Kelford Labs Daily: Committee meeting advertising
When everyone gets their way, the customer doesn’t.
“Many commercials and many advertisements look like the minutes of a committee.”
— David Ogilvy, Ogilvy on Advertising
And isn’t that the truth?
When I worked in advertising agencies, before starting my own strategy firm, this “committee effect” would be the most frustrating thing I’d encounter.
This person needs this specific thing in the ad. This other person needs this other specific thing. The fact that they contradict or distract from each other is somehow less important than the fact that each person gets their way.
It’s always in someone’s interests to have their thing in the ad, but it’s seemingly in no one’s interest to have the ad work.
If it were, people would be clamoring to remove things, not add them.
The fewer things in our ads, the better they’ll work.
The fewer people we target, the more that’ll see it.
The fewer things we ask people to do, the more that’ll do it.
Don’t let your ads look like the minutes of a committee.
Make them look like the most important thing to your organization is your customer.
Because when everyone inside our organization gets their way—and gets their say—the customer doesn’t.
