I always tell students they will usually have to make a choice.

On the one hand: being right, but dull.

On the other hand: being wrong, but interesting.

So which should they choose?

I say go for interesting every time.

Why doesn’t most advertising work?

Because it’s ‘right’.

It’s been debated, discussed, argued, briefed, researched, debriefed, rebriefed, until it’s ‘right’.

And that’s the problem: it’s right.

It’s not interesting.

It’s not interesting, so no one notices it.

No one notices it so no one remembers it.

No one remembers it so it doesn’t work.

No matter how ‘right’ it is.

There is just too much advertising out there for all of it to work.

Statistics say we are each exposed to roughly 1,000 different advertising messages a day.

How many do you remember from yesterday?

Radio, posters, tube cards, online pop-ups, SMS, ambient, TV, magazine ads, newspaper ads, viral ads.

You can probably remember one that was really good.

And one that was really bad.

The extremes.

Because extremes are interesting.

They’re interesting because they haven’t had all the life sucked out of them by being made right.

Visibility isn’t about being right.

It’s about being interesting.

As Picasso said, “What use are computers? All they can do is give you answers.”

A women doesn’t really want Mr. Right.

She wants Mr. Interesting.

In the pub, who do you want to listen to?

The bloke who’s always right?

Or the bloke who’s always interesting?

Being right is over rated.

Because being right is seen as the truth.

But what is the truth?

The truth is whatever you believe it is.

And you only believe what you want to believe.

And you only want to believe what’s interesting.

 

As Churchill said, “Never let the truth spoil a good story.”