Book Review: BANG! Getting Your Message Heard in a Noisy World.
by Linda Kaplan Thaler and Robin Koval with Delia Marshall
We all hate advertisements but some of them are quite clever and good.
Anyone remember the AFLAC Duck, the duck that would quack “AFLAC,” an insurance company name? Or the woman washing her hair and having an orgasm? How about Continental Airline's ad for direct NYC to Tel Aviv flights – “Yo to Oy NONSTOP.” The authors of this book are responsible for these and many other memorable adds.
Big Idea: The world is cluttered with advertisements and other noise and the best way to get your idea across is to create a “Big Bang,” an idea that takes over the cultural universe, grabs the spotlight, and creates an icon.
Examples of Big Bangs are the iMac, “Just Do it,” and The Appentice.
To create a Big Bang you have to ignore conventional wisdom and rules and be willing to take risks. Big Bang ideas are simple, but selling Big Bang ideas to management or customers is hard – it requires theatrical flare. Big Bangs do not come out of focus groups or committees (actually, very little comes out of focus groups or committees!)
I’m not an advertising guy. I don’t understand advertising. I don’t like advertising. I like this book! Its written in a very readable and understandable style, and it was hard to put down.
Some great suggestions on nurturing creativity. I don’t necessarily agree with them all, but I rarely expect to agree 100% with any authors and they provide good thinking points.
Examples:
Don't laugh! Many people don't like creativity, although they probably would never admit it to themselves!
We all hate advertisements but some of them are quite clever and good.
Anyone remember the AFLAC Duck, the duck that would quack “AFLAC,” an insurance company name? Or the woman washing her hair and having an orgasm? How about Continental Airline's ad for direct NYC to Tel Aviv flights – “Yo to Oy NONSTOP.” The authors of this book are responsible for these and many other memorable adds.
Big Idea: The world is cluttered with advertisements and other noise and the best way to get your idea across is to create a “Big Bang,” an idea that takes over the cultural universe, grabs the spotlight, and creates an icon.
Examples of Big Bangs are the iMac, “Just Do it,” and The Appentice.
To create a Big Bang you have to ignore conventional wisdom and rules and be willing to take risks. Big Bang ideas are simple, but selling Big Bang ideas to management or customers is hard – it requires theatrical flare. Big Bangs do not come out of focus groups or committees (actually, very little comes out of focus groups or committees!)
I’m not an advertising guy. I don’t understand advertising. I don’t like advertising. I like this book! Its written in a very readable and understandable style, and it was hard to put down.
Some great suggestions on nurturing creativity. I don’t necessarily agree with them all, but I rarely expect to agree 100% with any authors and they provide good thinking points.
Examples:
Bureaucracy kills creativity (duh!).This book is well worth reading. Their perspective on encouraging and nurturing creativity alone make it worthwhile, assuming you think creativity is good.
Focus groups have a herd mentality and rarely produce anything exciting or great.
Be a micromanager – the details are crucial.
“we advocate procrastination” – They advocate it, I simply practice it :)
Don’t have enough chairs when you have a meeting.
Go on an email diet.
Don't laugh! Many people don't like creativity, although they probably would never admit it to themselves!
posted by Ted Demopoulos at 10:10 PM
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