Kiss (with Simple Communication)

K.I.S.S. As much as I don’t like my grand kids to say the s-word, the concept of Keep It Simple Stupid (KISS) is very solid.

One of my favorite examples of simple communications was best stated in a couple of╩movies about advertising. In ‘The Muppets Take Manhattan’, a team of account executives and creative people were tossing around some tag lines for Ocean Soap. “It’s like a South Seas vacation” chimed in one. “A voyage of freshness” chirped another…and on and on went the esoteric Olympics. Kermit arrives and submits…”Ocean Soap, it gets you clean.” There you go.

In the movie ‘Crazy People’, there is more of the same, and I paraphrase…”Volvo, you won’t die in it”

It brings me to some of the simple yet brilliant tag lines we see today. Let’s look at Nike’s “Just Do it,” arguably the best tag line ever. It was about exercise and getting in shape. People always talked about wanting to improve themselves. That was the problem…they talked about it and talked about it. Nike said enough talk…the rest is communications history. Gatorade managed to deliver the product benefit via a direct challenge: “Is It In You?”

The same goes for body copy. Economy of copy is a plus. Someone once asked the great orator Abraham Lincoln how long a speech should be. His answer was thoughtful, “Like my legs, long enough to reach the ground.” There is no formula for truly creative communication. Think of it as a conversation you might have with a friend to describe a product or service. It’s a good place to start. And at all costs, keep it simple…sweetheart.