While I was sitting in the waiting area, as my local auto mechanic was going through the paces of the vehicle and emission inspections required by the State of Missouri to renew your license plates, I picked up a magazine to kill some time.
It was the March 2013 issue of House Beautiful. Sure, it was 10 months past its sell-by date, but being so involved in real estate advertising for such a long time, I naturally gravitate to publications featuring homes.
As I paged through, and even though I wasn’t giving it my full, undivided attention, I nevertheless stumbled upon a theme in three ads just a couple pages apart.
They were ads for Baker Furniture, Hunter Douglas, and Toyota.
And the headlines in all three of the ads started with “The Art Of…”
“The Art Of Things Chosen Well Rather Than Often” - Baker Furniture
“The Art Of Window Dressing” - Hunter Douglas
“The Art Of Making Cars Will Never Be The Same” - Toyota
It was the March 2013 issue of House Beautiful. Sure, it was 10 months past its sell-by date, but being so involved in real estate advertising for such a long time, I naturally gravitate to publications featuring homes.
As I paged through, and even though I wasn’t giving it my full, undivided attention, I nevertheless stumbled upon a theme in three ads just a couple pages apart.
They were ads for Baker Furniture, Hunter Douglas, and Toyota.
And the headlines in all three of the ads started with “The Art Of…”
“The Art Of Things Chosen Well Rather Than Often” - Baker Furniture
“The Art Of Window Dressing” - Hunter Douglas
“The Art Of Making Cars Will Never Be The Same” - Toyota
Good heavens! See a pattern here? Those headlines are almost interchangeable, aren’t they?
The fact is, I've always thought using that stale line was such a creative cop-out. Clients deserve better, especially national (and global in Toyota’s case) brands.
I don’t know if you agree, but I think from this day forward “The Art Of…” should be a banned from advertising.
After all, didn’t Donald Trump kind of monopolize it when he penned “The Art Of The Deal” way back in the 1980s?
So, going forward, let’s not see…
The banana company say…”The Art Of The Peel”
The local pig farmer say…”The Art Of The Squeal”
The chef say…”The Art Of The Meal”
The fish market say…”The Art Of The Eel”
The Italian restaurant say…”The Art Of The Veal”
The shoe repair shop say…”The Art Of The Heel”
The aquarium (such as Shedd) say…”The Art Of The Seal”
The tire company say…”The Art Of The Wheel”
-or- the interior decorator who prefers a certain shade of blue-green say…”The Art Of The Teal”
And so on.
It’s time for clients to demand "The Art Of Creative Headline Writing".
Okay, what do you think?
The fact is, I've always thought using that stale line was such a creative cop-out. Clients deserve better, especially national (and global in Toyota’s case) brands.
I don’t know if you agree, but I think from this day forward “The Art Of…” should be a banned from advertising.
After all, didn’t Donald Trump kind of monopolize it when he penned “The Art Of The Deal” way back in the 1980s?
So, going forward, let’s not see…
The banana company say…”The Art Of The Peel”
The local pig farmer say…”The Art Of The Squeal”
The chef say…”The Art Of The Meal”
The fish market say…”The Art Of The Eel”
The Italian restaurant say…”The Art Of The Veal”
The shoe repair shop say…”The Art Of The Heel”
The aquarium (such as Shedd) say…”The Art Of The Seal”
The tire company say…”The Art Of The Wheel”
-or- the interior decorator who prefers a certain shade of blue-green say…”The Art Of The Teal”
And so on.
It’s time for clients to demand "The Art Of Creative Headline Writing".
Okay, what do you think?