The Fred and Ginger Syndrome

They made everything they did look so easy. Everyone thought they could do dance just as well. Forget about craft or talent.

Same with ads, some clients, some account service people why, even some 'creatives', think that it's easy to create an ad…actually anyone can do it.A little word play here, a little confronting image there and voila! an ad.  And usually an award or two.But where's the depth of thinking needed to build long time brand values and propositions?

Not saying it should be hard or first thought ads can't be right (they usually are but only after  you've been living the brand for months, long before the final brief arrives). Neither am I saying that advertising is the sole ownership of people in agencies. Sometimes people outside agency world can have an insightful thought/idea. Bravo to them. But it's much like a layman could probably guess where to make the correct incision for an appendectomy.

The best ad men and women are highly intuitive. It's in their DNA, they have a gut feeling for what's needed/right. It may or may not be word play or confronting images. It may be a category changer of an idea, or an idea that's not advertising at all.  They make it look easy because they live and breathe it.

That's what good ad people do…it's a craft they've developed and honed. Much like Fred and Ginger.

Next time "Are there simply too many people in advertising?"

Creating talk. Generating Commerce™