By Adam Wakefield
“We don’t do advertising anymore. We do branded content.”
With this, Credle laid the foundation for her speech. She did not want to disparage the word “advertising” but she felt the industry did it more than those outside it.
“I love advertising. I love the purity of what it has been and the potential of what I can be,” Credle said.
“Just because there are new ways to communicate, be careful not to disparage the old ways to communicate. They are pretty powerful. One of the things I don’t think we do enough of in this business is look to the past. We come into this business thinking ‘we are young and know it all’.”
It was then that Credle introduced the seminar to Howard Luck Gossage, a name that by the end of her speech, many had chiselled into their notebooks, laptops, and mobile devices to do further research after the seminar.
While Gossage, referred to by his peers in the advertising industry as “The Socrates of San Francisco”, may have worked in the industry during the 1950s, what he said at the time is extremely relevant today, arguably even more so.
Credle repeated what Gossage said; “Nobody reads ads. People read what interests them and sometimes it’s an ad”.
“If you’re in advertising, hopefully, it inspires you to use your talents to enrich peoples’ lives – instead of just trying to sell them something. We work for the brand first, the people second, and ourselves third,” Credle said.
“Brands help us tell our story and we take on brands because they help us say something to the world as much as doing something rational for us.”
Another “incredibly important” facet of the industry which did not enjoy as good a reputation today as it did in the past is mass advertising.
Credle said nobody knows the return-on-investment from mass advertising but, citing herself as an example, the reason she still buys Chanel cosmetics today is because her imagination was captured by an advert she saw when still a child.
While big data and targeting has become common place in the industry, Credle is dubious on data being the final answer on who a consumer is, with it leaving little room on who that consumer will be in the future. For brands to not include people because they are not in a particular place today was a disservice to everybody, and “very dangerous”.
Advertising for consumers should be worthy of their attention. Those in the industry should use their talent for good, make an impact on the world and a difference.
“The best people in the business have been doing it for their entire careers,” Credle says.
Credle then returned to Gossage, who said; “I like to imagine a better world where there will be less, and more stimulating advertising”. She could not agree with him more.
“I think, right now, we’re trying to do too much that is liked and not a few things that are loved,” she said.
“If we put more trash content out there, it is making people have to run from us. I don’t think we need more advertising. I think we need less advertising that more people love,” she told the seminar.
Great creativity sticks with the consumer. Creative they find meaningful is a very good investment for the industry's clients. However, returning to the theme which began her address, Credle said to be loved, advertising first needed to love itself.
The industry puts itself down more than anyone else, with the “Skip this ad” in six seconds button a prime example. It was one of the worst things the industry could have done to itself.
“We’re branding ourselves as an irritant simply by the message we are putting on our ad. It’s dangerous,” Credle said.
Ad blocking did not come about because people disliked advertising; it came about because there is too much advertising.
As Gossage said over 50 years ago; “The very bulk of advertising is its worst enemy because somewhere along the line, an immunity starts building up against the irritation.”
Gossage believed advertising is worth saving because, as he said himself; “If we can learn to look at advertising, not as a means for filling so much space and time, but as a technique for solving problems”.
Credle said the principles of what advertising does today have not changed that much. Rather it is the tools and place that change every day.
“We can make a huge difference. We don’t realise that over books, movies, films, and TV shows, people see mass advertising more than anything. You have an incredible responsibility to work hard in this business. Be honourable in this business,” Credle implored.
“Make love, make ads. Don’t just screw around.”