Spare Mikey the Details

Creating a great ad – one that is captivating, memorable and on strategy – is incredibly difficult. Ruining it is a cinch. Consider the classic line from the "Mikey" Life Cereal commercial, “He likes it.” Now, change that to “He likes the wholesome taste and nutritional value of it.” How quickly that simple, nostalgic phrase plummets into a cereal bowl full of forgettable mush.

I came across a Business Week article that argued for the side of “less is more” in terms of detail in advertising. In short, no matter how important your message is, consumers won’t tune in if it’s BORING. Information is of course imperative, but ads should focus on drawing people in, not spoon-feeding them.

Effective advertising often conveys a message in a roundabout way. Not by defining an issue, but by illustrating it. Not by reciting a fact sheet, but by telling a story. Not by listing the ingredients of a product, but by showing you how damn delicious that product is. Not by...you get my point.

Aside from the chiefly dull world of pharmaceutical advertising, the information deemed essential in any given ad is often up for debate. Packing it in is a poor decision. Consumers are bombarded with ads that for the most part they would prefer to avoid. Successful messaging is about quality, not quantity (particularly in the arena of donated media, Ad Council friends!).

But many issues and products are more complex and abstract than cereal. Accordingly, quantity – in terms of information – is certainly a factor when tackling issues like autism, global warming or financial literacy. Such topics are not easily summarized. Herein likes the conundrum. Just how do we communicate these immense matters in a :30 ad? Or on a transit shelter? Some say the more information we can squeeze in, the better. Wrong people, we’ve got to keep it snappy!

Rather than cramming an ad chockfull of information, we need to convey a single message creative and powerful enough to grab consumers’ attention. If our target takes note of the issue (and hopefully seeks further information on it), then we have done our job. This is not to say details are trivial - quite the opposite. They are just better suited for websites, fulfillment brochures, and the like.

The article that inspired this one opened with Voltaire’s words, “The best way to be boring is to leave nothing out.” No matter the topic, we are better off keeping the message simple yet compelling if we want to make an impact. I will leave you with a quote from legendary ad man Bill Bernbach – “There is practically nothing that is not capable of boring us.”