The crux of advertising yourself

What it's about: An accused lawyer would not defend himself. A sick doctor would have his diagnosis made by a colleague. Even a hairdresser has to get his hair cut. The communications industry, on the other hand, very often orders its layouts and texts without outside expert help. My thesis is this: In the trade journals for the advertising industry, one does not find extraordinary, witty and creative advertising as expected, but self-made, boring and unattractive junk.

This phenomenon does not only apply to design studios and advertising agencies. The big savers of creativity are the publishing houses, promotional product manufacturers, printers, mediaspace providers, recording studios, Internet services, address marketers, event and poster companies, marketing academies, the Sawi, and so on.

An advertising company that calls itself "rosarot ideennetz" writes the word "enthusiastic" as a headline on its ad. In any case, I was not. The "Swiss crm forum" has moved me to write this motz. An advertisement to shoot at the moon. I don't understand the people responsible for this appearance. They are talking to intelligent, young people who are interested in advertising.

Don't they want as many participants as possible at their event? I wouldn't take part. It already seems deadly boring. The company "Silverspot Recording Studio" tries to tell me something on a full-page ad with a speaker stuck in a strawberry and a lens in an orange. But what? There are many more examples, such as the publishing houses with all their magazines lined up like at the kiosk. But I don't have enough space for that here. I assume that all these creations are tinkered with in-house by desktoppers. Someone who has mastered Indesign is far from being a good graphic designer or copywriter. What, then, could be the reasons? "It costs us nothing and is much faster. The advertisers are too complicated. What is Mr. Müller from Marketing there for? He can do that, too."

As we all know, these advertising spaces don't cost a penny. But if I make a bad impression or no impression at all, then all that money is wasted without any effect. The advertising media hit their target group very precisely. I know from the response to my column that important decision-makers from the advertising scene look in there. So be creative! Readers will then take notice. But briefly another example: In the Weltwoche of June 1, Axel Springer's TVStar magazine created an ad exclusively for Weltwoche. Not only is it hideous, but it also comes with a coupon to fill out, cut out (see scissors) and send in. Dear Roger, if I were you, I would not tolerate such advertisements on Glückspost level in your intelligent, photo- and typographically cleanly designed magazine.

My pick-up: I don't want to give our Nati a bad name. They showed a fresh and cheeky football on this holy English turf. Stay creative and light-hearted!

Theophil Butz, once a star advertiser (quote Ringier), now an inspirer and, as of now, a mothballer. "Not an easy role, but a necessary one, which I perform here every fortnight." Please send any relevant information to [email protected].