It's Not the Media, It's the Message!

It being the holidays and an ideal time to, uh, think about others, I continued my relentless contemplation of what Digital SLR camera to buy. And oh! The choices. So many. 18 megapixels, full HD video, LCD screens that do acrobatics, lenses that zoom and focus, ISO6400, 5.3 frames per second, and noise reduction *oh my*!

And then it hit me. Again. If I can’t come up with an idea, find the angle, compose the shot, y’know, the basic necessities for taking a damn photograph, all the high-dynamic range autofocus color-balancing in the world won’t save me.

Selling products is HARD. Making an ad is HARD. Doing anything well is HARD and while trying to find a short-cut through chemistry, technology, or sheer imagination sure is fun, it’s also a waste of time. The conventional wisdom—either from Fast Company, Ad Age, or one of those other business magazines that sound exactly like the other business magazines (and sometimes even look like each other with their rules and Helvetica and H-F&J designed serif typefaces)--is that we ad people are all totally fucked. Like hosed, man. Like you’re not gonna have a job because some bored teenager in Van Nuys is going to make a home movie that Pepsi crowd-sourced and sell tons of SoBe with, dude. And some social media guru is going to blog you out of existence and status update your irrelevance to a bunch of people using a cartoon character as their profile photo.

Let’s review a few human truths that we've learned from advertising:
1. Dudes think about sex. A lot.
2. So do women.
3. Getting drunk is fun.
4. We get hungry and thirsty on a predictable basis.
5. We all temporarily suffer from the delusion that the world actually IS all about us (me).
6. Most of us want approval and attention (especially those of us who deny that).

7. Shiny things!
8. We’ve all lost something, we all fear something, and we all love something.

And a few more, but, that’s the basis of most decision-making as far as I can tell, or at least mine. The simple fact is, “shiny things!” is but one part of the equation and ultimately a small one. Think about all the ads you’ve loved. Now think about all the movies you love. More in common than you might have thought at first, right? Chances are, they had a compelling story that you identified with, a result of someone taking the time to consider what goes on between people and expressing it honestly or stylishly. Typically, the rest falls into place from there, which is why Pixar movies will never totally destroy your enduring bond with Bambi.

The media by which you tell a story that hopefully resonates with another human being could not possibly be less important. That you have something worth saying is drastically more important, and sure, being able to reach people is nearly as critical but it’s not nearly as complicated as some want you to believe. That’s an argument bandied about by those who can profit from it because their skills elsewhere are dubious. We’ve become far too obsessed with toys, gizmos, gadgets and trickery at the expense of a telling a story that might actually matter to someone.

So yeah, distribution is important but why would we fool ourselves into thinking it’s the only thing that matters now? That it's somehow a given anyone can develop a stirring narrative? If you cannot tell a story or think creatively, but really know how to program in one of the more popular languages (for instance), it is akin to being a really good Linotype machine operator. The languages will change and morph and perhaps be simplified by Adobe into moderately reliable software that makes the mechanics largely irrelevant (except for the guy who programs the piece of software). And there will always be new devices that someone will swear you can’t live without.

And people will continue being people. Just talk to them. You’ll reach ‘em if you have something worth saying.

Brad Gutting is the a member of the St. Louis Egotist. Brad started his career with VSA Partners in Chicago in 2002, spent three years at Adamson Advertising, and has been an art director at Cannonball since 2007. He graduated from Indiana University in 2000 with degrees in history and film, and attended Portfolio Center afterward. He finds everything interesting.