A long story about a simple idea.
We’re 140 BBDO. We’re about focus and distilling everything down to the purest thought. But like Edward De Bono felt the need to write a book about simplicity, we feel the need to go to great lengths explaining the origins and philosophy… of keeping it short.
The world has changed. Adland has changed. We have changed. The inspiration was both economic and idealistic. If we kept behaving like a 90’s agency we simply would not be around to share our ideas. And that’s what we are, an ideas agency. Not an ad agency, digital agency, BTL or ATL agency. An Ideas Agency. And we’ll use whatever medium best transmits the idea.
There are a lot more channels these days adding more complexity to campaigns then ever before. This means more danger of miscommunication and confusion between clients and ourselves. If we have no clarity between us, how on earth are we to convince a consumer with a clear and simple message?
Penning a lengthy letter in the mid 1600s, Blaise Pascal wrote (in French); “I’m sorry for the long letter, I didn’t have time for a short one.” Exactly. We should be spending more time thinking, researching and mining the insights that need saying and less time saying it. Our messaging has to be concise, focused and clear.
Messaging: The right way is economical, the wrong way wasteful. Unnecessary words might impair the message making the sender guilty of economic waste. Not only has he or she failed to add anything to the message, but slowed it up by increasing time necessary to transmit it.
Twitter? No. “How to write a telegram” – 1928. We might be known as the soundbyte generation but keeping things short and to the point has always been the ideal of smart folk through the ages. In 1985 a communications researcher sat at his typewriter figuring out the ideal length of a message within the technological limitations of mobile phones. He typed different single-minded ideas and always ended up close to 160 characters. And that was the birth of texting. Now 160 is the character limitation of a single SMS.
Micro blogging came along and limited you to 140, allowing space for the sender’s ID. And we like that. Good ideas are worthy of ownership.
If you’re already a client or teamster you will already have experienced the 140 express. If you’re not, well done for getting through this, you deserve a short word of your own. Give us a tweet @140bbdo.
Our Process:
The 140 brief kicks things off with absolute focus on the core problem and the opportunity to change behaviour.
The 140 SOLUTION becomes a sounding board, which ensures that no matter what channels are used, the creative impact is maximised.
A 140 Campaign Docket allows us to record campaign results and learnings, bettering future executions and campaigns.
