Wednesday, 13 August 2014

3 Pieces Of Wisdom Everyone In Advertising Should Know


It’s SO easy to get carried away by how fast the world is changing, to think that TV advertising is dead, or that the power is now in the hands of the consumer or that the consumer wants to have a conversation… the list goes on. The important part is not spotting trends but understanding what is deep-rooted in human decision making that forms the basis for effective communication.

I’m sure you've all read it but if not Daniel Kahneman’s Thinking Fast And Slow is a must read. Not just another opinion piece, Nobel Prize winning work. And if you can't be arsed to read it but want a really brief synopsis, I wrote this.


Talking of effective communication, this piece of wisdom is brought to you by Professor Byron Sharp, author of How Brands Grow, to date perhaps the most rigorous scientific analyses into this topic. Great, effective work must be unmistakably recognizable, and not just by the logo on the end card. I think one of the ad industry's biggest crimes is the greed to do something totally new. We get bored of work much faster than normal people and chase novelty over consistency. The trick is to know how much you can change at a time. Philip Barden’s Decoded gives a good steer on this.

                  

No Fuckhead, you are not a storyteller. Ok so he’s not talking about the ad industry directly but the old adage that we are all about story telling can be not only self-aggrandizing  but also really unhelpful, especially in a world where we need to make communications in 10 seconds. And if you are making ‘content’ then you need to start measuring yourself against things people actually want to watch like Game Of Thrones. So here is a great ad that has fuck all to do with telling a story, just a great piece of communication in 10 seconds. 

           

What are your top bits of advertising wisdom? Give me a shout @LucianTrestler

Hope that was helpful, if you thought so and fancy giving the post a shout out on Twitter I’ll love you forever. Promise.

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