Advertising vs Art

How many advertising creative people does it take to change a light bulb? Two. One to change the bulb, the other to receive the award for it.

It always frustrates me that great advertising is often judged by industry accolades rather than the results it generates.

In the early ‘80s, while Creative Director at an advertising agency in Vancouver, I began working on a furniture store account with two locations. I won’t mention the name of the store to protect the innocent (and me).

The owner of the store repeatedly insisted on running the tackiest, low-priced commercials imaginable, and it was my mandate to produce them. Not exactly the glamour account I had yearned for.

I would constantly find myself in a group with someone who would insist on pointing out that I was the person behind the account’s terrible ads. Never hang out with your Mother.

Sure enough, at the mere mention of these ads, everyone in the group would pull I-just-swallowed-a-pitcher-full-of-sour-milk faces, and I’d wind up wearing a wig, false nose and dark sunglasses for a month in an effort to avoid being recognized.

Month after month, year after year, despite my opposition, the advertiser would insist on producing these horrible commercials. I was certain he was making an enormous mistake!

I worked with the account for seven years before leaving Vancouver, by which time, the furniture company had grown to over one hundred and fifty stores across the country and was on the road to becoming the largest and most successful discount furniture chain in Canada.

I left Vancouver having learned a very valuable lesson about advertising. Advertising is not art. That, and never leave your car parked at the Metrotown Mall and forget which entrance you used.

Art is something that is created purely to be admired. It is passive and serves only to appeal to the audience.

Advertising is assertive. Advertising is intended to do something; to evoke a response. It must generate consumer interest.

What my furniture store client understood, that I didn’t at the time, was that he was targeting people looking for cheap furniture. Consumers, the ones looking for cheap furniture, would see his cheap commercials, hate them, but say to themselves “I hate those commercials, but their prices must be low. I should check that store out!” And they did, in droves.

My tip to advertising creative types is spend less time re-working your acceptance speech for the award you hope to win with your next campaign, and focus more time on how to create a campaign that generates results.

People continually recite to me ‘great’ commercials they’ve seen, only to wind up staring blankly at the ceiling when asked who the ad was for.

I know this look because it’s the one I give my wife when she asks me if took the garbage out.

The same people will come to me criticizing a commercial they despise. Two days later, I’ll bump into them at that advertiser’s store.

And my tip to advertisers this week, is to look for creative people to create your advertising who don’t allow ego to influence their judgment. Seek advertising creators who strive to produce results, not simply awards. Every now and then you’ll run into one of these people. Look for them.

They’ll be the ones wearing wigs, false noses and dark sunglasses, be gentle on them.