This should be mandatory reading for everyone who touches content development.
"One of the species of fungus opposite is the most dangerous mushroom known to man.
It is lethal even in amounts as small as 20 grammes. That's about the weight of a Brussels sprout.
Between six and fifteen hours after eating it, gastroenteric symptoms are present, and severe liver damage occurs within three days, followed by death.
It is a fairly common British variety, found in oak and beech woods between July and November and when fresh it smells faintly of honey.
The two other mushrooms illustrated are, by contrast, highly palatable.
One of them is quite rare, with a subtle mild flavour much prized in certain mountainous regions of Scandinavia.
The other is a Chanterelle, which smells slightly of dried apricots and is regarded in France as something of a delicacy.
DO WE PICK ADVERTISEMENTS LIKE WE PICK MUSHROOMS?
Given the element of risk involved in gathering our own mushrooms most of us prefer to buy them in shops with our hard-earned cash.
Which means that most of us end up eating mass-produced cultivated mushrooms. The taste may be bland and predictable, but at least we know they wont kill us.
Sadly, the same cautious attitude can easily be applied to the selection of advertising.
Anything, which looks unfamiliar, different or unusual, is regarded with understandable suspicion and anxiety by many advertisers.
As a result, advertisements end up resembling one another much as cultivated mushrooms do.
But although instinct may tell us that danger lurks in the unknown, it is the apparently familiar which threatens the greatest peril.
Partly because it looks so safe.
WHICH MUSHROOMS WILL KILL YOU?
Not, of course, the peculiar looking orange one, number three. Life would be much too easy if that were the culprit.
No, that's a Chanterelle. And like the very best advertising, it is distinctive, visible and has an entirely desirable effect on the consumer.
The killer is one of the others. One of them is the safe choice, the other choice just looks like the safe choice.
Confusing, isn't it.
But so it is with Advertising. How can you be sure that a new campaign really is safe? With the deadly mushroom, the effects are felt within days, with advertising, the poison acts more slowly.
Who knows how many products are dying a lingering death right now because somebody took a decision years ago to run advertising that looked as though it couldn't do any harm.
WHICH ADVERTISING WILL KILL YOUR COMPETITOR?
All great advertising looks safe and familiar.
In retrospect.
But the famous and successful campaigns we now admire looked strange and disturbing when they were originally presented.
Many of the clients who bought that work can still recall waking up in a cold sweat at three in the morning, asking " My God, what have I approved?"
New ideas are scary.
But they're nowhere near as dangerous as almost-new ideas, which are familiar to everyone.
If it's been done before, your competition will be ready for it. Your only chance of killing him with your advertising is to hit him with something he's never seen before.
Which means you won't have seen it before either.
WHAT IS THE REAL KILLER?
The advertising to avoid is the kind that looks safe and isn't. The mushroom to avoid is number two.
Advertising which looks strange and distinctive is a much less-risk proposition, if you know what you're doing, than advertising, which is bland and comfortable.
But only if you know what you are doing.
Which is where we come in.
Tim Davis and Chris Wilkins bring more than 36 years of experience to their new agency. Experience not only of creating original and surprising advertising ideas, but also of recognising and weeding out the ones that are dangerously wrong.
If you're an advertiser who would dearly love to have startling and original creative work, without having to lose sleep over it, think about what we have to offer. It wouldn't kill you to give us a call."
 |
| #1. Rozites Caperata |
 |
| #2. Amanita Phalloides |
 |
| #3. Cantharellus Cibarius |
The only point I will add to the brilliant copy above is that it works because Tim and Chris had insight about advertising and pretty and deadly mushrooms, which they turned into a great idea and execution. With out real relevant insights, you just can't get to the point where creative content can be scary but safe.
Posts
