Introducing the ad archivist: What my Mr Potato Head collection taught me about ads

But who can blame you? There are so many things to be addicted to: email, LinkedIn, games, taking selfies and other photos you’ll never look at again, of everything from your dinner to your pet. Online shopping. Dating apps. Porn. Gambling. Social media. The news.

Seriously, we're screwed.

So much time using a single device where every piece of media is delivered in the same dimensions makes it difficult for anyone to stand out, no matter how great the emotional response. Every other advertiser, poster, and content creator is seeking to influence their audience in the same way. And remember second-screening: even when the statistics say someone is paying attention, they probably aren’t.

Archiving the ephemeral

My own preferred, utterly joyous, addiction is Ebay. Granted, changes in the UX and small changes in my habits have made it easy to give Ebay up. And, frankly, I've bought pretty much everything I thought was under-valued or interesting already.

Nevertheless, I had a particularly intense stint ‘using’ Ebay for roughly a year. It was my assistant in building a pocket museum, the near-mythical Gallery within Global Street Art's Old Street Headquarters.

It took me about a year to make the Gallery. When you walk in, I hope it’s hard to tell whether it’s a well-curated collection or an art installation in itself. Either way, there are 100,000+ objects in the room – more than we'd ever have a chance to show. It can be overwhelming.

The room is content in its purest form. Every object was (of course) designed and produced by humans, and has the potential for inspiration and to tell a story – just like the hand-painted advertising Global Street Art is known for.

The room also represents the fading memories we have of past creatives. They say you only truly die when the last person speaks your name. The corollary of that idea: you’re still fractionally alive (in the minds of others) while you are remembered. In that spirit, remembering the name and the work of past creatives whose names we may not even remember anymore, the Gallery is a holy space, preserving their memory in a world where the news cycle is frequently so very bleak – and fast.

Listen up, Potato Head

This new column will talk about the lessons I’ve learned from the physical objects in the Gallery, and how they can be applied to your work today.

Take Mr Potato Head, the first toy advertised on television way back in 1952. We have a collection of vintage Mr Potato Heads and similar toys. They are so brilliant because they enable children to use their imagination. The toy has been in continuous production ever since.

Would you rather have invented Mr Potato Head or the fidget spinner? Both have done well for their producers, both have imitations, and both are still available today. But the lesson I get from Mr Potato Head is that it’s better to have a long-living product than to be a fad. One can be branded and owned; the other less so. Mr Potato Head is indeed an enduring brand.

Many brands obsess over their TikTok strategy and, indeed, the idea of 'going viral' has existed on social media since social media itself, but the idea long predates that. Mr Potato Head went viral, and thereafter, like most viruses, it ‘attenuated’ to the host – it weakened over time. It became the common cold.