Smart Marketing is About Discipline

Ran into the Bill Bernbach quote below in a review of “Nobody’s Perfect”, Doris Willens’ new book on Bill Bernbach and the golden age of advertising.

 “Merely to let your imagination run riot, to dream unrelated dreams, to indulge in graphic acrobatics and verbal gymnastics is not being creative. The creative person has harnessed his imagination. He has disciplined it so that every thought, every idea, every line he draws, every light and shadow in every photograph he takes, makes more vivid, more believable, more persuasive the original theme or product advantage he has decided he must convey.”

This is a crucial concept which I think is often overlooked.  The status quo is to be as “creative” as possible, outdoing the competition in clevereness that rarely delivers the original idea in a potent and motivational manner, leaving the consumer flumoxed at best and usually untouched.  Like a private joke, precious to a self selected and elite few.

A good reminder that less often is more. The Al Ries review on Nobody’s Perfect is here.