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From
Special K to DDB, Simon says ideas are tops
By
Aubrey Henretty
When
representatives of the Royal Ontario Museum approached DDB
Canada for help in promoting an exhibit titled "Feathered
Dinosaurs," the award-winning advertising company —
named Canada's "most creative" nine years running
by Strategy magazine — was eager to get started.
However, remembers Andrew Simon '94, the company's
senior vice president, the museum people admitted there was
a small problem with the exhibit: "They said, 'It's not
very good.'"
It
was a traveling exhibit, explains Simon, and as such the museum
workers were forbidden to change anything about it. They could
erect more exciting companion exhibits of their own, but the
exhibit to be advertised would have to stand alone in all
its dull glory.
Simon,
once the creative director for Special K Revue, and his team
were unfazed. He says that the ROM campaign, which garnered
many awards, including a Bronze Lion at the prestigious Cannes
Advertising Festival, was a perfect marketing challenge because
it forced the team to focus on a single idea — in this
case, flying dinosaurs.
"Some
of the biggest brands in the world are as big as they are
because they appreciate the power of an idea." Once conceived,
he says, a great idea requires no fanfare.
Consider
the following images from the "Feathered Dinosaurs"
campaign: A bird is perched on a telephone wire. An adjacent
wire sags to the ground in the middle, suggesting the weight
of an invisible prehistoric creature atop it.
An old man with a whole loaf of bread in his arms is
seated on a park bench. Scattered at his feet are several
more loaves. He gazes expectantly at the sky.
During
the exhibit's run at the ROM, 87 percent of visitors said
advertising influenced their decision to attend. Voilą, says
Simon, the power of an idea: "It doesn't have to be a
big production to get huge results."
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