Concept or Example/Illustration? Doreen tells all...

A Concept can have a Style, Illustration or Example, but Styles, Illustrations and Examples are never a Concept.

One of the most difficult lessons for beginning and student creatives is a clear understanding of Concept.  The word itself, Concept, is badly overused.  Too often, it’s used incorrectly.  Unfortunately, many working ad folks don’t know the difference between Concept and its potentially equal stepsister Style, either.  

I used to take my early quarter concept classes around the halls and riffling through award annuals asking “Concept?  Or Illustration/Example?”  Most saw a great headline/visual match-up or stylistic execution and assumed it was a Concept.  If it’s good enough for __(insert your favorite pub/award annual here)__, it must be, right? 

All too often, it was really a great headline/visual or stylistic copy/visual/design/execution.  There’s nothing wrong with that – sometimes that’s what works best.  Other times, it’s all you have.  Either way, it can be great creative.  What it can’t be is a Concept.

If there’s nothing wrong with a great headline/visual piece, what’s the big deal about Concept?  Concept is the holy grail of ad creative.  Concept elevates the merely excellent to a spiritual, elusive and deeper product/prospect connection, engaging the prospect on an inner, almost visceral level.

While we may laugh at a great line, turn envy green over an amazing execution, they’re more easily done than concept.  Clever and intelligent as they may be, they’re merely window dressing for product message. 

Think “Got milk?” with the chalky white moustache.  Great campaign, parroted a thousand ways.  But it is what it is.  A catchy phrase that makes you check the refrigerator.  A fun visual that reminds you how good a cold glass can taste.  Sure, it sold milk like gangbusters.  Sure, it eventually sold just about everything else.  But a Concept?  I don’t think so.

Lest you worry I’m going to give you that “I can’t define it, but I know it when I see it” b.s,, here are some ways to judge Concept?  Or Illustration?

Try this:

Concept=Idea

Illustration=Example

Find an ad, TV spot, video, direct, web or guerilla piece you love, admire, wish you had done.  Filter out all your appreciation/excitement for the creative clever smart words, graphics and visuals.  Then ask yourself these questions:

·      Barebones, does it express an idea about the product and the connection to its prospect?

·      Can you carry that idea into other pieces without merely saying the same thing in different ways (or repeating one headline or body copy over and over) with the same graphic and verbal treatment?  (One CD I freelanced for likened concept to a clothes rack.  A complete thought you can hang many different things on.)

·      Is it Bigger Picture (or merely a creative format (style) that communicates a feature, benefit, product position, etc.)?

·      Does it force you (and its prospect) to complete a thought – to actually participate personally, intellectually and emotionally with the piece?

·      If you take away its style (old fashioned, slice of life, editorial, music video, industrial/high techie, animation, analogy, New Yorker Magazine, rap, folk art, yadda yadda), does it still involve engage wow! you?  Is the best thing about it still there?

·      Does it have an idea that insinuates the product into the life of the prospect beyond mere use/benefit?  Does it have an “inner truth?”

If you can answer “Yes!” to each one, without reservation, it’s Conceptual.  Any less than that, it’s probably something else.

On the other hand:

·      Is the unifying factor the Style of the art direction/design and copy?

·      Is the unifying factor the repetition of the same core visual (celebrities w/milk mustache), headline (“Got milk?”) and/or body copy across various platforms?

·      Do you see it successfully “borrowed” for many different products, different prospects?  If it hasn’t been “borrowed” yet, could it be?

·      Is its impact based upon clever words/graphics?

·      Is it more entertaining than motivating? 

Too many “yes” answers to these questions, it’s Example/Illustration.

 Which of these are Concepts, which are Examples/illustration/clever execution?  (Don’t be fooled by awards they may have won – concept or not, they can still be great creative – or not.)

·      Selling newspapers (NY Times) using Norman Rockwell illustrations?

·      Rolling Stone’s Concept/Reality campaign (don’t know it?  Look it up – you should)?

·      Clara Peller and “Where’s the beef?”

·      The Snickers “diva” campaign?  Ditto the one with Betty White.

·      Budwiser Clydesdales playing football?

·      Duke the dog and the secret family bean recipe?

If your answers are Concept (NY Tiimes Rockwell), Illustration/Example (Rolling Stone), Illustration (Where’s the beef?), Concept (Snickers divas), Entertainment (footballing horses) and if you’re still trying to figure out who approved that last one (Illustration), you get it. 

If not, sit yourself down in front of your favorite award annual and ask yourself those questions about anything you wish you had done.  Better yet, do it with several friends/coworkers/fellow students.  It may all be great work, but you’ll probably be surprised (frustrated?) by the ratio of Concept to Illustration/Example. 

When you think you have it, go over everything you’ve done/are working on.  If all you have is Illustration/Example (or if your Concept:Illustration ratio is less than 1:1), you may want to revisit them in light of the questions I asked earlier.   

Now for the big question:  how do you come up with more Concepts, fewer Illustrations?  I’ll let you know next installment.

(Hint:  it has to do with the Kamikaze Key Fact.  Don’t know the difference between a Kamikaze Key Fact and the typical Key Fact?  I’ll talk about that, too.)