Brand Aids: Taking a fall.

Some people just don’t know when to say No. And their marketing suffers from it.

Just last week, I noticed an ad on the back of a bus with the headline, “Stop the Falls.” I couldn’t read any of the copy, but I could see images of children and a drawing of a window. I changed lanes so I could get a better look.

Every summer, we hear or read at least once about a child dying or being injured from falling out a window. So I was glad to see an ad that reminds parents of the danger of this happening.

The problem was that no one could get any information from the ad unless they were right behind the stopped bus. The message was lost in too much copy and too little hierarchy. The sponsors of the ad were easy enough to spot: lined up in a row at the bottom were their logos.

Ahhh, I thought. Therein could be the problem. I sometimes work on assignments where various teams provide direction and input, so I can easily imagine how this happened. In my mind, here’s how it went down:

A creative team was given the assignment to develop a bus ad with the objective of providing information to help reduce the number of falls out a window. They were provided with some research about why the falls happen, a list of things parents could do to prevent them, and a budget.

I see a meeting — no, several meetings — with up to a dozen people from the three teams gathered around a table. In the first presentation, the creative team explains the importance of simplicity. On a billboard especially, messages must be comprehended quickly and from a distance. Perhaps the writer chose the headline, “Stop the Falls”, because it was short and had that “made you look” quality. Following the main headline were three important messages – the maximum for effective messaging, according to some sources.

The points chosen (perhaps with help from a strategy person) were the ones that could make the most difference in changing behaviors that could save kids’ lives. They are:

1) Never open windows more than four inches;
2) Don’t be fooled into thinking a screen window can keep a kid in; and
3) Where to get more information.

The designer chose a visual. Perhaps it was a cute photo of a kid. That’s always an attention-getter and it helps to show children’s vulnerability and our responsibility to protect them. Perhaps the designer showed another concept that used an illustration of a window — also telegraphic and powerful enough on its own.

Then, at these imaginary meetings, one person points out that she has windows at home that raise from the top and down, so shouldn’t we tell parents to do that? Another person asks, “Shouldn’t we also tell them to move furniture away from windows? Our research – which we paid a lot of money for by the way – shows a lot of falls happen that way.” A third person says, “I like the photo and the illustration – let’s use them both!” And yet another person asks, “Don’t we need to show diversity?” And of course, there’s probably three voices crying out in unison: “Make my logo bigger.”

Because this ad was designed by a committee of 12, there was no accountability or strong leadership. No one stood up and said, “No, no, no. People, it’s a sign on a moving bus – not a brochure. Keep it simple! When you try to say too much, your message gets lost and you end up saying nothing at all.”

Save the children. Save your communications. Keep it simple. — Sharon, Associate Creative Director – Voice