I always tell students, the most important things in advertising are clarity, focus, and consistency.
And I always tell them to look at BBH’s advertising.
Not for the obvious stuff like execution: the quality of the photography, the writing, the humour, etc.
Look for the thinking behind the ads.
Look at what they do and you’ll see how you ought to be able to write briefs for yourself that you can do powerful advertising to.
Clarity, Focus, Consistency.
And the thing that demonstrates how well BBH understand what advertising does is the last of the three.
Consistency.
That doesn’t mean repeating dull, boring advertising.
It doesn’t even mean repeating good advertising.
It means repeating the thinking that makes your brand different, and why people will buy it.
It’s very hard to stop a client changing their campaign.
They get bored.
They see the advertising much more often than the consumer.
They see it at concept stage, at rough stage, at pre-production, at shoot, and they approve it before it runs.
Before any consumer even sees it, the client’s already seen it dozens of times.
No wonder they get bored.
And they think the consumer is as bored as they are.
So they want to change.
But every time you change you throw away ball the work you’ve done.
See, with an existing campaign you’re reinforcing all your previous advertising.
With a new campaign you’re starting from scratch, all over again.
To illustrate the point to students, I would show BBH’s Boddingtons’ press campaign, alongside a Michelob press campaign that ran at the same time.
I’d put up 6 ads from each campaign.
The Michelob campaign used their distinctive bottle shape made out of different materials to go with the different messages.
So, in one ad the Michelob bottle shape was on a carpenter’s lathe and, on the floor, the wood chippings spelt out the words, “WELL ROUNDED”.
In another ad the Michelob bottle shape was made out of a candle.
And, at the base the candle, wax droppings spelt out the word “MELLOW”.
I think another ad had the Michelob bottle shape made out of silk, and the loose threads spelt out the word, “SMOOTH”.
You get the idea.
6 different ads that each made a totally different point about the beer.
Then I would show them the Boddington’s ads.
The BBH planners had done a lot of work on the brief before it came anywhere near the creative department.
They’d worked to reduce the most differentiating and motivating point about Boddingtons down to a single word.
The word was “CREAMY”.
So that’s what the Boddington’s ads delivered.
One ad would feature a cream cake, made out of glass and filled with Boddingtons.
Strapline: THE CREAM OF MANCHESTER.
The next ad would feature an ice cream cone, made out of glass and filled with Boddingtons.
Strapline: THE CREAM OF MANCHESTER.
The next ad would feature a tube of sun cream, made out of glass and filled with Boddingtons.
Strapline: THE CREAM OF MANCHESTER.
The next ad would feature a cream eclair, made out of glass and filled with Boddingtons.
Strapline: THE CREAM OF MANCHESTER.
The next ad would be a shaving mug, made out of glass and filled with Boddingtons.
Strapline: THE CREAM OF MANCHESTER.
The next ad would feature a jar of face cream, made out of glass and filled with Boddingtons.
Strapline: THE CREAM OF MANCHESTER.
Unlike Boddingtons, the Michelob beer campaign changed the message in every ad.
So when I’d seen all of them I couldn’t remember what they wanted to tell me.
They didn’t focus, so they had no clarity.
And because they had no clarity of message, they had no consistency.
So I couldn’t remember what they wanted me to remember about their beer.
But I can remember what Boddingtons wanted to tell me.
It was one word.
And they told me over, and over, and over again.
The three rules of advertising:
Repetition.
Repetition.
Repetition.