The Bill Bernbach quote above appears in the introduction to Dave
Trott's Predatory Thinking. Fitting, too, since what follows are other
advertising gems and Trott's uncommon common sense anecdotes worthy of the
great Bernbach.
If you haven't heard of Dave Trott, shame on you. He's launched some of the most respected
agencies in the world—not one of those big, soul-crushing behemoths out of New
York and Paris—and received the D&AD President's award for lifetime
achievement in advertising. He has
created some outstanding campaigns over the years and learned a lot along the
way. Predatory Thinking imparts a fraction of that wisdom.
Trott's observations and advice come in convenient, bite-sized chunks. Short enough for you to chew on two or three
of them between subways stops but addictive enough for you to let a few trains
pass so you can indulge in a handful more.
Here are just a few:
Trott cites a lack of imagination and creative mischief in
advertising today. That too many of us
are trying to make art instead of ads that sell. After all, that is the
business we're in.—or rather we are supposed to try and influence a person's buying
decision rather than compel them to buy.
I say influence instead of compel because it is almost impossible to
force someone to do something they don't want to do without the use of force. Any
parent who has tried to insert a defiant toddler into a snowsuit and winter boots
knows this.
He laments the loss of the shit disturbers, the
bloody-minded sorts who challenge the status quo, who push against convention,
and speak truth to power. The one's who
make people uncomfortable.
Making people feel uncomfortable is hard, a
lot harder than simply shocking them. Offending
people is easy. Any talentless hack desperate for attention can be shocking.
The trouble is that it exists merely for its own sake and usually
attracts the wrong kind of attention. To get someone to feel uncomfortable is
to make them see something new. Something that gets their attention and makes
them to think.
Trott bemoans the fact that we have gone from quality to
quantity. Every job is assessed, sliced,
and diced based on the estimated time needed to complete the task. With that magic figure, people are inserted
into the project based on their hourly rate: a junior AD can only work on it
because she's cheaper, and the copywriter can only do two revisions or it will
go over budget.
"Counting has taken over from what counts.
And we've forgotten the first rule of advertising.
It doesn't matter what went into it
What matters is what people get out of it."
It seems to me, however, that what is good for the goose
isn't necessarily good for the gander. Can you imagine one of the heads of those
earth-scorching advertising holding companies, after getting his multi-million
dollar performance bonus saying, "Sorry but I can't buy that Bentley
because it has too many coats of hand-applied lacquer on it and the cabinetmakers
spent too much time polishing the burled walnut trim." Yeah, me neither.
Trott also warns that too many clients and creatives are looking
through the wrong end of the telescope when it comes to advertising:
"Clients, naturally look down the end that magnifies
the brand or product.
Until it takes up their whole world.
But the consumer is looking through the other end.
Where the brand/product may be a tiny part, if it exists at
all."
Trott has a way to get his team looking down the consumer
end of the telescope before trying to solve the creative problem. When he
briefs the team working on a pitch for the first time, he asks them to write
down everything they know about the brand and the market. What they write down
is likely everything the consumer knows or thinks about it. A knowledge benchmark. And once the research starts, the team moves
away from that benchmark. The challenge,
after all the research is done and the brand and product knowledge digested, is
for the team to find a way to distill all they learned into something the
consumer, standing all alone by that benchmark, would find important.
One of my favourite bites is his advice to creative
directors, both the wannabes and the current.
To illustrate his point he cites one of Liverpool's greatest footballers—and one
of the team's greatest managers, Kenny Dalglish. Shortly after becoming the manager, he was
asked how he was finding the transition from the field to the front office,
Dalglish said, "Well, I'll know I've got the team right when I can't get on
it." Bang on: as creative director it's not about your talent as an art director or copywriter, it's about assembling
a team so talented that even you couldn't get on it.
You can find Predatory
Thinking at amazon.ca
and at in-store at some Chapters/indigo
locations.
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