By Tom Attea, Author, The Secrets of Successful Creative Advertising
Here's what you'll learn in this article:
1. That innovative and imaginative advertising presents the selling proposition more powerfully and invitingly than hard-sell advertising can ever do;
2. But that many mediocre creative types didn’t really understand what the goal of their creativity was and, when their flashy but empty work bombed in the marketplace, the disappointing results undermined the marketing community’s faith in creative advertising.
There was a halcyon time in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s when creative advertising was all the rage. Small creative agencies flourished, major agencies courted outstanding creative people, and clients were enthralled with the potential of creative advertising. It was the great new way to advertise.
Yet the creative revolution faltered. Why? It failed to deliver success with superior consistency.
The usual reason is that the advertising was not reliably employed to magnify the selling proposition. Instead, it often subordinated it to creative distractions.
Second, it often fell victim to another shortcoming that occurs in all styles of advertising: there was nothing specific for the consumer to pay for.
So we ask ourselves, what if all or even most of the creative resources of advertising had been used properly – to present the selling proposition more powerfully and invitingly than hard-sell advertising can manage to present it? I believe creative advertising would have proved itself beyond anyone’s expectations and become the norm. Then we would have spared ourselves from the relatively uninspiring aftermath that has befallen creative people.
The reason account people and advertisers supported and even indulged all the creativity, including the frequent cantankerousness of the supposedly inspired savants with a talent for it, is that these forward-thinking business people believed it made advertising more effective. The advertisers would sell more products or services, and the agencies would get more business. Bless them for their faith.
A handful of the best creative people did know exactly or approximately what their job is: to present the most compelling reason to buy something magnified in an appropriately dramatic and inviting way. And their work usually performed admirably. But we are all condemned to live under the bell-shaped curve, even if it is applied to bright creative people. The group in the center, which included, in its confidently erring ranks, some high-profile participants, didn’t really
understand what the goal of their creativity was and, when their flashy but empty work bombed in the marketplace, the disappointing results undermined the marketing community’s faith in creative advertising. The Good Ship Creativity crashed on the rocks of incompetence and we, who once helped steer it, must now be content to function as repentant slaves in the steam room. Sure, some creative advertising still gets done. A lot of bright stuff was created during the Internet bubble. But do major companies clamor for it the way they once did?
The bottom-line minded folks, whose rightful place is in the steam room, have pretty much taken control of the agencies – and they’ve proved their worth by building ones, through expansions and acquisitions, that dominate advertising worldwide. In fact, the mega-agencies have gotten so big they can almost be seen as advertising utilities.
There is, however, a drawback to their global dominance, other than the subordination of creative inspiration: localization. Appropriate advertising is best done in a nation by the residents of the nation. While the worldwide agencies can hire and train locals, the shortcoming provides some hope that small creative agencies still have a place, particularly in countries where the consumers are savvy enough to get the wit and wisdom of creative advertising. Since I’m a gringo, I’m thinking particularly of the first nation to get it, America, but also of other nations in order of their economic and educational levels.
If enough advertising that is intelligently creative comes along, we might at least get back to a more distinguished balance between inspired advertising and bean counting. What are the chances for another creative revolution? It depends on how many bright creative people understand how to use their abilities to maximize the power of the selling proposition in dramatic and inviting ways, rather than to subordinate it with irrelevant and self-destructive fluff.
Tom Attea has held executive creative positions at some of New York's finest advertising agencies, including Young & Rubicam and agencies of the Interpublic Group. Today, he is President and Creative Director of his own consulting firm, Heavy Creative, Inc. the company specializes in confidential creative problem-solving for advertisers and agencies.
