A product on itself won’t sell out! Doing business without advertising is like throwing a rock in a swimming pool, filled with a crowd, and hope anyone will notice the rumples produced by the rock or winking at that pretty lady in the bar who is standing with her back to you. There is simply no point in doing so. But you have to watch those advertising boys! They’ll come up with a big disillusional project and shake hands at award-ceremonies in no time. Therefore to keep on the straight path, at Agoge Advertising we follow these ten commandments of advertising.
1. Thou shalt sell.
The goal of advertising is simple: to sell. That’s where customers pay for. When every idea you have, picture you take or text you write isn’t somehow connected with the purpose of selling you are a gasbag and in urgent need of another job.
2. Thou shalt keep it simple.
To prevail that a simple idea will be analyzed to death you keep things simple, at all times. Whatever you are crafting must be understandable for your target audience.
3. Thou shalt solve a problem.
Promise is what thrives good ads. What is in it for me? Security? A healthier lifestyle? Success? The promise is an unique advantage for the consumer. A lot of ads promise nothing and therefore are doomed to fail.
4. Thou shalt not lie.
If you are lying people will guaranteed find out about it sooner or later. So never write an advertisement you wouldn’t want your family to read. You wouldn’t lie to your husband/wife, would you? So don’t lie to mine. (thx David Ogilvy for this epic quote) You can be honest in advertising, the purpose of advertising is to create an emotion whether that emotion is laughing, crying, thinking,…
5. Thou shalt understand the human nature.
To understand why people embrace certain brands or product you will need to gain insight in the human nature. When you want to reach your audience you will have to find a way to touch the deeper human feelings: to be appreciated, to have success, to love and to be loved,…
6. Thou shalt not quit.
You will never give up. It is possible that you need to recharge your creative batteries and things are hard but you can’t throw in the towel. When you feel down think about Moses and his people that wandered the desert for 40 years non stop without giving up.
7. Thou shalt climb the ladder.
If you look back on your older work and you do not see any progress in your work than you are in urgent need of education. Always try to improve and keep getting better at the things you do.
8. Thou shalt accept that not everyone will like you.
Acceptance in a group is in our human nature. You will need to realize not everyone will like your work and people will criticize you. Learn from the critics of people that are better than you and ignore those of people that are not meant to be constructive.
9. Thou shalt portray thyself as a human being.
You will always in all situations behave in a gentle(wo)man manner. Do not cover yourself in pomposity and always be the best you can be.
10. Thou shalt use your force for good.
Thou shall not advertise for bad products. A good advertising campaign will make a bad product fail very quickly. Nor is there glory or honor to get in advertising a bad product: it is doomed to fail, no matter how good the campaign.