“The consumer isn’t a moron; she is your wife.”
So goes a quote from David Ogilvy, referred to by some as the Father of Advertising. There is always a temptation to dumb down an ad; just to make sure people get it. After all, if we are spending 1/2 million dollars to place radio and newspapers ads; we want to be sure that people “get the message”. That’s a pretty logical and reasonable position to take.
So we read and spell for the consumer. Net net, we make it so clear that we also make it bloody boring. There is no element of surprise, risk, mystery or such other emotional hook. We give the consumer straight and hard and we make sure they know who’s bringing them the message by making our logo nice and big.
Instead, our goal should be to run an ad without a logo and people still know whose ad it is. We should also, most importantly, let consumers complete the ad through their own filter. People will give us credit for trusting them to have some brains and hearts. Especially so, since we would be a rare breed.
