When you’ve worked on enough projects, you see some reoccurring themes. And, some of those themes are ways organisations seemingly work hard to ensure that their own advertising does not succeed.
Of course, they don’t do it on purpose, but it’s more common than most people like to admit. Here’s a quick list. See if any apply to your organisation.
1. Perspective is everything.
There’s a saying in legal circles that goes ‘Any lawyer who represents himself has a fool for a client’. The simple reason why, is because they’re too close – they lack the perspective to see things from the outside, often due to their own unconscious bias limiting their view.
Smart people understand that and take measures accordingly. Others let their ego get in the way.
Many times, the things you might think are important, are not of any significance to your target audience.
2. You’re not truly customer-focused.
This usually comes down to different agendas and barriers people create for themselves. And, put simply, people need to be honest with themselves about it.
Is that latest campaign really for the customer, or is it simply to make senior management or shareholders feel good about themselves?
Is that work made in a way that will truly resonate with the target audience, or are you simply trying to schmooze an advertising awards jury?
Are you using assets and imagery that will actually work, or merely ones that compliance and legals have already approved?
3. Too much complexity.
Bureaucracy loves complexity because it gives the illusion that lots is happening. But Da Vinci said it best when he said ‘Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication’ (although he probably said it in Italian or Latin).
See, the number one rule is to make it easy for your customers. And if you haven’t done that, usually by distilling your messaging or your offering, you need to do more work.
Your customers aren’t going to do it. Unless they’re a good way down the sales funnel (excuse the jargon – I hate it too), people simply don’t care. They have school drop-offs to do, work meetings to sit in, dishwashers to unpack, Netflix shows to binge, 10,000 steps to do and eight glasses of water to drink.
In summary, make sure you’re not loading up the camel.
4. You’re playing to ‘not lose’.
We need to be clear that ‘winning’ and ‘not losing’ are not the same thing.
While caution and informed decision-making is paramount, if you’re number 1 priority is to ‘not lose’, the simplest way to achieve that is not to play at all. Then, your objective is pretty much guaranteed.
Advertising’s job is to stand out, not fit in.
So, be clear and honest with yourself about what you really want to achieve.
5. Advertising is usually subtle (in both victory and defeat).
If you happen to be sitting on the other side of a two-way mirror, watching a research group who has turned up for fifty bucks and free sandwiches, critique work, you might hear the term, ‘it wouldn’t make me buy it’.
Now, despite what digital advertising platforms might tell you, attribution of an advertisement’s success, and how it influences people, is a far more complex beast.
It’s important to grasp the fact that there are many factors involved. I understand it might not be convenient, or might not align with an organisation’s KPIs, and ROI charts that need to be shown in meetings, but that doesn’t mean it’s not true.
If the author or creator of a communication seems reluctant to make your requested changes, it might be because you’re messing with a part of it that, however subtle, will diminish its impact.
Successful communications can probably be best summarised by Al Pacino’s ‘Inches’ monologue in Any Given Sunday (just swap out winning in a football game to winning in business).
6. You’re spending more time and effort on process than the work itself.
In advertising and business, the result is the most important thing.
However, somewhere along the line, people seem to have lost sight of this and the process is often given more focus. Perhaps it’s a throw-back to high school maths, where you got higher marks for getting the wrong answer if you did it the right way, rather than the right answer by doing it the wrong way. Who knows?
Anyway, I’ve seen many marketers and ad agencies spend more time on the peripheries of delivering the work, rather than the work itself. This can take many forms – ranging from time-sapping, non-productive meetings, to being dictated what tools or platforms to use, to creating a 27-page deck to present a few social posts.
Try and always keep your focus on the true goal, rather than unknowingly creating barriers to it.
7. A tsunami of crap.
Let’s be honest here.The majority of adverting has always been pretty ordinary, and there are a number of reasons on why that’s so. However, we are now entering an era where it will plunge to new depths.
The barriers to entry have never been lower. Anyone with a phone can now make stuff and publish it. Generative AI, plus access to simple editing and design tools has all made it much easier to produce stuff.
However, just because one has access to tools doesn’t make them an architect. The inconvenient truth here is that the biggest workload in delivering effective communications is the thinking part. You can call it strategy, or consumer psychology, or insight-driven ideation, or whatever, but the important thing to note is that it’s not just a case of pressing buttons on a device.
And remember, AI’s frame of reference doesn’t just include the good stuff – it includes all the rubbish that’s out there too.
So, you’ll need to be clear on what your goal truly is here.
Are you simply adding to all the crap, or are you cutting through it?
DUSTIN LANE
Brand Strategy | Creative Concepts | Copywriting
Visit risinggiants.co or dustinlanecreative.com
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