I showed this ad to three different people and asked for their opinion. One person thought it was clever and the other two said, “I don’t get.”

3 words are scarier to an advertiser than “i love you” is to a frat boy.

Its ironic that a message about being clear could be so unclear. While someone in military may understand that the message is saying; “Communicate Clearly.” An average Joe may look at this and have absolutely no clue what is going on.

The Elements of a Clear Message

Who wants this?

Identifying Your Target Market – Still as Important as Ever

What are the benefits

What Consumers want, According to Seth

Will they believe it

Toyota: The Fragility of Credibility And Trust

Behind every advertisement is a message. Behind every message is a sale. If your message isn’t being received clearly you didn’t do your job. We send messages daily. Through our body language, e-mails, tweets and our tone. If our message isn’t clear then neither is our story. Which means its impossible to share.

Being clever is great when it allows a sense of discovery.  Its not great when it allows a sense of embarrassment.

Next time you try to tell your story. Think about a KISS.

Keep It Simple Stupid.