Active Branding - Combining Branding Direct Marketing

Christopher Santry
Kupper Parker
President & CEO

The Art of Advertising: Right Brain Thinking?

Many of us who make a living on the creative side of advertising would seem to be right-brain dominant: We rely on instinct, intuition and emotion to a much greater extent than our co-workers in other departments. That is because we are artists. Unfortunately, an advertising campaign is not merely fine art, it’s a highly specialized form of communication. If the creative execution has not communicated the client’s essential message to its target market, that campaign has failed, no matter how compelling the imagery or how poetic the copy.

The campaign that introduced Infiniti automobiles to the world is a case in point. The campaign was beautifully produced. Each television spot was executed flawlessly to evoke Zen-like feelings of peace and contemplation. But the campaign never communicated the essence of the car itself. As a result, Infiniti’s introduction was a financial flop, and to this day Infiniti has been playing catch-up with Lexus (introduced the same year).

The challenge facing all creatives is to harness the emotional power of a campaign as esoteric as Infiniti’s introduction and to use their intellectual skills to transform that piece of fine art into a highly focused communication. To exceed the client’s needs and expectations of success, creatives must take that extra step.