Keep It Simple

This is a follow-up to our Shifting With Paradoxical Consumers blog posted previously, referencing the “Human Paradox” July 2022 Accenture global research report recommending companies make a shift from customer centricity to life centricity.

The study’s last point was to simplify for relevance across all consumer touchpoints, stating that what customers ultimately need is anything that “cuts through the noise and makes their lives easier.”

This is never truer than in advertising. While advancements in production technology have been exciting, they’ve also led to incredible executions that sadly lack a simple, powerful and relevant idea. They “wow” for a moment or two but don’t resonate and don’t create a meaningful bond, much less a lasting one.

So CMOs and agencies, demand big, salient ideas born of the consumer’s life and needs. Strong, simple ideas rooted in honesty, understanding and making their lives simple.

Agency and in-house creative teams, put concept first and execution second. Then strip away anything diluting the strength and simplicity of your concept. Insist that execution elevate, not mask.

And most importantly, CMOs, let advertising or communications strategy be what stretches you and makes your palms sweat in a healthy way. Get buy-in internally and take ownership. Don’t use creative to gain strategy approval. Creative is, after all, the mirror image of brilliant strategy. And therefore, should be a natural, if not anti-climactic extension of strategy. It will not only help simplify consumer lives, but yours, too.

Then let concept rule, not execution.

Or as the late Kelly Johnson, lead engineer at the Lockheed Skunk Works once quipped, “Keep it simple, stupid.”