Doing something genuinely different and surprising, is more important than ever in a cluttered world.
Often, because it’s so hard to get, achieving a surprise creates its own problem; the tempting trap of a formula; the belief that recent success can be repeated if similar patterns are followed.
In advertising, success creates a dilemma; stick too rigidly to the formula and risk ending up looking too similar to your past success.
Sony’s UK Bravia spots are a perfect example; the first was incredible and the second one was merely great.
In a world where more and more content is being consumed on the web, often based on recommendation, users demand surprise.
Who said this was an easy business?
Certainly not Bill Bernbach.
“However much we would like advertising to be a science-because life would be simpler that way-the fact is that it is not. It is a subtle, ever-changing art, defying formularization, flowering on freshness and withering on imitation; where what was effective one day, for that very reason, will not be effective the next, because it has lost the maximum impact of originality.”
