Don't be boring

A while back I started a blog post about clients burning their money. It's on a different computer but I've been thinking about it today and really wonder why brand think that they are doing something to be remembered with some of the "content" that's out there.

If we only remember a small percentage of the ads we encounter on a daily basis, what is it that makes us remember those select ones?

• Interest - am I looking for something in that category?
• Entertainment - did I find it entertaining?
• Value - did it educate me in some way?

If your ads aren't doing any of these things, you're burning your money. Plain and simple.

Safe doesn't make you remembered. And that doesn't mean you have to be outrageous either. But being boring is the worst thing you can do.

I can't count how many times I've heard someone tell me about a great ad they saw or heard but couldn't for the life of them remember who it was for. This is also a fail.

Great advertising doesn't just try to entertain you without connecting to a message it's trying to get across (we're cheaper, we're smarter, we're who you want to be).

These are not new precepts in the digital age but ones often forgotten from the Mad Men era. As much as things change, certain pieces remain the same. There is a constant in our evolving world.

As Howard Gossage said, "People read what interests them. Sometimes it's an ad."