When you absolutely, positively need a concept by yesterday.

Once the agency's client inputs a "meeting time" on a Trio or Blackberry, the die is cast. And it usually happens like this. The ideas are on boards and the non-eco friendly spray mount is barely dry. Suddenly, an account executive will say "You know, Volkswagen has a campaign just like this."

Suddenly, the room temperature dips into the Arctic range and there's a bull's eye on your back. A few minutes later, someone has scrounged up a One Show and there it is -- your campaign with a VW logo on it. So, you've got a few hours to save your career.

Think of The One Minute Creative as your personal 911 for rescuing your flat-lined concepts. This introduction will always remain at the top of the blog to help weary creatives find their way.

If only for a minute.

No #%@&! Words

This is concept 101. No copy. Can the benefit or product story portrayed without showing words -- or even showing the product?

The readership of these ads are often greater because we're hard wired to make sense of the photo or image. There's usually an "aha" moment when they get it. Honda created a terrific ad by just showing a safety pin in the shape of car. What more do you need?


Ford did it for their 4x4 by showing off road without using the SUV.
Boone/Oakley did it for plastic surgery by creating a clock that turns backwards.
Pepsi did it by animating the ice.

Very nice.

Click on the images for a larger view.

Repetition, Repetition, Repetition

This is from the Gertrude Stein school of concepting. "A rose is a rose is a rose." Repetition is a great way to guide the customer to a "disruptive" conclusion. For example, if you see an image with 30 red balls and one black ball, your eyes will be drawn to the black. The brain looks for disruptive patterns.

A few years ago I was working with AD Pat Wittich on a Martin Agency project. The Cleveland Indians had just won the pennant. After a few hours, I started looking at the politically incorrect but memorable Chief Wahoo and his smiling face. I thought "what if we changed the smile to a frown for 40 years or so and then the final one would have a smile?"

Here are two that work well. One is the for Nescafe demonstrating the benefits of decaf and other other was done by the Swiss-Tibetan Friendship Society. If you don't look closely, you may miss it.

The variation on repetition is to repeat an certain item and equate is to your product. Typically it's something like five rows of fruits and vegetables = one pill. Or the great Volkswagen ad that showed the same VW bug year after year. The message was why mess with what works?