"The consumer is not a moron"

With apologies to David Ogilvy

Dear Bex,

I’m launching a new consumer product. Our research shows that people don’t always understand exactly how to use it so I think we need to be proscriptive in our advertising, using plain language to explain when, where and how to use it. Does this make sense? Uncertain, Houston TX

Dear Uncertain,

I have always maintained that people are, for the most part, not dumb. And why would you want the dumb ones buying your product anyway? Surely you want the most savvy and curious adventurers who will be intrigued by your product, fall in love with it on their own terms, and convince all their friends to buy it.

First and foremost you need to get noticed. To borrow from David Ogilvy again “you cannot bore people into buying your product.” Think about what you might say to someone you’ve just met at a party - someone you want to impress. You wouldn’t just list all the items on your resume, right? You’d want to charm and engage them with the most fascinating highlights so you’ll be remembered and sought out for future engagement.

So I think its ok to be a little bit mysterious in your advertising to lure customers to your social feeds or website. At that point you can serve up your “how-to” videos.

Quick question - if your product is so hard to “get”, are you sure you have created something that people actually want?