Shampooing in the Aircraft Lavatory

Having managed an advertising agency, I'm always amused when the creative team is allowed to run amok.  I've only worked at agencies that (usually) adhered to the old Benton & Bowles dictate:  It's not creative unless it sells.

Unfortunately, sometimes creative groups stray from the creative into the realm of the bizarre.  They believe they need to prove their "creativity" by producing something shocking.  Their reason is often unstated, but I believe it stems from the feeling that the product itself isn't interesting enough. 

I just saw a commercial in which a beautiful woman (clearly a fashion model) is on an airplane.  She marches down the aisle in the typical fashion model way, enters the lavatory ... and washes her hair with the advertised shampoo product (Herbal Essence).  She has what sounds like a totally orgasmic experience washing her hair.  And, of course, she emerges oh-so-very-beautiful.

The ad caught my attention ... but for all the wrong reasons.  "What in the world??"  "You can't have that much liquid shampoo on a flight ...."  "Huh?"  Now, admittedly, I'm not in the target audience, but I have to wonder if there isn't some better way to sell the product.

The Burnett Logo: Reach for the Stars 

Leo Burnett, the founder of the Burnett Agency (where I started my career) built his very successful brand of advertising around something he called "inherent product drama."  Find something inherently dramatic about the product ... and feature that in the ad.  It isn't always easy, but Burnett's approach led to the Pillsbury Doughboys, the Keebler Elves, and down-home slice-of-life advertising that the reader or viewer could relate to.

I once saw a bumper sticker with the phrase "Bizarre is easy.  Creative is hard."  How true.