that.
11:42Let me see you see him see you scanning that.
11:45Let me see you see me see him see us scanning that.
11:53Your Everyday Rewards card.
11:55Everyday Rewards.
11:56Let me see you scan that.
11:58Oi, mind your business, baby.
12:00If your parents knew how to scan a condom, you wouldn't be here.
12:06The Everyday Rewards ad has almost as many half-off signs
12:10for their loyalty programs as there are security cameras
12:12making sure you're really loyal.
12:14But I love that tune.
12:16It's actually my second favourite Woolies song
12:18after this one I saw on Rage.
12:21I love stealing from Woolies, I love stealing from Woolies,
12:24I love stealing from Woolies, I love stealing from Woolies,
12:25I love stealing from Woolies, I love getting a f***ing day off.
12:26LAUGHTER
12:28Real song.
12:31Real actual song.
12:33Karen, what do you think of that ad?
12:36You know, it's very fun and very un-Woolworth.
12:39And I think that's great.
12:40Like, when was the last time you saw anyone having a good time in Woolies?
12:43Because I think the thing is, we know that they're,
12:45along with Coles, are the big bad,
12:47but unfortunately they're a necessary evil
12:49for a lot of people who can't be able to shop anywhere else.
12:52And we're in this really interesting position
12:55where people don't really want an apology for them anymore
12:57because we know that they're still going to do the same things
13:00that they've done before.
13:01So, if they're going to slap me in the face,
13:03we might as well have a good time with it, right?
13:05Like, let's just have some fun.
13:06Like, drop this sort of salt-of-the-earth,
13:09earnest farmer shtick that they have going on
13:11and actually just make ads that are fun and funny.
13:14Like, we know from research that 72% of people
13:17will be more likely to buy from a brand that is funny
13:20than one that is boring.
13:22And I think that's where Woolies are pivoting to
13:24when we see work like this.
13:26Isn't it great that we're now singing the action?
13:28Let me see you scan that.
13:29Let me see you scan that.
13:30Right, so usage is everything.
13:33So advertising designed to get you actually using.
13:36This, I actually really love this.
13:38I love the soundtrack.
13:40I love the use of, you know, let's call it a jingle,
13:43in that it's, you know, they're driving usage into my brain,
13:45which is always the trick to jingles.
13:47It's very hard to...
13:48You've got to watch it, right?
13:50And I particularly love the older woman
13:52with her fantastic little move.
13:53Yeah, it's weird to see how, like,
13:56these supermarkets are selling surveillance and data collection
13:59and how they're sort of repositioning that it's not surveillance,
14:02it's helping you.
14:03So nobody says,
14:05would you like to be in a long-term behavioural monetisation program
14:08that's going to mine your data for their profit
14:10for the next 20 years?
14:12What they say is, would you like $3 off dog food?
14:14And we go, yeah, because they know two simple things.
14:18Immediate rewards are valuable,
14:20and with the law of reciprocity,
14:21when they give us something,
14:22we are willing and often give something back to them.
14:26And what I find disturbing about this ad
14:30is that it's almost honest.
14:32Because it is creepy that they're watching us all the time.
14:36And whether they're doing this unwittingly or not,
14:39they're sort of normalising this idea
14:41that collecting our data is kind of funny
14:44and it's OK and it's really great
14:46and we should collect as much as possible
14:48so they can mine it for their benefit.
14:50And the future of that is not just,
14:53oh, when you walk in, you know,
14:54it's going to pop up on your phone saying,
14:56here's your shopping list.
14:57The future of that is going to be,
14:58what is happening already,
15:00which is surveillance pricing.
15:01So they're going to know you well enough.
15:03So the future is not,
15:05how much does this product cost?
15:06It is, how much are you willing to pay?
15:08And that's where it's all going.
15:10That's a potential...
15:11And in some...
15:11That is a potential future.
15:13That is a highly likely future.
15:15Well, no, that is a potential future,
15:17which probably will require legislation
15:19to not let happen,
15:20because that must not be allowed to happen.
15:21But this normalises it.
15:23This kind of makes fun of it.
15:25It's still remarkable how willing we are
15:28to give all our data for an equal reward.
15:31So the reward is often one point for $1.
15:34So it takes $2,000 of groceries
15:36to get one pan on your reward system.
15:39Yeah, it's a great piece of advertising,
15:40though, isn't it?
15:44Both Russells in firm agreeance.
15:47I think what they've done that's really interesting
15:50is they've set this ad in a point
15:52where most people find pain in the shopping journey,
15:55which is the price point, right?
15:57It's when you're paying and you're being like,
15:58how much am I going to lose this week?
15:59It's also in the part of the shops
16:02where when we used to go shopping,
16:04you'd go to a cashier, you'd have a chat,
16:06you'd wait in queue,
16:07you might talk to the people around you
16:08because you're there for, like,
16:09five, ten minutes at the cashiers.
16:11Now, in that cattle call self-service bit,
16:14you're surrounded by human beings
16:16and you have no human contact
16:17and you feel very detached.
16:18And so they've shown us
16:20what we have not realised we miss the most
16:23from things that have changed in the past five years
16:26is human interaction and community.
16:28This is a bunch of strangers cheering each other on
16:31for saving money.
16:32Remember feeling happy?
16:33My research team assures me that some people do.
16:36For the rest of us,
16:39McDonald's has a new meal.
16:41Good luck going after our fans.
16:42We have a hundredth meal at McDonald's.
16:45You mean.
16:45Saja Boy's breakfast meal.
16:47Ours has ten chicken McNuggets.
16:49Ours has hash presents.
16:51Hash browns.
16:52It's a battle for the fans.
16:53For our grown-up fans.
16:54Kids will love that,
16:56but they can't have it.
16:58According to the fine print,
16:59it cannot be distributed or redeemed
17:01by a child under 15 years.
17:04Why?
17:04Because it has cool adult stuff,
17:07like playing cards and special purple sauce,
17:10which, since it's adults only,
17:12I can reveal is made of grimace jizz.
17:25I can't wait to try it.
17:28It's going to be good.
17:30Oh, wow.
17:31That smells real bad.
17:33Yeah?
17:33Is it really purple?
17:35Yeah.
17:36Do you want to try it?
17:36It's had my finger in it.
17:38It's all right.
17:38It might taste a little like Vaseline.
17:40Exactly.
17:42Wow.
17:43Do you want a stick?
17:44It's actually purple.
17:45It's purple.
17:46Do you want a little stick?
17:47No.
17:48Oh, okay.
17:49That is...
17:50You know what I'm saying?
17:51You know what I'm saying?
17:55Grimace has had asparagus.
17:59Well done.
18:01Oh, God.
18:02That is disgusting.
18:05Oh, God.
18:08Oh, yeah.
18:09Mmm.
18:10I'm loving it.
18:14Kieran, is this just the way to make Happy Meals more expensive?
18:18With McDonald's and Huntrix and the K-pop Demon Hunters, I think there's two parts to it.
18:23There's the part around McDonald's, which used to be known as this fast food chain, right?
18:28And now they're not cheap, so that's a big difference.
18:31Coffee is a lot cheaper at your local cafe rather than going to McDonald's at the end of the day.
18:36And it's also not the fastest option.
18:38So there's those unfunctional things that used to make it the place to go to get that meal that you
18:43wanted, not necessarily a thing that you're going for anymore.
18:45So they're trying to build these emotional connections.
18:47They're trying to get you connected through passions and partnerships.
18:50This strategy works for a lot of brands.
18:51They've always done this.
18:53For this particularly, why Huntrix, it has been a huge phenomenon.
18:58Now, in order to really look at if this is going to be effective, you kind of need to look
19:02at the original strategy.
19:03Is this something to really, like, make them land forever and really grow forever?
19:07No, this is probably not their long-term strategy.
19:09They've got the monopolies and those bits and pieces and those partnerships that come in regularly and build that longer
19:14-term growth.
19:15But what they're doing is they're dipping into these cultural insights, these moments in time, right?
19:20So they just did Friends, they did a few other ones, and they've got them changing all the time.
19:24And Netflix capturing something that has an audience that goes from kids to adults, I think it's really smart.
19:32That cultural moment in time, what's everybody else paying attention to?
19:35And I think K-pop Demon Hunters is also so creative.
19:39Like, that's what's let them do really interesting things with us.
19:41I know that that sauce is disgusting, but I think it still let them do really interesting things with what
19:46the actual product in the Happy Meal looks like, even though it's expensive.
19:49Can I ask Todd a question?
19:50Yeah.
19:51Why not?
19:51Let's do it in a new format.
19:52You don't need me.
19:55I'm just wondering whether that animated fella with his six-pack of hash browns, whether that makes you want a
20:03hash brown.
20:07Your licence to ask questions is revoked.
20:16So what's really interesting is instead of trying to compete in price, they're competing on a reason to actually shop
20:22there.
20:22And so what they're selling here is the reason why they can charge more is because they're not selling food.
20:26They're selling a fan experience.
20:28And this is your ticket into entering the world of K-pop Demon Hunters.
20:32So you've got this premium packaging.
20:33It's a bigger box.
20:35But then you also have the unboxing, right?
20:37And then you've got your blind collectibles where everybody wins.
20:40But then also you have an Instagrammable, socially shareable food moment.
20:44So in some previous ones, it's like a crazy shake.
20:46In this one, it is the purple sauce.
20:47Oh, OK.
20:48Where if you, like me, not a huge fan of K-pop Demon Hunters, but being like, I want to
20:52try the purple sauce, it's a small upgrade risk to do something that's a little bit fun.
20:56You want to share it on socials.
20:58But also for younger audiences, younger as in being 15 plus, because that's who this is meant to be aimed
21:03at, you can do it with your friends.
21:06So you can go in, you can each buy it, see what you get.
21:08Because you're carrying that big giant box, it becomes this, like, culturally cool thing where you aren't carrying the Macca's
21:14bag that your parents have.
21:15It's like something that you can signal to everyone, I'm really into this thing and, like, look at me with
21:21my K-pop Demon Hunters merch.
21:22With the K-pop Demon Hunters turning the McDonald's arches even more golden, we thought it was time we lit
21:28on our own ABC icon beloved by kids all around the world.
21:33Hey, kids, do you love Bluey?
21:36Well, too bad.
21:37Introducing the Four Corners Adult Happy Meal, each box includes a pack of six nuggets of truth, live exported right
21:46to you, and our limited edition anonymous sources, which we will never reveal.
21:52And don't forget your toy, it's a whistle, go on, blow it, the Four Corners Meal, because there's nothing to
22:00be happy about.
22:08To kick off the new season, we're racing right into the most controversial topic in the world right now, e
22:13-bikes, which I believe are bikes from Israel.
22:19This week, we asked our agencies to make us love e-bike gangs.
22:23Here's the first pitch.
22:24Everyone is focused on the trouble out there, but disruption creates opportunity.
22:28It's just a matter of how you look at it.
22:30The people we celebrate today as heroes didn't often start out that way.
22:34They started out as trouble.
22:52Dance?
22:53No dramas.
22:55You'll make it.
22:55To show us how we play.
23:00Live, love, lead the earth.
23:04The currents rise in the wry has begun.
23:08Live, love, lead the earth.
23:16Go!
23:17Wow.
23:19You have convinced me.
23:20Here's our next pitch.
23:21This brief was tough.
23:23Yeah, because we all have pretty special feelings towards e-bikes.
23:27But we did have the insight that we were all kids ones too.
23:31And the stuff that we were doing and the people before us were doing
23:34was probably worse than zooming around on an e-bike.
23:37Every generation has their rebels.
23:41Outlaw.
23:44Troublemakers.
23:45This is kind of bad, isn't it? I suppose we're all bad in our own way.
23:48Hippies.
23:49It's also a time of rebellion against the authority of the adult world.
23:53Dropkicks.
23:54I think these are dangerous.
23:55Slaggers.
23:56Losers.
23:57Idiots.
23:58Little shit.
24:00Worst nightmare.
24:04It could be worse.
24:08It's a ride of passage.
24:14Wow, you've convinced me.
24:16But what will our panel think, Todd?
24:18Todd, which one did you prefer?
24:19I mean, I do agree that it's hard to take criminals
24:21with a low-carbon footprint seriously.
24:25So I'm going for two.
24:27Number two, what about you, Karen?
24:28Yeah, that's a clear number two for me.
24:30Karen?
24:31Number one made me laugh a lot,
24:33but I think the insight number two is stronger,
24:35so I'm going number two.
24:36Russell, you're the tiebreaker.
24:43I think that's a clear number two for me.
24:44I think that's a clear number two for me.
24:44I think that's a clear number two for me.
24:44Live, love, live the, uh...
24:46Which one did you like?
24:47Definitely two.
24:48Definitely two.
24:49OK, well, congratulations to Jack and Nimble.
24:52We will have a helmetless teenager race this over.
24:59If you're watching the ABC right now,
25:01chances are you're a godless communist.
25:04Well, have you heard the good news?
25:06There's a new app that promises to get you closer to God
25:09and hello be thy name.
25:11It's our time of year again.
25:12Hey, buddy.
25:13You leading Lent on Hallow this year?
25:14You bet, brother.
25:16Stay prayed up.
25:17Yeah, you know it.
25:18Hey, Father.
25:19You joining Lent again this year?
25:21Of course.
25:22Stay prayed up.
25:23All right, Father.
25:25Sister, you're joining us again on the app this year, right?
25:27I am, Mark.
25:28I can't wait to join you guys on Pray40.
25:30I love it.
25:30Hey, Chris.
25:31Yo, what's up, Mark?
25:32You want to join us on Hallow this year?
25:34Join you on Hallow?
25:36I was hoping you'd ask.
25:38Yes.
25:38Stay prayed up.
25:39I'll stay prayed up.
25:40You said it.
25:40I love it.
25:42Can I say that?
25:43Check it out.
25:44Download Hallow today.
25:47Jesus Cross.
25:53How did they get Jesus Cross?
25:57Hallow is like Grindr for God.
25:59For just $17 earthly dollars a month, Hallow offers prayer guides, tracks for your devotion,
26:05and if you miss a day, it'll kill your firstborn son.
26:09Love it.
26:10So far, Hallow has logged over a billion prayers and is fronted by holier-than-thou celebs
26:16like Gwen Stefani, who told me that she ain't no hello-back girl.
26:23But when it comes to God, she has no doubt.
26:28I just hope it can help my friend Mark, who seems to have a gambling problem.
26:31Let's let go of the world!
26:38And as our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ always says, chances are you're about to lose.
26:45Todd, will we pay to pray?
26:47It's incredible, isn't it?
26:48Like salvation behind a paywall.
26:50I mean, it's just...
26:51Arguably, it's not surprising, but arguably God is the most successful brand in the world,
26:56and the church has been monetizing him for thousands of thousands of years.
27:01I think what's sort of, I guess, depressing is how they're doing it.
27:08So using an app, using a digital platform to do it.
27:12So for many people, they're getting anxiety and detachment and loneliness issues because of technology.
27:19And once again, we're turning to the technology that makes us feel distracted to help us straighten out.
27:25And that, to me, is what's a bit off about this.
27:28I'm just shocked that since when did religion become mainstream to talk about in ads?
27:33And so that, for me, is very surprising.
27:35I think we went through a big period of time where you just didn't see it.
27:38Now they're, like, taking Super Bowl ads out and they're doing big things with this.
27:41But it's clearly this ambition to go, OK, how do we make young people connect with faith again?
27:47Because that doesn't exist in a younger space.
27:49But I also think the delivery of that ad, the execution of it, was way too fake for me.
27:55Like, I think Mark Wahlberg was a choice, right?
27:58So they weren't using celebrity endorsements before they brought him on.
28:01And I actually read an interview with the CEO and co-founder where he said it was to attract an
28:06audience of lapsed Christians,
28:07but also the non-religious.
28:09So people who might be agnostic or God-curious.
28:12And to get them in.
28:13Because we know that celebrity endorsements, people are more likely to buy a product if it is sold with celebrity.
28:18And what's really interesting is that audience of people who are unsure, this helps to reinforce with them,
28:24which all humans have, is that we're looking for like-minded people to reinforce our worldviews so that we can
28:29think that it is right.
28:30So when you're seeing your, like, group of bros like Chris Pratt and Mark Wahlberg and a bunch of other
28:35religious people all on there doing it,
28:37you're like, ah, I've made the right choice in choosing this religion or doing this every day,
28:42which is really an interesting sort of thing that works.
28:45But also, like, the app, even though, you know, as you were saying, it's like using that when people have
28:50an app addiction,
28:50it's actually borrowing a lot of behaviour that people have online and using it.
28:55So in the Hello app, you can have, like, Bible sleep stories, calm meditations.
29:02I think, like, there's calm readings.
29:04And things that people are already downloading apps for and using.
29:07But also, the behaviours of religion are often time-based and ritual-based, and your phone supports that.
29:13So you've got calendars, you've got timers, you've got notifications.
29:16You can even have, like, audio playing.
29:17So you can listen to the Bible while you're driving.
29:20Interesting, isn't it?
29:21Is the objective of Hello to actually get people into, you know, to practise religion and go to church and,
29:28you know,
29:28and practise how they go about their life in a different way?
29:31Or is it because they want to get the subscription?
29:33I think it's a subscription.
29:34This is a replacement of church.
29:37They're not being like, hey, do some of our 40 days of Lent and go to church every Sunday.
29:42This is your church.
29:43You've got a father on there.
29:44You've got a nun on there.
29:45You've got everything you need.
29:46They're actually...
29:47It's really interesting because this is privately owned.
29:49It is competing against the church on the basis of religion.
29:53And that's the issue I have with it.
29:54I think in most cases you can get away with your, you know, who you're using as your celebrity ambassador.
30:00But in this case, I think it's not cool of them not to show that he's an investor in the
30:04company.
30:05That that's a bit like, come on.
30:07You are you have equity in the thing that you're selling on behalf of God that you're going to make
30:13money from.
30:14It's a nice logo.
30:15That was a beautiful pivot by you.
30:21I love that.
30:22Todd got a bit serious and you were like, logo nice?
30:27Heather Russell whispering in your ear, logo nice.
30:30Logo nice.
30:31Say the logo's nice.
30:35Surely that line, though.
30:36That line, I can't stand that line.
30:38Stay prayed up.
30:38Yeah.
30:39Stay prayed up.
30:40Are you staying prayed up?
30:41It felt so...
30:42Stay prayed up.
30:43Yeah.
30:44Hey, stay prayed up.
30:46Yeah.
30:47I know, right?
30:48Yeah, that's one of those, like, you know when your uncle's trying to be cool type of thing?
30:51It feels like that.
30:52But again, it's usage, right?
30:54Yeah.
30:54The line's designed and all these platforms.
30:57The key is, you know, reach and then usage.
30:59So you've got to get repeat usage.
31:00So stay prayed up is a usage line.
31:02Don't say amen because that won't get usage going.
31:04No.
31:04Say stay prayed up.
31:05Yeah.
31:08From one resurrection to another, the death of Jeans West hit devoted denim demons like
31:14me so hard that I haven't worn pants since.
31:17Don't look under the desk.
31:20But now Jeans West is back, sort of.
31:34A warm, cosy Australian cafe atmosphere with relaxed indie folk vibes.
31:43Why do these two look so alike?
31:46It's not good Jeans, it's AI, which is why the song lyrics sound suspiciously like the
31:51prompt that Jeans West put into the AI generator.
31:54A warm, cosy Australian cafe atmosphere with relaxed indie folk vibes.
32:03The Jeans, yeah, we spent a lot of this today singing that.
32:08The Jeans West marketing is full of the Jeans worst slop slogans like, jeans time is here.
32:14And the more straight to the point, buy jeans!
32:18Personally, I can't wait to dress in all denim and go for a romantic walk to Ope La Rue.
32:26Come on, baby, let's climb it!
32:30Karen, can Jeans West sell a bootleg?
32:33You know, I think this is a great example of when marketers, or anyone really, has too
32:37much confidence in the output of AI.
32:39Because I think the discussion isn't whether you use AI, it's whether it made something
32:43worse.
32:43And in this, for example, a lot of discussion has been about, what is the relationship between
32:49these two women, right?
32:50Are they sisters?
32:51Is it a mother-daughter thing?
32:52Is it a twin?
32:53Is this a W situation?
32:55Is it her in the future?
32:57Like, it's not clear because they both have the same hair, but one's a little bit longer.
33:01And they look similar, but not.
33:03Where if you did this in real life, you would have gone through a casting process where you
33:07would have had those discussions of being like, is this clear enough?
33:10Does she look like she's her, whatever she's meant to be?
33:12And you would have made sure through styling and propping and through acting and directing
33:17that that was clear to the viewer, where this is just confusing.
33:20It also isn't shot like a fashion ad.
33:22Like, the angles that this AI model is at, some of them are, like, really forward and blocky
33:27looking, and the clothes make it look like a Gumby, where, like, some of the angles,
33:30like, them seeing like that, it's like you get a good view up an armhole.
33:33And, like, those aren't things that sell clothes.
33:36But then I think the lyrics at the end just cap off that they just churned something out,
33:40and this was probably made in China, where Jeans West is located, that they didn't do
33:43the due diligence of checking with anyone what those lyrics mean, because they would
33:47be like, this all seems fine, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick.
33:50Here's the tragedy.
33:51No.
33:52Excuse me.
33:52Oh, Russell's choked up.
33:53Yeah.
33:54Here's the tragedy.
33:55Yeah, what's the tragedy?
33:55The tragedy is it doesn't matter.
33:57It doesn't matter.
33:58Because in the end, so Jeans West is a brand that, you know, there's, it's incredible,
34:01like, all these brands that are in our brain, and all you've got to do is just set it alight.
34:06And that's really all this advertising is doing.
34:08So there's this notion, you know, in the investment world that we are on our way to having single
34:14person, billion-dollar companies.
34:15So you can have a single person, billion-dollar company making, like, let's say it's Jeans West.
34:20So there's a brand that you just have to ignite very readily, very cheaply with AI.
34:25And then you can just sit at a desk and just, you know, get all the orders and send them
34:29out.
34:29Like, it's this incredible, low-cost model to go about building a business.
34:34I'm not so sure it builds a brand, but it definitely is going to build a business.
34:37I think it's tragic.
34:38I think it's really tragic.
34:40But that is where we're at.
34:41Like, I get it on paper, right?
34:43So on paper, using AI for advertising makes sense.
34:46It's cheaper, it's highly scalable, and it's faster.
34:50But fashion doesn't just sell fabric.
34:53You know, it sells aspiration, and it sells lots of other things.
34:56It sells a look, and it sells...
34:58And so when you look at this, and it's so cheap and obviously, like, stupid, you don't just question the
35:06product.
35:06You question the whole company again.
35:09And I think making a forgettable ad faster still makes it forgettable.
35:14If it was for a brand name that we'd never heard of before, then I would agree with you.
35:18But because we've heard of it, it works.
35:21The amount of content being created on channels that people are consuming these days is ridiculous.
35:25AI swap is real.
35:27This is part of that as well.
35:28And so I can totally understand the ambition of going, we don't have that much budget.
35:32We want to create something.
35:33But how do we still have that human connection in it?
35:37That is the big challenge.
35:38And I think no one's answered that yet.
35:40Everyone's trying to do it in some way.
35:41But I do think you're going to start alienating audiences.
35:44Fashion is something that's so representative of who you are and how you put yourself out there,
35:48that you can't just, you know, throw AI in and take over the emotional part of what it should be
35:54at the end of the day.
35:55Hello promises our prayers will be answered, but only if Mark Wahlberg doesn't hang up first.
36:00Hey, buddy.
36:01Hey, buddy.
36:02I noticed you seem to be hanging up on people in these ads.
36:05Just what?
36:06Yeah, you know it.
36:07Hey, father.
36:08Hey, son, I guess.
36:10I really want to talk to you about how you're hanging up on people.
36:14Sister, you're joining us again on the app this year, right?
36:16Girl, it feels like you're not listening to me.
36:19Love it.
36:19Check it out.
36:20Download Hello today.
36:21Hello?
36:22Hello?
36:22Are you still there?
36:29Please thank our panel, Todd Sampson, Karen Ferry, Caudela, Karen Ferry and Russell Howcroft.
36:38We were going to leave you tonight with something made by humans, but then we were prompted to go in
36:43a different direction.
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