Using your head is dead.

Love.
Love is hard to measure, wouldn’t you say?
You have a ‘feeling’ and it makes you happy.
This feeling is very hard to describe.
It’s hard to pinpoint.
For many it’s a gut reaction.
“It just felt right” you might hear someone say or “I don’t know why I liked it, I just did”.
Sometimes it’s described as ‘a ‘spark’.
Whatever it is, you can’t measure it, codify, research or analyse it.
And why would you want to?
You’ll either love someone or something or your don’t.
And that’s fine – that’s how it should be, it’s more fun that way.

In advertising, clients want people to love their adverts.
They want people to love their brand.
They want people to buy their product / service.
And if you love something — you’re usually loyal too.
So it all makes sense then?
We just advertise to the part of the brain that understands love.
Create a feeling. An emotion. A relevance.
So we captivate that ‘gut reaction’, surely?

Well, unfortunately in advertising we ignore our gut.
As soon as we say “We think” — a client usually shuts down.
They want stats.
Proof.
Research to back it all up.
You can’t base anything on intuition they might as well suggest.
But that’s how we live — in the real world at least.
That’s how we buy things.
How we hire someone.
It’s how we choose our life partners.
We don’t ask for proof of relationship success rates with someone we’re dating.
Obviously here I’m being ridiculous — but only to emphasise my point.

Why do we ignore this intuition then?
It might be because agencies label this ‘intuition’ as a risk. And risks never sound good, especially when you’re spending your marketing budget.
In context, you wouldn’t describe wanting to be with someone as a risk, would you?
Maybe this is why the ‘risky’ concept is in decline.

Years ago I think clients knew the value of intuitive advertising.
Coming up with pieces of work that stood out and made themselves unique and desirable.
You see advertising has a deep rooting in psychology.
We study how people are. How people think. How people act. How they make decisions etc etc.
And the psychological drivers and impulses for men and women haven’t changed for many many centuries.
You can still read quotes from Aristotle and they’re as relevant today as they were when they were written.

Modern day research gets advertising in the ballpark.
It’ll get the facts and figures in order.
It might even provide a new insight.
But then an ad needs to connect with someone on an emotional level.
Creatives in advertising are dedicated to this development.
But it’s the hardest thing to quantify and justify.
They know the importance of following their gut and in the agency it’s actively encouraged.
But when you do, you’ll know the client will need convincing.
They won’t understand it without proof.
This may be the answer to why clients feel agencies argue (and vice versa).
But how can you prove a ‘gut feeling'?
It’s a very difficult task.

I can only suggest that clients will need to learn to trust agencies again.
And it’s been proven again and again that the most successful clients do trust their agency and the creatives doing the work.
Even when the work isn’t what they expected.
And it’s a bit ‘out there’.
At the end of the day — agencies do work to help the client.
Not hinder them.
Creatives don’t want to fight clients, they’re just trying to help them see what they see.
Often this comes across as argumentative.
Which is a shame. As it’s passion talking, not stubbornness.

I always want to say to a client: “I’m trying to make this good for you.”
This advertisement isn’t going on my wall at home – It’s being made to make you money.
So let’s make it great.
Let’s go with our gut.
Let’s make advertisments with passion and love.
Not with stats and too much head. Because people buy things with their hearts, their ego, their vanity – all the same area of the brain as love.

My advice?
Let’s treat advertising like dating. And the way to someones heart is laughter & honesty. Let’s show passion, silliness, a sign of adventure, something daring and exciting. Let’s challenge someone intellectually, make them feel important, compliment or encourage someone. Let’s try and forge a loving relationship between consumers and our clients brand.

Adam McGowan
Art Director