Just go into your agency coffee room right now and check out the ads on the wall. You'll be amazed to find "sensible and to the point" rather than award-winning. I remember being gob-struck by this phenomenon on a notice board in one of the greatest creative powerhouses in the world.
An ad hovering starkly on the wall simply stating: BMW for sale!
A hand-written headline over a bad digital image.
We fight "tooth and nail" for every syllable chosen and centimeter of white space earned, but when the money is on the other foot we become incredibly, single-mindedly… direct. You’d think with no clients and "gloves off" we’d be over-flowing with lyrical prose and top-notch art direction. Instead we get a bad case of the “I just want to sell this piece of %$%8.” (Which would actually be a really cool headline!)
Here’s a sample of what I found in my agency.
House for Sale! Lenexa, KS, $239,000.
Nary an allegory.
Chiefs’ tickets – best offer!
Pun-less wonder!
BMW for sale $8k.
Do I detect a play on the abbreviation of 8K?
I think we forget the basics sometimes when we strive for award-winning creative. We battle our clients for a pithy play on a new termiticide product or the use of
Herb Ritts for photography on a power tools trade ad, but all bets are off when we want to unload our own stuff.
Many clients would probably rather buy “BMW for Sale” because, well, you can’t argue with that.
But do not worry.
I am not condoning a realistic view on messaging, I think if we care to step back every now and again, and walk in our clients shoes we get to see the amazing faith they put in our creative skills to get the information through as directly (yet creatively) as possible. As well as huge blisters because the client I am thinking of is a woman.
OK I’ve ticked everyone off.
I’ve aired our dirty little secret.
We all have "the client" lurking inside.
Better get my ad on the notice board:
ECD. Needs new agency.
We fight "tooth and nail" for every syllable chosen and centimeter of white space earned, but when the money is on the other foot we become incredibly, single-mindedly… direct. You’d think with no clients and "gloves off" we’d be over-flowing with lyrical prose and top-notch art direction. Instead we get a bad case of the “I just want to sell this piece of %$%8.” (Which would actually be a really cool headline!)
Here’s a sample of what I found in my agency.
House for Sale! Lenexa, KS, $239,000.
Nary an allegory.
Chiefs’ tickets – best offer!
Pun-less wonder!
BMW for sale $8k.
Do I detect a play on the abbreviation of 8K?
I think we forget the basics sometimes when we strive for award-winning creative. We battle our clients for a pithy play on a new termiticide product or the use of
Herb Ritts for photography on a power tools trade ad, but all bets are off when we want to unload our own stuff.
Many clients would probably rather buy “BMW for Sale” because, well, you can’t argue with that.
But do not worry.
I am not condoning a realistic view on messaging, I think if we care to step back every now and again, and walk in our clients shoes we get to see the amazing faith they put in our creative skills to get the information through as directly (yet creatively) as possible. As well as huge blisters because the client I am thinking of is a woman.
OK I’ve ticked everyone off.
I’ve aired our dirty little secret.
We all have "the client" lurking inside.
Better get my ad on the notice board:
ECD. Needs new agency.
1 comment:
Good post.
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