NOVEMBER 07 2008 BANDT.COM.AU 19

There’s a scene in the TV show Frasier when themain characters are discussing a baffling case andNiles offers his diagnosis, only for his brother torespond: “If only it were that complicated.”

Take heed, my communications brothers andsisters, because everywhere I look there seems tobe a conspiracy to make things far more complexthan they should be.

Now I’m a paranoid person, so it may not be somuch a conspiracy as an accidental by-product of anera when everyone is preaching the complexitygospel – media fragmentation and the inexorablerise of digital, more cluttered and competitivemarkets and a consumer wise to our tricks andmined of superficial insights, so that we have tostare deeper into their soul for anything new.

The results are processes so intricate anddetailed that they could be for the design and launchof a space shuttle, a belief that you have to be ahybrid of Gandalf, Yoda and Jung to be any good atthe planning aspect of the job and strategies thatare so hifalutin that you need the Enigma machine towork the buggers out.

The fact is that whatever the intricacies of ourindustry, what you most need is logic, simplicity anda bit of inspired commonsense.

When it comes to planning, I’d prefer somebodywho regularly went to a pub outside the easternsuburbs and watched The Simpsons religiously, oversomebody with a psychology degree. Normal peoplearen’t getting any harder to understand, we’re justgetting ever more distant from them with our weird,privileged lives.

Likewise, next time you’re ploughing through astrategic process that has you reaching for theglossary of terms, just remember the good ol’ dayswhen all we had to do was work out whether it wasmotivating, differentiating and true. Look at thelikes of “The ultimate driving machine”, “Colour likeno other” or “Made from beer”. None of the insightsbehind these strike me as earth-shattering, exceptfor their beautiful simplicity and obvious differenceto their competitors. Channel planning also thriveson the same kind of practical nous – Wonder White’s“Ducks”, Lynx Pulse and Oasis’ “Cactus Kid” are alljust good examples of fitting the channels togetherin a simple, seamless fashion.

Remember the words of jazz musician andcomms guru Charlie Mingus: “Making the simple complicated is commonplace. Making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that’s creativity.”

Sometimes advertising gives marketers a bad name.Particularly poor-quality, high-frequency TVCsinterrupting our favourite television programs.

So just for a moment let your mind wander andimagine what the world might look like if the not-so-humble 30-second TV ad suddenly ceased to exist.

From a consumer’s perspective it would mean nomore annoying ad breaks intruding into theirviewing schedules. Is there a downside?

Well, perhaps there would be a sudden rise inbladder-related infections as viewers no longer hadthe natural excuse to get up and empty their tanksduring a program. And what effect would this haveon the media world?

According to Steve Allen of Fusion Strategy, thiswould be revolution of chasmic proportions. “As weknow, virtually all of their billions of dollars inoperating income come from advertising. Televisionwould become a shadow of itself, and nowhere nearas popular as today,” Allen says.

However, TV networks would have some otheroptions besides broadcasting their own obituary.Without the staple ad unit of the 30-second TVCthe networks would have to generate revenue fromother commercial formats. Sales efforts mightfocus on sponsorships, product placements,branded content and merchandising – BorderSecurity DVD box set anyone?

Without the TVC there wouldn’t be enough TV adinventory to go around, so advertisers wouldincreasingly turn to other media such as metronewspapers to reach and engage mass audiences.

But if free-to-air marketing body Free TV is tobe believed, how on earth can you hope to build yourbrand without a show reel of TVCs to call your own?

It’s telling that many media owners invest inTVCs to build their brands, so there must besomething to it. But I think a lot of other media –particularly newspapers – have done a poor job todate of demonstrating and communicating theirbrand-building capabilities to advertisers.

But back to the end of the TVC. This would havean enormous impact on the producers of The GruenTransfer. In order to produce season two they’dhave to acknowledge the TVC was not the be-all-and-end-all of great creative work.

God forbid, they might have to show some greatpress ads or play some great radio spots anddiscuss them on air.

The fact is the TVC is here to stay for theforeseeable future and so our collective bladdersshould all heave a huge sign of relief.

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THE VIRTUES OFSIMPLICITY

A WORLD WITHOUT THE TVC

TO MAKE A COMMENT EMAIL EDITORIAL@BANDT.COM.AU

Al Crawford, Executive planningdirector, ClemengerBBDO Sydney

Adam JosephInsights manager,Herald Sun Melbourne

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