Here Be Monsters|blog: ideas v craft

Become a Fan

I host a workshop from time to time called There are only 7 ideas in Advertising. It pretty much claims what it says, that there are only seven ideas in advertising, in much the same way there are only 7 stories and 3 jokes and only 4 real flavours for crisps

During it I claim that creatives would do well to focus on crafting executions along one or more of these 7 structures rather than keep aimlessly wandering around in a creative fog coming up with random executions that appear.

And that if you do, it's amazing how quickly you'll get to a solution. Yet so many creatives are reluctant to accept that there is an easier way to do their job. Instead choosing to believe that what they do is mythical and requires much struggling and sweating and waiting for divine intervention from the gods of inspiration or some such bollocks.

An example then.

One of the 7 ideas is The Spokesman, where this archetype addresses the audience to explain/demonstrate the product. At it's dullest/least creative it results in a classic 2C in a K execution, but crafted and developed you could end up with something as sublime as the Al and Monkey campaign for ITV digital, or everyone's current favourite du jour, Old Spice.

I also point to You've been framed. as an example of an old, often lame idea being turned on it's head.

For the first, whatever years of its existence it YBF was utter shite. Some of the worst TV there was, it probably hit rock bottom when some lardy ex-soap actress hosted it. But over the last few years it;s became funny. Really funny

What changed? Not the content, it still shows the same trashy, lame family video footage, but now Harry Hill comments on them. And so, instead of a bunch of lame puns and word play and limp jokes we get genuinely funny commentary. And that is all it took.

So, worry less about what your idea is and worry more about how to show it at it's best.