Lessons from a window cleaner

A couple of weeks ago I did something that few people - and even fewer advertisers - ever do.

I watched an ad break. All the way through. Without skipping. Without even glancing at my phone. 

3 minutes 30 seconds later, I was left in a state of bewilderment and mild irritation. A baked bean company told me stop what I was doing and learn a very complicated (and finger-lacerating) piece of choreography. A beer brand then told me to stop what I was doing and watch a movie on their website. A couple of Irish companies (I forget which) bombarded me with Irish montages of Ireland (I forget why), and then a ham company cheerfully explained that their ham is baked in such a way that it’ll fix my broken family.

And so, like the rest of the human race, I returned to my arsenal of PVRs, streaming and second screening and resolved never to make that mistake again.

It’s not that these were especially bad ads. They were all artfully shot, teeming with witty puns and relatable scenarios. Their problem is that they each lost sight of the people they sought to speak to.

In a boardroom, it may make sense to stimulate incremental eating occasions by leveraging an internet meme to spark online / offline participation. In the real world, however, Heinz are asking me to get off my sofa and play with rubbish. 

This isn’t a new problem. Most advertising irritates because advertisers overestimate the importance of their brand and underestimate the indifference of people. A person won’t rummage around in a bin to engage with your brand, because people don’t care about your brand. Especially when that person is just trying to watch a bit of telly. 

Five years ago, irritating advertising might drive people to put the kettle on. Today, irritating advertising risks killing the advertising industry as we know it. 

Days later my ad break PTSD had began to subside, and I returned home to find this. 

It’s another ad, of sorts. Not an ad that’ll win any awards, or even an ad with much of a concept behind it, but it’s an ad that demonstrated more understanding of people than you’ll see in a dozen of TV ad breaks. 

Firstly, it was disruptive. A 1c elastic band attached it to my door handle, thus elevating it away from its competitors on my doormat. 

Secondly, it was targeted. I have windows, they’re dirty and, as I’ve just moved into a new build, I don’t have a window cleaner.

Thirdly, I immediately warmed to the brand. Norman seems like a friendly chap, with his cheerful tone and playful imagery. 

And finally, it has a clear call-to-action. I can call or text Norman when I’m ready to find out more, or even check him out in social if I want to see what his customers say about him. 

This unassuming flyer for a window cleaner started life with a good, hard think about its recipient. Norman clearly gave a lot of consideration to that fleeting moment when his potential new customer would consider his company. From these firm foundations, he then proceeded with his best foot forward. 

There’s a humility here that the biggest brands would do well to learn from. We advertisers today find ourselves in an era of brand apathy. If we don’t start to put people first, we could find ourselves battling brand hostility - and that's not a battle that we stand much hope of winning.

Because people aren’t consumers. They don’t cease to exist when they’re not buying your products. They’re busy, bored, tired, happy, sad, complex and curious. They have array of needs, some of which can be fulfilled by brands. Brands can’t fix families or out internet the internet. But brands can offer shortcuts to cognition, the reassurance of the familiar, the thrill of experimentation and the means for referral. And so, people need ads to carry these brands, and to keep their messages relevant. 

People need ads to be useful.

Useful ads aren't simply messages; they're also small acts of service, little demonstrations of a brand's worth. That service could be entertainment, or utility, or even concise communication of information like our friend the window cleaner. But a brand can only serve people when it has took the time to understand people. 

We all know that the old advertising model of ‘interrupt and repeat’ is dead, and few will mourn it. People are in charge now, so our job is to prove that advertising can help more than it irritates. Like Norman, its up to us to put people at the centre of our advertising. Because if we don’t, don’t be surprised if people stop listening for good.