Instant mashed potato & extraterrestrials

Why easy combinations don’t make for the best creative

Humans are lovers of things that click. That go together well. Classic combos.

Ricky & Bianca
Gin & tonic
Fish & chips

There’s probably others.

The bit of our mind that takes in information likes things that naturally correspond…or does it?

Think of a classic ad campaign. A poster. A TV spot. One of the ones you remember in great detail off the top of your head. That you could describe flawlessly for someone who hasn’t seen it.

These examples, the ones with the clever, funny, or memorable ideas at their heart, almost always share one thing:

They merge two things that don’t normally jam.

Not an all-time classic pairing, but an odd new one.

You remember the VW one because nobody ever compared a car with a lemon before. It jarred your brain. It flashed in your head as two previously unconnected neurons weld together and start a little firework chain in your brain (DISCLAIMER: WE AREN’T NEUROBIOLOGISTS *yet*).

But think about it:

Frogs and lager.
Tinned salmon and bear-knuckle boxing.
Jeans and rhythm-obsessed yellow plushies.
Alternative energy and weird, bowler-hatted mime guys.
Multicoloured sweeties and King Midas.
Instant mashed potato and extraterrestrials.

The list just keeps going and going:

Bunnies and batteries.
Cola and Christmas.
Stout and stallions.

Chocolate and chimps (OK, apes, but DISCLAIMER: WE AREN’T BIOLOGISTS EITHER, the alliteration is just more pleasing).

The list of adverts where unexpected things go together is the same list as the greatest ads of all time.

 So, what’s the next great ad going to combine?

Roll-on deodorant and squirrels?
Maize-based snacks and poltergeists?
Intergalactic bee hives and cholesterol-reducing dairy products?

Who knows. But as long as you get people’s synapses firing and send the good feels to their grey matter, you’ll not go far wrong.

Don’t give brains the satisfaction of an easy solve. Don’t let them relax. Don’t let them kick back. Get them working hard to resolve what’s challenging them. To create a new link that lasts.

So take your idea and shuffle it.

Make it jolt. Make it jar. Conjure combinations so unforgettable that your mark is permanently branded in the brain.

After all, isn’t that the entire point of what we do?

Who The LR We?

For more thoughts from this brand agency in Edinburgh – discover other articles on the StudioLR blog like our recent piece, 'Don’t Get Lost in the Details’