10 WISHES FOR ADVERTISING IN

2015

1. NO MORE KEY VISUALS Copying and pasting the same image across wildly different

media and context is plain stupid. So why do we still do it?

2. NO MORE 360° A kalashnikov approach to communication where you shoot (the same bullet) in all directions hoping to hit a target one way or another is a terrible use of our efforts, time, money and brains.

3. NO MORE SEARCH FOR “THE ANSWER”

The answer to most questions about advertising, marketing and life is: “It depends”. Let’s come to terms with that.

4. < EFFICIENCY, > EFFECTIVENESS

We’re becoming very good at achieving very little.

We’re running sophisticated operations that make use of scale economies, optimize resources, and tick all boxes except the one that matters.

Let’s be less obsessed about the process, and more obsessed about the outcome.

5. < HOW, > WHY

The first idea we have is probably wrong.

In fact, the first 20 ideas we have are probably wrong.

Let’s spend less time building what people don’t want and clients don’t need, and more time figuring out what people want

and clients need.

6. NO MORE “BEFORE V NOW”

Digital has changed everything it touched, but until it’ll touch the human mind the fundamentals of our thoughts, feelings and actions will not change.

The idea that in the past people were willing to naively digest everything that brands threw at them and comply with any request, and that now they’ve been replaced by

genetically modified, dedicated and hyper-rational beings that only make well-researched choices and scrutinize everything marketers do is delusional.

7. NO MORE FORTUNE-TELLING

What’s growing now is not destined to grow forever

What kids think and do today is not what they’re going to think and do when they grow up

What people want today is not what they will want tomorrow

We respond to change

The future is what we make of it

8. NO MORE CLICHES

We have a terrible habit of taking words that once stood for something and blasting them everywhere repeatedly and superficially until they lose any meaning.

Using cliches is speaking without thinking.

Join the conversation

Start a movement

Viral

Passionate

Engagement

Think outside the box

Always On

Customer-centric

360

Content

9. CREATIVE = QUALITY

Creative should not be a product.

Creative should not be a job title.

(arguably, it also should not be a background image…see no. 8)

10. > CHARACTER

It’s just a logo. It’s just an ad. It’s just a website.

Someone is going to hate it. No one is going to die because of it.

But you made it for a reason. Don’t back down to please a few loud voices on Twitter.

itscomplic8ed.wordpress.com

@stefanoaugello