Aetna’s new tagline “joins” the other big brand flops

Posted on by Coreen

“You don’t join us. We join you.”

Could there be a more tone deaf tagline at a time when the government (aided by Aetna and other insurance companies) is trying to make it more difficult for individuals and families to get and afford health insurance?

As one of those people in peril, here’s what I hear: You don’t join us. We decide if we want to join you.

Watch and, more importantly, listen to their first commercial in their new ad campaign:

Health is having the freedom to do what you want to do with your life. Every single day. So at Aetna, we promise to keep finding new ways to join you, so nothing gets in your way. because no matter where it is you’re going or whatever stage of life you’re in, we believe that when it comes to health you don’t join us, we join you.

Freedom means we have the freedom to decide, we have the freedom to choose which doctors we want to go to and what care to receive. Health insurance, more and more, is about restricting those freedoms in the name of preserving big profits for the health insurers. And now, they’re telling us–literally–“you don’t join us.” They have the power–“we join you.” Not what they meant, but that doesn’t matter.

We “keep finding new ways to join you”–the intent was a good one, as evidenced by this commercial below.

But they should have kept working on the wording because the one thing that trips it up is “You don’t join us.”

Readers come to your messages with their own preconceptions and apply their own tone. Don’t give them a chance to interpret it as negative.

Their concept is: Your healthcare journey can be difficult, we’ll join you.

Old man from Aetna Jump adHaving a partner in your healthcare is a good thing, like that friend who joins you for support and helps you along the way. The problem is that’s a concept, not a tagline. It seems like they got too hung up on the “we join you” part and were never quite able to articulate that concept.

Taglines aren’t easy.

Everyone has to put their ego aside and be willing to kill the ideas they want badly but that don’t work. You must think of the many ways your audience will interpret the message and consider cultural and political circumstances. Then decide which way you want to go.

Boil it down to idea you want to convey and then go from there. In this case, “We’re here for you.”

Sometimes, that simple idea can be your tagline: Aetna. We’re here for you.

And there it is.

Aetna’s tagline may not be great, but their new set of commercials emotionally resonate well and will stay with you in a good way. Check them out on Aetna’s YouTube playlist. 

 

 

 

 

Hands painted to look like a globe

Can advertising change the world?

Posted on by Coreen

So far this year, Audi and Nike stepped into the sociopolitical fray with campaigns focused on equality. Both have received cheers and jeers for their efforts, but as an American watching many of our democratic ideals be flushed down the toilet recently, I say this sort of aspirational advertising is a good start.

Audi’s “Daughter” – an aspirational message of gender equality

On February 1, Audi released “Daughter,” a 60-second spot focused on gender equality.

The narration is excellent and made more thought-provoking by the fact that we’re watching a young girl competing, having fun with boys. “What should I tell my daughter?…Do I tell her that despite her education, her drive, her skills, her intelligence, she will automatically be valued less than every man she ever meets?”

Great question. Impactful message.

I’m sure Audi thought they were in the clear, after signing the White House’s equal pay pledge and promising to review its own pay policies back in December. But audiences immediately jumped on Audi for being hypocritical, with females making up only 14.8 percent of the group’s entire staff, a mere 8.9 percent of Audi management being women, and no women on its board of directors.

Should they have released the ad? I say yes. It gives them something to live up to under the public eye. If Audi was already the model corporation in terms of gender equality, they would have used adult women in a different kind of ad rather than focusing on the dreams of a father for his daughter. Right?

Where would we be if companies only advertised their or our reality? Reality is depressing enough. The goal of advertising is to suggest a new reality, a more favorable world we all want to buy into.

Nike’s “Equality” campaign – reminding us equality is possible

Nike is another company that released a campaign in February that deals with issues at the forefront of political conversation today, especially in the U.S. where foreign visitors are being detained in airports, immigrants are being rounded up for deportation, and hate speech is on the rise.

Sports has always been a venue for peace and cooperation, in the Olympics and in competitions and leagues throughout the world. The playing field is a place where, as Michael B. Jordan narrates, “you’re defined by your actions, not your looks or beliefs.”

Of course, Nike is taking heat for their history of using “sweatshop” factories in countries around the world that abused their workers and paid them little. Critics call them hypocritical for good reason and share current examples of inequality for Nike workers in places like Vietnam.

Yes, there’s much more work to be done, but do we kill the message because the messenger is still flawed? No…or we’d never hear these messages!

I’m always leery of companies cashing in on these messages–like Nike selling $35 “Equality” t-shirts–but I still think corporations play an important role in a free and just society. At least Nike has made an effort to be more than an ad campaign, and if you go to the Nike Equality campaign page, you’ll see they offer and sponsor opportunities to mentor in your community and are partnering with PeacePlayers International, an organization who works every day to encourage peace in areas of armed conflict by bringing kids together through sports.

“Equality should have no boundaries. If we can be equals here, we can be equals everywhere.”

This message is true–inspirational and aspirational. I, for one, am behind any well-done campaign that talks about important societal issues in such a way, especially in times in which some leaders prefer we all be quiet. Now, if we could get more companies to speak up and do more to pressure legislators (in whatever country they’re in) to create policies that better the environment, equalize justice in courts and in social institutions, foster diverse communities and more, that would be progress. That would be being a good corporate citizen, and we need people with that kind of leverage to take action.

We’re in this together. The more we remember that and encourage it, the better.

 

 

 

Mountain Dew celebrates doing: Do they do it right?

Posted on by Coreen

In my younger days, I loved Mountain Dew–my caffeine boost as I wasn’t then a coffee drinker or much of a soda drinker. I loved the more sweet, smooth taste of the green stuff. Over the years, though I stopped drinking the Dew, I have been a fan of their action packed advertising and their Dew Tour. It seemed like they knew their audience well.

In their new advertising campaign, I think they may have sacrificed audience a bit for idea. Their new concept, developed by agency BBDO New York, has moved from focusing on “the action of doing” to highlighting “the feeling of doing.”In Adweek’s recent article, Ryan Collis, senior director of marketing for Mountain Dew, explains, “There is an actual euphoric high one experiences when doing something exhilarating, and we took on the challenge of bringing that moment to life.”

Good stuff, right? I love the concept–and I think a lot of people can relate to it. Now watch their new “Fade Away” ad and see what you think:

I have one problem with it–the music at the fade away. Visually it works, everything fades to black and gray while the actor and his skateboard are viewed in color. But, classical music for the fade away?

I think that’s where Mountain Dew loses it’s audience. I’m not saying skateboarders or people in their teens and 20s can’t like classical music. I’m sure some do. Is classical music really what represents the feeling of doing in that fade away? Does it even represent the “euphoric high” Collis talked about? No…that’s my answer anyway.

The fade away is what you feel when you’re in the zone–again, the concept is great. But if you want to get across that feeling of doing in those moments? Make the fade away part quiet or just breathing, a long exhale, a heartbeat or just the sounds of the skateboard’s wheels spinning, then make the landing pop with sound, maybe into loud rock or alt-rock music or a louder more percussive version of the music that comes before. That’s the feeling of doing, especially when you land that new trick or achieve that difficult feat.

This is the first in a series of ads under Mountain Dew’s new slogan “There’s no feeling like doing,” so maybe they’ll find their way in the next ones. Given the history of the brand and their campaigns and how well (I think) they know the skate and snow audience, I have faith.

Why Gigi Hadid is another perfect choice in Reebok’s #PerfectNever campaign

Posted on by Coreen

Yesterday, Reebok announced supermodel Gigi Hadid joined their #PerfectNever campaign–a campaign launched with Ronda Rousey this summer that sits under their “Be More Human” brand umbrella.

Tweet about Reebok choosing Gigi HadidTweet saying Reebok misses the mark

Already, critics are out on Twitter wondering why Reebok chose a supermodel to be the face of imperfection, admittedly making some valid points, like this post calling Reebok hypocritical.

Tweet saying Reebok is hypocriticalEven though I see their points, I disagree that Hadid is a bad choice. I think Gigi Hadid is a fantastic choice because she is who little girls (and big ones too) look at as the (super)model of perfection. The more we see Gigi and other models as humans, rather than these idealistic points of reference that all girls and women should measure themselves against, is a good thing.

As Yan Martin, vice president of global brand communications for Reebok, told Marketing Daily:

“We know there is that expectation that women are supposed to be perfect, and that standards may be unfairly high. And women put pressure on themselves. We need to talk about things in a way that’s more real.”

It’s like Dove’s Real Beauty campaign from a different, sportier angle. Speaking as a woman who took years to train herself out of needing to be a perfectionist, I absolutely love the positive messages Reebok, Dove and other brands are pushing out to women and girls.

Gigi herself understands the power of this message, as she explained in Reebok’s announcement:

“When I was a competitive athlete, I used to be so focused on being perfect that my coaches would take me out of competing all together. I’d focus on my mistakes which would breed more missteps – a domino effect. Until I learned to change the channel, to re-focus, re-set. It was my mistakes, my imperfections that motivated me most.”

I want my five nieces to all hear that and know that having a bad game is okay, making a mistake is okay and to see themselves as human, not striving to be perfect, but striving to be their best. And knowing that some days your best doesn’t look or feel so good–but that’s okay.

Reshma Saujani, founder of Girls Who Code, says, “We’re raising our girls to be perfect, and we’re raising our boys to be brave.” In her TED Talk, Teach Girls Bravery, Not Perfection, which has been viewed (as of today) over 2.5 million times, Reshma tells the audience, “I need each of you to tell every young woman you know to be comfortable with imperfection.”

Perfectionism is not just a trait a supermodel or athlete has–girls (and women) are, as the Philadelphia Inquirer put it two years ago, plagued by their pursuit of perfection. The article says: “The result is that girls today are exhausted. They pursue perfection, some to the point of eating disorders [President of Barnard College Debora] Spar dubs, ‘the disease of the perfect girl trying to do everything right’.”

Well, I think that so far in this campaign Reebok is doing everything right and I can’t wait to see who they choose next. After reading Abby Wambach’s Forward, I think she’d be an excellent choice and certainly embodies the #PerfectNever tagline.

“Never Lose the Love” Inspires Us to Lead a Better Life

Posted on by Coreen

I haven’t been inspired by much lately in advertising, until this week. No, I’m not talking about Nike’s new #AlwaysBelieve ad after the Cavaliers’ win, but when this ad (below) started, I thought it might be a Nike ad. It wasn’t. Instead, I was impressed and moved by Gatorade’s new “Never Lose the Love” ad, created by agency TBWA \ CHIAT \ DAY \ LA.

Gatorade gets back to why so many of us loved sports to begin with–they’re fun. They’re fun to play and fun to watch.

Lately, though, professional sports has become more about the gobs of money athletes make, and the high cost of tickets has shut out many true sports fans who have remained loyal for so many winning or losing years. Professional sports–and even college sports–are fraught with controversy and crime, and crime that turns into controversy.

My own lifetime love for watching sports has dwindled as games, especially during playoffs and finals seem rigged for TV ratings (read “cash”), and athletes in different sports test positive for performance-enhancing drugs or cheat in other ways. The line in the sand for me was drawn when alleged rapist Jameis Winston received the Heisman Award and then a $25 million contract as starting quarterback for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Sports seems to have forgotten sportsmanship.

As sports has become all about business, the love has disappeared–from fans and even from players. The humanity of it has eroded as well.

What has Gatorade done?

Gatorade gave us something we can’t resist, something we forget sometimes on our career paths, no matter what we choose–dreams. As the background music (Jimmy Durante’s Young at Heart) says:

“Fairy tales do come true, they can happen to you, if you’re young at heart…”

That’s why this one commercial has such widespread appeal. We all–even athletes making hundreds of millions of dollars–need to be reminded of who we were and how we felt as kids. Remember approaching the world with wide-open eyes, excited about anything new?

Possibilities were infinite, dreams still gave us a sense of hope for our future, and we always took advantage of opportunities to play and have fun.

The best never lose that love.

Gatorade ends their commercial with those words onscreen–the best never lose that love. And it’s true. This isn’t just an advertisement, it’s almost a self-help reminder. The best in most professions still approach each day with the energy they did in childhood.

One of my favorite parts though is when track star Usain Bolt is in the blocks ready to run and his child self is in front of him saying “Wow, how amazing is this!”

screen grab of video with Usain Bolt facing his child self on track

Sometimes we get so tied down by the work, the sheer amount of it or routine of it and we forget about why we chose this profession in the first place. Gatorade is encouraging us not to let hard work obscure the gratitude and the wonder of it all.

They even go a step further and highlight each athlete in separate videos, in which they talk about their childhood and how they became star athletes. You can check out the short video stories of Usain Bolt, Serena Williams and April Ross. Each one urges you to help “fuel the love forward” and sends you to Gatorade’s For the Love of Sports page where you can vote to choose a charity you think Gatorade should support.

This is basically “feel good” advertising at its best, and connecting us to this sort of humanity is exactly what we need right now. Go check it out.

 

 

 

Real, Nike-Style Advertising Helps Dick’s Elevate Their Game

Posted on by Coreen

As two sporting goods chains (Sports Authority, Sports Chalet) fade away, another seems to get stronger and stronger. Dick’s Sporting Goods keeps opening new stores and is catching my attention with their Nike-like ads that resonate and inspire.

I just read this fantastic article on the effectiveness of empowering ads. Though it specifically looked at how empowering women in advertising generates more responses and interaction, I’d say the same holds true for any empowering ad with any audience. One of the points that author Susan Wojcicki makes is:

Empowering ads don’t just generate impressions, they leave impressions.

In other words, they have staying power, which can often translate to buying and increased word-of-mouth. Dick’s recent advertising definitely leaves an impression. Let’s start with their “Contenders” ad:

If this doesn’t inspire you, bring a tear to your eyes or bring any emotion up inside you, then the advertising business is not for you (and your heart might be just a little dead inside).

Dick’s not only supports athletes who are training for the Olympics and Paralympics (about 200 across 35 sports), they used their own employees in this ad. As Ad Age reported, Dick’s, working with ad agency Anomaly, is “making a habit of using real people and their honest emotions in its ads.”

Bravo! As they should. There’s no better way of establishing trust and connecting with your audience than by using real people with compelling stories or action.

Advertising, marketing and branding is all about being real, sharing stories people can relate to. Dick’s isn’t being original–Home Depot has done this before (years ago even) with their pre-Olympics advertising because they are another company who employs athletes and supports them as they train. But that’s okay. Not everything has to be original, it just has to be done well, and their latest ads certainly are.

Dick’s is upping their game to the level of Nike, Adidas and Under Armour advertising–all brands their stores sell, so it makes sense to go in this direction.

Here’s the most recent one I saw that stuck in my brain:

This “Footwear” ad isn’t blatantly empowering but it is real and very human. In 60 seconds, they cover just about every sport and manage to work in family at the same time, while never showing faces, only feet. It’s clever. The music integrates well with the sounds of feet hitting pavement, tracks, puddles and more. Yet there’s also a warmness to it that comes from a subtle inclusion of kids’ feet.

For an ad they don’t bother to even title, it shows a broad range of products and manages to hook you in at the same time with a quickening beat and that human connection.

I hope Dick’s continues its relationship with Anomaly for a while because I kind of can’t wait to see what comes next. Interestingly, Dick’s and Anomaly share another connection–they both employ Olympic athletes in training. A quick look at Anomaly’s site revealed their “account man” Daryl Homer is training for the 2016 Olympics as well.

Good luck to all the athletes training for this summer’s Olympics and Paralympics, and let’s hope Dick’s and Anomaly keep this good stuff coming!

***

P.S. If you’re looking for an empowering ad for women, Dick’s and Anomaly made one of those too. It was Adweek’s Ad of the Day in April of last year.

 

 

Yes, I Am Offended by GapKids’ Ad

Posted on by Coreen

But maybe not for the reason you think. First, here’s the controversy:

GapKids controversial ad

The current ad causing controversy

As Adweek recently reported in their article, “Gap Has Apologized for This GapKids Ad, but Did It Need To?” many people are taking issue with the smaller black child being used as a prop by the taller white child.  

Then there is this older GapKids ad, which shows a taller black child leaning on a smaller white child.

Gap Girl ad--with attitude

Older Gap Girl ad

So, why the big difference in reaction?

As someone I met on Facebook said:

Do black people have a long history of subjugating white people and treating them as objects? No?
There’s the difference.

Offensiveness is subjective, so what do you do?

Here’s the thing: Facebook person has a great point. While I agree that her statement is true, I don’t think that was the intent of the photographer with the ad. I’m actually offended for a different reason, which I’ll get to in a bit.

I have worked in marketing and advertising for many years, and I have heard complaints about ad photos that I never would have picked up on in looking at them. In fact, I wish that I still had some of those photos so I could share my favorite.

Ball with handles that kids sit on and bounceOur team created an insurance brochure that showed a kid bouncing on one of these bouncey balls that kids sit on and bounce up and down with. The way the photo was cropped, you didn’t really see the ball, but you saw a smiling kid holding the rubber handle.

A customer complained and said it was too sexual.

?????

Crazy, right?

Not necessarily. This is one of the hard parts of being a writer, designer or photographer. Before anything goes to print, our job is to figure out what kinds of reactions people will have to the advertising material. In some cases, it’s very easy to see how some people might be offended or take something the wrong way (or way not intended).

We make sure passengers in cars have seatbelts on and riders of bikes or motorcycles have helmets on because we know if we don’t, entire organizations could have problems with our material and that’s not a good thing.

Given the state of race relations in our country, all creatives and execs involved in these decisions should have their radar up for ads just like the GapKids one. Do I think it’s offensive racially? No. But my no means “not to me.”

Do other people find it offensive? Yes. And I totally get their point of view–my Facebook acquaintance summed it up pretty well. (You can also see more comments in the Adweek article I linked to above.)

You should ask yourself and your team two questions before deciding on an ad–copy and image:

  1. Could people find this offensive?
  2. How many people could be offended by it?

Honestly, sometimes it’s worth the risk, especially depending on the product. In the GapKids case, it really wasn’t worth the risk. But there’s more to this case than just race.

The real problem with the GapKids ad

It’s a horrible photo!

Both Gap ads as aboveCompare the two ads. The kids on the right, in the older ad, not only are more multicultural, but they seem to be having fun with each other. It looks like this could be a real group of friends, and the arm resting on the one girl’s head looks completely relaxed and natural, while the smaller girl is standing in a powerful looking position.

The kids on the left, in the newer ad, look like they were thrown together for this photo shoot. The only one really having fun is the one who is upside-down. There’s no connection in this image. The tall girl in the middle looks completely uncomfortable, which no doubt adds to the racial connotation. Both girls in the middle look bored. As a creative person, this is what offends me.

Why Gap chose this shot is a mystery.

They have this fantastic kids campaign focused on empowering and celebrating girls, highlighting girls with unique skills and style. Someone should have noticed that the above photo doesn’t hold the same energy.

GapKids promotion with Ellen D. Need more proof? This video tells you all you need to know about why the current, boring, controversial ad should never have been part of the campaign:

It rocks, right?

GapKids could’ve saved themselves some trouble by taking a bit more time to compare the current ad with the rest of the campaign. If that had happened, we would not be having this discussion.

Under Armour Finally Connects with #RuleYourself Campaign

Posted on by Coreen

Back in August 2015, Under Armour launched its #RuleYourself advertising campaign–a campaign that Business Insider said was the company’s “latest shot to topple Nike.” But that shot kind of fizzled out, and I can tell you why…that is if you haven’t figured it out yourself after viewing their latest ads.

You are the sum of all your training photo

Great concept, too literal in execution

“You are the sum of all your training.”

The #RuleYourself campaign created by Droga5 is perfect for all audiences–if you want success, you need to have discipline, you need to rule yourself. Top-tier athletes are excellent examples of that discipline. Many people have talent, but it takes dedication and hours upon hours of work to use that talent to become an elite athlete.

The problem with the first ads though is that somewhere in the concept and creation phases, they decided to go too literal and lost the connection to their audience. See for yourself:

The idea is not bad. You see what seems like an infinite number of images of each athlete practicing and then, at the end, all those images merge into one–the sum of all their training. Get it? The problem is it ends up being too robotic. There’s no emotion.

Sports is all about emotion for both athletes and fans, and the first videos in the campaign (see the Tom Brady one here) were kinda cool and rhythmic, but they weren’t very personal or emotional.

Winning by appealing to emotion

Now, here we are in 2016 and Under Armour’s new ads have gotten more personal. One featuring the U.S. Women’s Gymnastics team came out at the end of February.

This one gives you that all important behind-the-scenes look at what the gymnasts go through in training. That rhythm and repetition is still there, but there’s also individuality.

The latest ad features Michael Phelps, and I think it’s the best of the bunch so far.

The pace of the music, the lyrics (“It’s the last goodbye, I swear…”), the lighting, the sounds–everything comes together to give you a personal inside view of Phelps’ training regimen as he vies for his last Olympic competition.

Does it evoke emotion? Absolutely. We can see the pain, the sweat and the effort that goes into competing at this level. We see what it takes to rule yourself. Phelps actually explains this in his interview with Adweek, saying:

It shows the raw things I’ve gone through to get to the point where I’m at. And that’s something a lot of the public hasn’t seen.”

Viewing it for the first time also brought Phelps and his fiancee to tears. (See the video UA posted on its YouTube channel.)

I just hope Under Armour and Drago5 continue to go in this direction, giving us a closer, more personal look that we can attach to and be inspired by. It’s the only way the audience will feel a connection, and keeping us connected is the only way UA has a shot at narrowing the gap between it and Nike.

 

 

LinkedIn’s TV Commercial: Brilliant Move or Desperate Moonshot?

Posted on by Coreen

LinkedIn sign-in page with Who Am I?

I don’t know what’s more curious–that LinkedIn is running a television ad or that the global professional network is choosing to do so during an event widely criticized for its lack of diversity.

You’re Closer than You Think, according to Nick Bartle, LinkedIn’s marketing vice president, is part of a larger campaign the company has planned to let viewers know exactly what LinkedIn is. He says (in re/code’s LinkedIn article) “There are labels that kick around. There’s ‘the Facebook for professionals.’ ‘The online Rolodex.’ ‘The place to post your resume.’ In every instance, we feel we’re not just those things, we’re so much more than that.”

Okay, I understand that reasoning, but does the commercial do the job? Watch for yourself:

The concept for this ad arose from LinkedIn’s December 14 tweet about NASA hiring an astronaut–to date, their most popular tweet ever.

Bartle explains why they transformed that tweet into a TV ad: “The astronaut is a universal symbol for the dream job. We want to show people the tools we’ve got that will enable them to take a step closer to their own personal moonshot.”

Great sentiment, but I think the commercial falls flat. Sarcastic me wants to say it’s because they based their decision on “Well, people liked the tweet,” but I’ll focus instead on the two problems that instantly pop in my mind:

  1. “3 million LinkedIn members qualify.” As soon as I saw this appear in the ad, I thought maybe it was targeting recruiters instead. But based on what Bartle said and on the beginning of the script, they’re targeting job seekers, probably trying to get more millennials to join.
  2. Why is LinkedIn reverting to their old reputation as a place to get a job? And, wait…what tools? The ad wasn’t long enough to show tools.

I hope their intention to show people the tools they have means the rest of the campaign will be more effective. Right now, the ad simply seems to be a waste of money.

That Sinking Feeling

Speaking of money, LinkedIn’s shares have been tanking lately, as examined in TechCrunch’s LinkedIn Problems Run Deeper Than Valuation. And that makes me wonder if this isn’t LinkedIn’s own desperate moonshot.

As TechCrunch reports:

…Only one-quarter of LinkedIn members use the site every month. This low level of engagement has made the product less and less useful for recruiting.

Uh-oh. Now I see why they’ve created an ad that targets job seekers (and kind of recruiters). If they lose recruiters now, they’re toast.

So, we’ve established that “desperate moonshot” is the answer here. Now, what about that time slot?

Banking on the Revenant?

In 2015, the Oscars drew 36.6 million viewers–the lowest performance among adults 18-49 since 2008 and the lowest viewership since 2009. But 36.6 million is still a good number, right?

Okay, well what about the millennials LinkedIn seems to be targeting? Millennials barely even watch traditional TV let alone the Oscars, as summed up perfectly in USA Today’s Voices from Campus article from 2015:

I feel completely irrelevant to the process,” said Ian Cashwell, a 2013 graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University. “It’s people in the film industry picking other people in the film industry. To me it feels kind of like watching another country’s elections.

LinkedIn prides itself on being a diverse, global network too, just like the Oscars…except, um, the awards show is not exactly that diverse, as you may have heard.

So, what’s up LinkedIn?

Advertising Age gives a little more insight in their February 24 article in which marketing VP Bartle says, “You’re Closer Than You Think is LinkedIn’s first-ever integrated marketing campaign and TV spot that’s inspired by LinkedIn’s vision to create economic opportunity for the global workforce.”

Bartle also explains why they chose the Oscars, saying, “We believe that everyone should pursue the biggest goals imaginable. There are moments when those accomplishments are celebrated, and we believe the Oscars is one of those moments.”

I still think the Oscars are the wrong place to draw in a new audience and the lack of diversity conflicts with LinkedIn’s global membership. But I get that the big idea is to show how LinkedIn can help people reach their potential. They haven’t executed on that idea fully yet, but we’ll see.

Of course (sarcastic me is back again), there may be another reason they chose the Oscars this year. Ever look up what “revenant” means? I imagine many of you did after wondering why Leo DiCaprio was starring in a movie of that odd name. It means “a person who has returned, especially supposedly from the dead.”

With dire predictions hammering them right now, LinkedIn is definitely trying to return to its former glory. There’s a ton of potential there. I hope they do find new life, and I hope their new marketing push ends up being more effective than what it seems.

Tune in and we’ll see.