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Let Your Inner Freddie Kruger Out
Ernie Schenck, legendary copywriter/creative director and Communications Arts columnist, is not scared. And that’s the problem.
How many dangerous ads have you seen lately? How many dangerous ideas? The kind of ideas that dare CMOs to open the door and let them in. The kind that could just as easily bite a client’s head off as they could make her look like a genius. I don’t see that kind of creative anymore. Scary creative. Freddy Krueger creative…
Once, we were monsters. Tearing through the soft underbelly of mediocrity without hesitation. No challenge frightened us. No creative obstacle stood in our way. And, oh man, the work that came out the other side — it trampled everything in its path.
But something has changed. The monsters aren’t as many anymore. They’ve turned into something kinder. Gentler. More willing to go along to get along.
In other words, we’re soft now.
In my estimation, the pervasive softness is a societal condition, not an affliction unique to marketing or advertising. The value in Ernie’s reminder is knowing that advertising is more of a martial art than a form of yoga. When done right, advertising is a full-contact sport that you need to train for and stay in shape for, or risk being badly beaten by the competition.
