Connecting the dots

There's something fun about connecting the dots.

We all know the time-honored-client-tradition of showing what you're saying (ergo "see-say"). But seeing and saying the same thing isn't exactly the culprit. What actually makes it bad is what you're NOT doing. And that is, engaging the consumer.

When you're so explicit with what you show and say, spelling it out for the consumer, it's not fun. As a consumer, there's no need for me to participate in your crappy ad if your crappy ad is blunt enough to tell me exactly what I'm supposed to be thinking.

ACT NOW!

Like a comatose patient on life-support, I do nothing but drool.

Imagine giving a toddler a coloring book with all the pictures already colored in. Or - better yet - a connect the dots game that's already been played.

When you're on an airplane and you bust open your copy of American Way (because the brilliant Sky Mall magazine is taken), do you sit idle for your 3 hour flight staring at the crossword puzzle some jackass has already filled in? NO. You steal the magazine of the guy next to you for a fresh puzzle to massage your brain.

When you're made to connect the dots, you're engaged. You fill in the blanks and paint the picture of the story. YOU, in fact, are a vital part of creating that story.

But how do you do it? How do you make something that involves the consumer in a way that also satisfies the client?

I don't know.

But what I do know is this:

Knowing different things - and lots of different things - helps you bridge stuff together that can make people connect the dots, smile, and think different.

Be it cultures, pop culture, sports, food, lighting, medicine, rubik's cubes, or the temperature on the sun's surface. Know more old stuff. Create more new stuff.


It's my knowledge of different cultures (Indian and Pop) that makes this one work my brain:


It's my knowledge of submitting cake orders and sports that makes me fill the gaps in this story:



And I lack a third example for illustration. Which, for some reason, makes me feel incomplete. But there are plenty more - go find your own. And share.

It'll make us all better.