In the creative world, standing out from the crowd is usually a good thing. Every marketing student knows that having unique ideas is what separates the winningly successful from the ho-hum.

But standing out can also be the kiss of death if you don’t know how to use the concept effectively. An ad campaign that aims to attract attention by being distinctive can sometimes have the opposite of the intended effect, turning off potential customers in the process.

A bad concept is a lot like that guy at the office. You know the one: the guy with the wacky tie who thinks he’s really shaking things up, fashion-wise. He cracks terrible jokes constantly, thinking he’s the funniest guy in the building because of the nervous laughter he receives from a couple of co-workers trying to be polite.

The saddest think about wacky tie guy is just how clueless he is. A comical tie isn’t a forward-thinking fashion concept. It’s still a tie after all.  In fact, the most creative guy at work may be wearing no tie at all.

Bad jokes don’t make you funny either. The funniest guy in the office may not even tell jokes: he cracks everyone up with his hilarious way of describing everyday events.

The problem is, a lot of ideas are the creative equivalent of the wacky tie. They stand out from the rest, but not in a good way. When used car salesmen first started shouting in commercials, they probably startled people into noticing.

Those commercials are certainly different from others, but if having a fat guy in a bad suit yell out car prices was effective, you can bet the big auto makers would be doing it in national ads.

Do you want an ad campaign that stands out like a bad tie or a screaming salesman? Or do you want something that makes people stop, think, and say to themselves, “I’ve never seen that before.”

Creative thinking is organic. It comes from deep within. You can’t put it on like a Looney Toons tie. The good news is, if you can spot the difference between a bad joke and a good joke, or a good campaign versus an annoying campaign, you’ve got an ear for it. If you can’t, you may be guilty of trying too hard.

At Oozil, we’re looking for people who know the difference. People like you, with standout ideas. You can even work at home. That means no tie is necessary (especially not wacky ones.)

By Elizabeth Kelly

As Oozil prepares to move us into the future, it’s interesting to think about the past and its relationship to advertising. As much change as we’ve experienced in the last hundred years, from technological advances to social, cultural, and political changes, some of the main components of advertising are still surprisingly the same.

Take a look through the advertisements in 19th century copies of Harper’s Weekly, and while you’ll see unfamiliar products like laundry ringers and velocipedes, you’ll find that the techniques used are similar to ones still in use today. People still buy for the same reasons that they did one hundred years ago, looking for products to enhance their lives in some way.

An 1866 ad for a family sewing machine includes a written testimonial from Mrs. Ulysses S. Grant, who says that “…I can hardly see how any thing could be more complete or give better satisfaction.” The celebrity endorsement was in full swing long before radio or television.

Other ads used clever wording and verses to sell their products. Dr. Wolcott’s Pain Paint is proof that there’s always been room for unusual health cures (remember “Head-On. Apply directly to the forehead?”) Dr.Wolcott’s clever poem also alluded to current events, mentioning the impeachment of 1868.

Today, some ad campaigns even reach into the past to find their sales hook. Building a brand can be hard, but if you can associate a product with a pre-existing icon, one that has already established an image, then you’ve built a product image in an instant.

That’s what GAP did a few years ago when they used film footage of Audrey Hepburn in black capris to almost singlehandedly make the look popular with women again. Prior to that, GAP launched a successful ad campaign using actual photographs of legendary people wearing their khakis. And not just any famous names, but some of the most famous names of all time: James Dean, JFK, Marilyn Monroe, Bogart, Picasso.

The effect was more controversial when Dirt Devil chose to splice footage of Fred Astaire dancing with images of their product, making it appear that Astaire was dancing with a vacuum cleaner. While many were appalled and thought it was disrespectful of the movie icon, Dirt Devil left the commercial on for a whole year, enjoying the added attention the controversy brought.

Author Kinky Friedman says that no matter what obscure, jungle-deep, untouched-by-civilization place you travel, the people there will still recognize Elvis, Jesus and Coca-Cola. If that doesn’t show the impact of an icon, I don’t know what does.

While today we’re marketing iPods and phone apps and tomorrow it might be hovercrafts, the message is the same as it was when we were hawking mustache wax. If anything, it only emphasizes the importance of finding creatives who can deliver that message again and again in new and exciting ways.

And where to find them? You’re in the right place.

by Elizabeth Kelly