Don't Show the Monster

Without imagination, advertising is about as appealing as a long email. Let’s keep the mystery alive.

If you got a good, loooong, well-lit look at the Blair Witch.

Or if the ancient demon king Paimon, who ran amok in Ari Aster’s modern horror classic Hereditary, was visibly just some average fella in a cloak, swanning around a set.

Those would no longer be good movies. They’d be so much worse because of the sheer power of your mind. Nothing a filmmaker could put on the screen would ever be able to scare you the way your own brain can.

When we invite people to engage their own imagination, we unlock the ability to play around with the world’s most powerful, personal, and engaging medium.

Remember your first disappointing book adaptation?

When your precious paperback found its story on screen and you saw the face of your beloved character for the first time – but you didn’t recognise it.

You’d put dozens of hours into picturing that story, just for them to botch the wonderful world of Narnia. Or make Robin Hood a Texan. Or cast a teeny, tiny Tom Cruise as the 6’7” Jack Reacher.

We have such deep connections to these fictitious people and places because we’ve spent so long imagining how they look and sound. How they move, how they dress, and how they interact. We almost feel like they’re ours – like we came up with them. And we kind of did.

Anyone who’s ever had an overbearing boss will know there’s nothing more magical than making someone think your idea is theirs – it’s why we’re all so collectively impressed by Derren Brown.

Imagination is powerful. And the beautiful thing is, everyone has one.

This omnipresent power source is free for every brand to use. Provided we can avoid the temptation to make our intentions too obvious. To dumb things down. To leave no space for intrigue.

Sure, we’ve all read a thousand articles, ironically, about the modern person’s shortened attention span. But is the answer to skip to the punchline? Or to accept that nobody laughs at our jokes?

Yes, we do need to be sharp. And yes, we do need to communicate quickly. But we don’t need to tell our audiences how to feel. Telling someone to be scared takes the same amount of time as scaring them. But one definitely has more impact.

The strongest work trusts its audience. And leaves a little unsaid so it can be said, more memorably, in their minds.

Without imagination, advertising is about as appealing, and effective, as a long email. Or a rambling blog.

Keep the mystery alive.

Don’t show the monster.