Our job is not to produce ads – Paul Bedford

I read the following comment by Art Director Paul Bedford in July’s issues of CR and I think it sums up the job of people working in the advertising industry, or more specifically those wanting to produce interesting and successful adverts, perfectly. He is quoted saying:

“Our job is not to produce ads. People dislike ads. They screen them out because, as we all know, the overwhelming majority of ads are so awful. Our real job is to dramatise the benefits of a product or service in a way that the target audience notices, likes and remembers. To do this we clearly need great strategies and ideas. But we also need great execution. The execution should involve doing something to make what we do not look like an ad.”

If you apply this idea to existing advertising campaigns you can see how it fits with some of the most successful ones such as the Cadburys Gorilla or the Sony Bouncy Balls.