Nice, Fitting and Other Offensive Words

By Sonya Winterbotham, Wizard of Ads Partner

“It’s a little ummm out there.” 

I stared at the phone and contemplated smacking it into my forehead. 

My forehead remains in tact. 

And so does my producer. 

But he couldn’t agree with the music I’d chosen for a client’s commercial – apparently it had a few too many elements that would help the ad… well… stand out.

The end result - that poor client ended up with a typically clichéd retail music bed.  I would say you’d know the kind of music, but that’s the problem you probably wouldn’t because clichéd music just sits in the background like a shy girl at a school dance repeating quietly to herself “please make me be invisible, please make me be invisible”.

Hmmm… Do you see why the phone nearly collided with my temple? 

It made me realise something… Marketers and advertising experts aren’t immune to human conditioning, and conditioning trains us from a young age to fit in, not to stand out. 

Not exactly what we want out of our advertising is it? 

So as a business owner, be aware of a few key words that might suggest your advertising team are building you an ad from an all too common “ad mould”. 

Nice.  The giveaway is in the fact that they’ve chosen such a beige word to describe any part of your commercial.  Nice is not a compliment, nor an insult; nice is the word people use when they can’t be bothered to come up with an interesting word (or commercial).  Nice is often used in sentences like “we’ll find a nice voice/ nice music bed/ nice graphic for your ad”. 

Blend.  Often used with the word “in”… Or worse… “This will blend in nicely”.  Avoid blending.  Go for juxtaposition instead!  Go for impact.  And here’s a behind the curtain hint… when you’re dealing direct with media, the programming department of that media want your ad to blend in because it’s their content that’s supposed to stand out.

Just.  As in “we just found some great stock photos/footage”, or we’ll just find some nice music to go with that”… Just means they’re just not thinking hard enough about what is best for you. 

Sure, we can do that.  If you’re making multiple changes to an ad I’ve created for you and my reply to every single change is “sure we can do that”… find the nearest phone and smack me in the forehead.  Seriously, if your advertising team is willing to change everything without question, they don’t have enough confidence in what they’ve originally created.  Or it could simply mean you’re better at their job than they are, in which case, what do you need them for? 

And the last test is you.  If you’re not surprised or moved in any way, positive or negative by your new ad – chances are neither will anybody else, although your family, friends and neighbours may tell you they’ve heard your ad…

… And they think it’s nice.