There’s a famous saying, “Unless you can learn from history, you’re condemned to repeat it.”
I feel the same about bad advertising.
In some cases, bad advertising works.
At least it works inasmuch as it sells product.
Bad advertising often works by simply bashing the punter over the head so much that it eventually permeates their consciousness.
And this is part of why it works.
This is a clue.
If we can learn from this we can do good advertising that works as well as, or better than, bad advertising.
The clue is the bad advertisers spend many millions of pounds to get through people’s indifference to advertising.
There it is.
No one cares about advertising.
Only when we understand this are we are able to compete with bad advertising.
Because bad advertising understands that no one cares.
So they get through the consumers apathy by spending a fortune bashing home the same message.
It’s lazy, and wasteful, and it’s boring.
But, in penetrating the consumer’s indifference to advertising, it will eventually work.
Now, if you have a client who has that kind of money to waste, they can afford to be lazy and boring.
But what about clients who don’t?
They need to get through to the consumers without dull messages that bore everyone senseless, but work.
So here’s the start point.
No one is watching TV for the adverts.
People are watching TV for entertainment and information.
So, if ads are going to work without boring everyone to death, they need to entertain and/or inform.
But no client is paying for adverts to purely entertain the public.
Because entertainment alone doesn’t lead to increased sales.
The punter needs to know what’s in it for them.
Now more than ever.
Why should they remember to part with money when they next see your product on the shelf?
So, from the client’s side, you need seriously persuasive information.
From the consumer’s side, you need entertainment.
Or they won’t even watch your message, let alone remember it.
So the answer’s obvious.
What we need is persuasive information, wrapped in memorable entertainment.
It’s so obvious you wonder why everyone doesn’t do it.
Because we don’t.
But, besides the quality of the message, how else can good advertising beat bad advertising?
Well, there is one other thing we can learn from bad advertising.
The way they handle the fact that no one in the real world cares about advertising is to keep on-and-on bashing home the same message.
Until eventually it breaks though the crust of indifference.
The bad news is: it’s crude, but it works.
The good news is: it doesn’t have to be crude.
Consistency is a way smarter method of communication than constant change and inconsistency.
Why can’t good advertising learn consistency from bad advertising?
We have favourite films that we’ll watch again and again on Sky.
We have favourite music tracks that we listen to again and again.
On the radio, or MP3, or the CD player in the car.
Multi-channel TV stations are based on the fact that people will watch their favourite TV programmes over again.
How many times have you watched repeats of your favourite Simpson’s episodes?
No one says, “Oh, I’ve seen this one” and switches it off.
We say, “I remember this, it’s a good one” and watch it again.
If we do a really good ad, why should everyone get tired of it after a couple of OTS?
People aren’t that fickle.
If it’s a good ad, if people like it, if it works, why change it?
We can use good advertising to break through the apathy and keep reinforcing the point, just the way bad advertising does.
But without the bad bit.
Let’s don’t just reject bad advertising and hope it’ll go away.
Let’s learn from it and use it to make the good stuff better.
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could you get someone to format your blog nicely?
I love your articles, but i tend to start skim reading as the font is so bunched.
and that is a real shame!
Do me a favour Ian.
Send that comment on email to Jam…@cstadvertising.com
See if you can get any action.
The natural model:
If you want to define a climate,
choose a few characteristics
and repeat them to death.
Kinda off topic, but do you polish and rewrite your thoughts often or do you have these moments of total clarity all the time?
The current Garmin advert “Give a, give a, give a Garmin…Garmin.com, garmin.com. garmin.com” being a particularly good example! Message repeated incessantly, catchy tune and entertaining screenplay. This one will be watched many times over.
Nice point Dave.
On the side issue of design I’d say it could do with a tad more leading but the point size is ample.
Marius, everyone has their own way of doing it.
What I do is write absolutely everything down.
Then leave it for awhile.
Then come back, reread it, and cross out what you don’t need.
So you switch from broadcast to receive.
.
BTW, a change in your formatting would be great. Email on way to JamesP from me also.
I agree with the others about the formatting of the blog posts. I love the fact that your posts are short, informative and entertaining, but some paragraphs would be really nice.
Like your point about putting your point across with utmost persuasion. I still remember an ad for Dishwashers (actually for an electricity board appliance shop - dishwash electric).
Under a picture of someone doing the dishes by hand,
it simply said “if your hands can stand it, so can the germs.”
Genius. Job done. The copywriter got out of the way of the fast approaching idea. Whoever he or she was, well done.
I had a theory that the changes in fonts, use of boldness and slight wobbliness was a knowing homage to that other noted pamphleteer, Stanley Green, the passion/protein man. Gordon had surely gone through agony in getting the authenticity right for web use….
For proof, here’s
http://www.flaneur.org.uk/html/green/green2.html
I agree Angus, nice line.
Adam. He used to walk up and down Oxford Street giving away panphlets. I took one from him on my way to a shoot once. That evening we had too many cold refreshing drinks and I couldn’t sleep. I was looking for a book to read and the only thing around was his panphlet. I must have read that bloody thing a dozen times.
Dave, when I was 12, I scared my family witless by reading the same 2 books for 2 years. (Just in case you’re wondering, they are, “The Day The Ceiling Fell Down” and “The Night The Rain Came In”, both by Jenifer Wayne. I even bought replacement copies online.)
More productively, I still find myself re-reading ads in old D&ADs. Funny how the appeal of the more recent D&Ads seem to have worn off.
Also noticed that some people read and re-read sacred text religiously, sometimes with little results. Guess the same could be said of me and the Annuals.
Here in the USA we have the most atrociously aggressive infomercials that run in the middle of the night on TV here. but they know how to sell. they are an education.
PS: just got the Campaign with your induction in the Hall of Fame. did they have a party?
“You buy one you get one free. I said, you buy one you get one free!”
“If it’s a good ad, if people like it, if it works, why change it?”
That’s a great point - one Coca Cola clearly realises… ‘Holidays are coming’ ad marks the start of Christmas for lots of people.
I’ve also seen an Aquafresh ad from my youth - the one with the cartoon family and the song about the stripes - brought back to life. I was so pleased to see it again.
[...] “…bad advertising understands that no one cares.” Wow. [...]
Nope, no party Vinny.
A lot of them are in LA or dead.
Sorry - bit late to this one.
The problem with learning from bad ads is that what makes them “bad” and what makes them “effective” could be the same thing. Repetition. A childishly simple message. An annoying sound or voice. I’m not sure anything improves with repetition (Except sex. And tequila). Even the Fast Show had its limits. The character Colin, who would repeat catchphrases from last night’s telly was a great example of this.
The thing is, you can choose to watch the Simpsons again, because maybe you have only seen it once or twice. You can choose to reread a book. You don’t choose to watch an ad - it comes on and shouts at you. Very little can retain its charm or entertainment value under these conditions.
On the other hand, I do believe in a consistent message - A Mars a Day, Have a Break, Happiness is a Cigar called Hamlet. Every Little Helps. A compelling consistent message wrapped up in an entertaining box. If you can keep the message consistent, you can change the execution and get the best of both worlds.
[...] an interesting article over at Dave Trott’s blog discussing what can be learnt from bad [...]