What the Ad Industry can learn from Paul the Octopus
Watching the World Cup semi-final on BBC the other night and the commentator made a reference to how ‘we will all have seen Paul the Octopus’s prediction for tonight’s game.’ Displaying a rare touch of genuine wit, Mark Lawrenson replied, ‘I’m not sure everyone will have; some people have lives.’ Yet the fact remains that even football-haters will be aware of the clairvoyant cephalopod’s existence. Why? Could it be, perhaps, that we embrace strange stories about uncanny octopi and Jesus’s face being found in a cheese toastie because we’re starved of a little colour and surrealism in our everyday lives? So it’s not too big a leap to find a parallel with the Ad Industry. Of course, in its purist sense, Advertising should inform and give people reason to part with their hard-earned. Even more so in today’s chilly economic climate. But as Leo Burnett said: ‘I am one who believes that one of the greatest dangers of advertising is not that of misleading people, but that of boring them to death.’ That’s why Advertising which entertains and informs tends to deliver the best results – whether you judge that in sales or simply people being more inclined to engage with your brand. It might sound obvious. But it’s worth reminding ourselves from time to time that our work should always add value and entertain. That doesn’t equate to unwarranted frivolity or gratuitousness. It doesn’t even mean that it should be funny. Just that a little sprinkling of something unexpected every now and then won’t do any harm at all. Maybe even a psychic octopus or two?