Talkback: You make me want to...be reasonable

Like so many young advertising people, my very being once pivoted on the Axis Awards (recently given out for 2005). Now my claims to fame are fewer and further between - if clever advertising is where fame lies.

I often chuckle to myself when people criticise the Family Health Diary (FHD) brand I created in 1998. According to the critics, it is a terrible thing. Dull as dishwater. "Where's the laffs?".

FHD may be dull (compared with a Stella Artois commercial), but the pitch is perfect for people looking for a solution for an ailment.

For consumers it works by matching their anxiety with a calm solution - a reasonable approach. When you've got haemorrhoids you don't want to laugh or be laughed at.

Being reasonable might seem a little dull in creative circles.

"What did you think of that?"

"Oh, it was reasonable."

"Right, then ... cup of tea?"

"Lovely."

In a world where brands seem more hysterical - louder and quite unreasonable in their increasingly desperate efforts to gain your attention with neurotic tricks and ticks and shouting (is it just me or does the volume go up in the ad breaks?) - it is refreshing to encounter brands that are patient and reasonable.

The best campaigns lie along the Golden Mean, as Aristotle described it: courage lies between cowardice and rashness; generosity as the mean between selfishness and profligacy.

Aristotle also described a state of being called eudaimonia or "happiness" - living well, which can only be reached by using humankind's highest faculty, reason.

Of course, I'm not proposing that every ad should be deadpan. Even if the concept is "out there", it should seem perfectly reasonable.

How many times have you seen commercials where the product is shoehorned into a creative scenario (not to be confused with an idea)? We instinctively know when to reject misapplied creativity, usually when there is no or low relevance.

Our faculty for reason demands that things should make sense (even when they patently don't). The fabulous advertising cliche of "make the strange familiar and the familiar strange" relies on this thought. Unfortunately, most ads seem better at the latter than the former.

Nokia pull it off with their commercial that shows one of their phones as a fashion accessory. Never mind that it's a cellphone - we know that. "Give me another reason to love the brand."

Defying reason is easy. If you have children you'll appreciate this fact. It is simple to be provocative.

Creating reason is hard, especially when a brand might have few genuine points of rational difference.

Ask anyone with a Range-Rover why they bought it. Odds-on, few will openly admit that it is because it makes them feel superior. No, it is "the safety, engineering, and comfort. Oh, and I read Playboy for the exceptional articles."

"And I hate Family Health Diary - except when I'm baffled by the number of choices there are of cough medicines."

Sounds reasonable to me.

* David MacGregor is an Auckland brand consultant who specialises in developing media concepts such as Family Health Diary, Eating Well and IN2IT. His website is www.davidmacgregor.com