Ad agencies like mine are asked by clients to come up with brilliant work that stands out in a crowd, but once in a while, the corporate higher-ups want work “toned down a bit” so it doesn’t take any risks (though they say they want outstanding creative work). This is a recipe for making campaigns bland and invisible.
I remember doing ads for AT&T and Lufthansa when I was a copywriter at McCann-Erickson. At least half of the ads were met with:
- a great initial response from my boss along the lines of “This is fantastic!”
- a period where the ad was shown around the agency, going up several layers of management, followed by “I like it personally, but somebody might be offended. Just tone it down.”
Try as I might, I could never find the elusive “somebody.” I don’t think “somebody” actually exists. It’s just a way for managers to cover their assets and not take the risks they really ought to be taking in order to get the client noticed. Of course, staying within the boundaries of what’s right for the brand is very important. But too many companies opt for an ultra-safe route just because they are a little nervous about a concept—not because the campaign strays from the brand. You probably can’t remember a campaign that succumbed to the “tone it down” syndrome because “safe” campaigns are not memorable. Most advertising falls into this category (and that’s a shame).
How strongly do I feel about this? Let me put it way out there with this video:
Tags: ad agency, web content, web marketing, web video
Nearly spit up my tea when the doc brought out the paper bag!
Thanks, Brian!
Love this…I’m dealing with this exact issue!
Victoria,
I’m afraid the “tone it down” issue is widespread. And the recent recession just made people even more risk averse. Thanks for watching the video! I played the doctor.
Ted
A great rule of thumb, courtesy of Scott Stratton (@Unmarketing): “People don’t share meh.” In other words, create content that people *want* to share. In other words: Don’t tone it down; don’t create meh.
This is so odd that great copy might never be seen on the premise that it might offend someone. That’s almost hysterical! I’m can’t begin to tell you how many times I’ve seen an ad or some type of marketing from a “big name” company, that has offended me. Seriously? One comes to mind as I sit here typing this. hummm…still get’s under my skin too just thinking about it.
How about this, take more risks but not with any intent to tick anyone off…good luck! That “someone” you are told about will always be there, you can’t please everyone. I think you can be bold and not be rude, vulgar or thoughtless while doing so.
Ted,
Excellent article and the video really makes the point. From my perspective as a solo PR pro, it isn’t always management… (I am the management…lol) a lot of times it’s the client. I work with a lot of them that don’t want to take chances. They’re afraid to step out of the box and be just different enough to make their advertising something that’s memorable and captures people’s imaginations. The result is advertising that becomes nothing more than what I call sonic or visual wallpaper. The result is that they often wind up wasting a considerable amount of time and money.
The other point to keep in mind is something I read a couple of years ago that’s stuck with me ever since. Unfortunately, I don’t recall who said it so I can’t attribute, but the point they made was that you never present ideas to a client that are larger than he or she can grasp, because they’ll turn them down out of hand. There’s a lot of merit to that, and frankly, most times, it’s one of the leading factors as to why so much advertising is bland and doesn’t garner any results.
Nice post, but a little edgy. Could you tone it down a bit?
Russ,
Best comment ever!
Ted
I do believe the biggest culprit of the current “turning it down a bit” is the economy. We watch every penny and don’t want to offend any potential customer. How do we start encouraging a change in state of mind?
Great video, it made my day! I am certainly going to use it.
It’s not only that upper management doesn’t want to take risks… Most of the time clients are afraid of anything that can be a little bit creative. Creative is scary. And most of upper management doesn’t understand creativity. How many times the most average idea has won?
Catherine,
Good point about upper management being wary of “creative.” It’s a foreign language to many senior managers who may have a technical of business background. One technique I’ve used to make what we do more readily understandable is to use terms that are part of their world. for example, instead of saying we’re going to get paid to develop a “creative strategy,” we’ll say, “messaging/marketing blueprint.” They understand what a blueprint is, and as engineers they would not consider building anything without one. So we make the same case for our agency product. I’ve seen this work many times. We still end up being creative, but our work and process fits within their schema.
Ted
This is such a common syndrome I’ve come to think most advertising creatives are acting out the same script every day worldwide. My fave memory of this mindset was after presenting radio to large client. They’d laughed hard at the read through, seemingly very entertained. And when they were done and had collected their breath, the brand manager said, “Ah, that was great! Now what do you really got?”