Why most advertising sucks. (Part 4)

One of the greatest tragedies of the advertising business is that there's very little training. People with raw talent are generally indulged, exploited, and eventually promoted into positions of managing the next round of talented people, with no consideration given to how they'll lead. 

I know. I was one of them.

Some of the guys I came up with are now running the creative departments of the largest and most powerful ad agencies in the world, and I guarantee you that it's not because a single one of them had management training. Whatever any of these people know about leadership, it's what they learned from books or developed on their own. 

Some of them –– and I speak from experience –– didn't think it was important to read any management books or develop management skills.

As a result, lots of ad agencies are populated top to bottom by people who might be brilliant at coming up with ads, but crappy at bringing along people, developing others' ideas, or interacting with clients or others in the agency. Not all of them, mind you. Just way too many of them.

It's a shame, really, because good ideas –– like talented people –– don't spring fully formed into the world. They need to be, well, managed. 

Why most advertising sucks. (Part 3)

If I could tell one thing to clients I've worked with over the past 23 years, it's this: Say one thing.

One.

It's hard to stick to one message. Especially since articulating one message generally takes far less than 30 seconds. So clients think that if it takes five seconds to say that your snack food is make with no artificial ingredients, you still have 55 seconds left to add that it comes in seven fun flavors and four convenient sizes, is available in the snack aisle, has an exciting new label, is fun to eat, and is enjoyed by some celebrity who is utterly irrelevant to the message they want to communicate, but who they pay ridiculous amounts of money to in order to be photographed eating it.

The thing is, expressing what you want to communicate isn't the same thing as communicating it. Or to put it in a way that even some of my most bone-headed clients could actually understand, it takes less than four seconds to say, "Brian Belefant is incredibly good-looking." But I guarantee it'll take longer than 30 seconds to convince you that the statement is true.

Say one thing. And say it well. If once you've crafted your message you realize that you actually need less than 30 seconds to communicate it in the most compelling manner possible, don't screw it up by throwing more information at the viewers. Run shorter ads.

Why most advertising sucks. (Part 2)

If you only retain one rule about advertising, this is the one: Advertising is not sales.

I'm going to repeat that, just in case there are any clients reading this blog. Advertising is not sales.

Advertising. Is. Not. Sales.

Sales is about making a transaction. Customers give you money in exchange for your product or service. Advertising, on the other hand, is about creating a desire.

Advertising comes first. The more desire you create, the easier it is to close the sale. Which has huge implications, especially when you fuck it up and do it wrong.

Treating advertising like sales actually reduces your likelihood of success. If you haven't created any desire, your efforts to close come across no better than the guy in the third-world market barking, "My friend! I make great deal for you!" which if you've ever been in a market in Cairo, Ecuador, Roumania, or just about anywhere else in the world, you know roughly translates into English as "Hello. I'm an aggressive freak who's trying to rip you off. Run."

But even if that weren't true –– which it is –– from a practical point of view you can't close a sale in an ad. Let's say you're sitting on your couch, watching TV, and a commercial for a new toaster comes on. You want that toaster. You need it. What do you do?

You a) go to the store, b) go to the internet, or c) go to the phone. Doesn't matter, you aren't in a position to make a transaction, no matter how much you want to. You can't throw your credit card at the television. You must take another step, one that involves interacting with either a salesperson or an automated process. Who or which is there to close.

Is that clear? No. I know it's not. But I can't help but try.

Why most advertising sucks. (Part 1)

The next time you're watching TV and wondering how such horrible stuff ends up on air, here's what you need to understand:

Corporations have levels. The bigger the corporation, the more levels it has.

At each level, the person making a decision is probably trying to make the best possible decision, but also has to consider his or her career. That means he or she can't very well say to the boss, "Sure, this commercial sucks, but I gave lousy direction to the ad agency and sent them down the wrong path for two weeks."

As you ascend the levels, you also acquire more responsibility. So while an individual commercial might be a high priority to the ad manager, the brand manager has to deal with the fallout from the celebrity spokesperson who has been photographed using a competitor's product and the fact that the design firm can't seem to get the color on the label right.

Ultimately, a lot of advertising happens by attrition. An air date has to be met and something needs to be shot. It can't be anything too controversial because every level not only has to present it to the level above, but explain why it's not going to cause more harm than good.

I actually had a client tell me on one shoot that he didn't want me to do anything that would make anybody notice the commercial we were working on. And no, I'm not making that up.

So next time you see something even marginally entertaining, beautiful, or compelling on air, remember: It defied the odds. It made it up the ranks of approval and didn't get eliminated in favor of something safer.

And then go buy whatever it is it's selling. Good advertising is something we want to encourage, after all.