Insights

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A popular (and somewhat comical) mantra in advertising is "break through the clutter." Rise above the sea of ads or drown with the thousands of other inputs that go virtually unnoticed. Of course, it’s true that thousands of messages assault people every day and that the competition to be noticed is ever-increasing – but focusing on “breaking through” seems to give undue credit to conditions we can’t control. People like it because it sounds easy, “Oh, I can just break out of the clutter…piece of cake.” Unfortunately, most people tend to come up with a solution that attempts to be physically bigger, brutally louder or simply annoying. Voila, instant clutter.

Instead, we like to invite people into our ad. People don’t experience sensory overload only to end up exhausted; they have filters so they can pick and choose what to perceive and what to pass up. Have you ever noticed how many ads for televisions you become aware of when you’re interested in buying a TV? It’s not that television advertisers are suddenly advertising more. It’s because that has become important to you and your filters let it in. Getting through those filters becomes the puzzle - and clutter is simply one environmental reality to plan around as we figure out how to earn meaningful attention from the right hearts and minds. How do you get them to come into your ad? By presenting something relevant and important to them. Not by shouting what is important to you.

The clutter monster isn’t ours to conquer – consumers have that influence and they use it every day. Our success will result from seeing the world from their point of view, not from focusing on the environment they live in.